abbey_journal+1

**I observed my cooperating teacher implement an observation assessment with her first grade students. They did a Valentine’s Day themed activity that was designed to assess and increase the student’s letter sound and word building skills. Each student was given a medal board and magnetic letter. Each students started with the magnetic letters “l”, “o”, v”, and “e” on their boards. The students would substitute one letter at a time to make new words. For example: ** L I VE D IVE DI N E ** **Each student used a list to record every word that they created. My cooperating teacher and I walked around the room and observed the students to assess them.
 * LOVE

My cooperating teacher assessed the students based on whether or not they created real words with the magnetic letters. Sometimes the students made words that aren’t real (such as “nove”). Even if this was the case, if they were able to pronounce the word they had created, it demonstrates letter sound knowledge. As she walked around, she asked students what words they had made. This ensured that the students really knew the words that they were producing and not just putting random letters together. The teacher used this informal observation assessment to see which students were grasping letter sound and word building concepts. By doing this, she was able to see which students needed work with these ideas. Many of the student struggled with the activity. This showed the teacher that they need more practice with the concept.

I think that this assessment was effective for what it was used for. By observing her students, my cooperating teacher was able to tell which students were struggling and which were excelling. This activity was an opportunity for the students to practice their word building skills. In doing so, the teacher was able to tell how the students were progressing as a class. This was an informal assessment for the teacher to see the student’s growth. If she wanted to formally assess the class, she could have created a graded written assessment to test their skills. **

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