The best part about learning menus is that you are still structuring the content you wish to see in math, reading comprehension, vocabulary, or even for science.  But students get to choose how they will learn which creates ownership of that learning and a much better user experience for everyone involved.

In my third grade classroom, I loved differentiating the instruction to include choice boards.  And students loved the projects they created from their student choices. Each week I would introduce a new centers activity grid. There were 2-3 choices each for reading, math, writing, character building, and science/social studies.

I tried to incorporate different learning modalities into the options. I also created a general rubric for which to base my assessment. This was center work, so additional practice, which meant I didn’t have to be super picky about what was turned in as long as the work was complete and legible. Honestly, it helped me to have invested students who were working instead of tugging at my sleeve while I was working with small groups.

Students were freely given the time to complete 1 activity in each category. We did review each assignment as a whole group – and I recorded myself explaining those choices and saved to a student computer. That way, when you have the child who says “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” you can send him or her straight off to watch the replay.

The work wasn’t always their very best, but sometimes their creativity really shines through. The love for learning was really my reasoning for using the choice boards – and that was always presented at the end of the week.

Menus are not hard work to put together, and can actually be used from year to year.  Once you have created a menu for a certain topic area, make sure to keep it safe (or print it on cardstock and laminate) and you will have a resource that is even easier to implement the next year!

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for lesson planning and calendar organization in the classroom? This 70 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 14 articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:
-Curriculum Mapping
-Setting Up Your Daily Classroom Schedule
-Digital Filing Cabinets
-Weekly Planning Resources
-Several To-Do List Templates
-Balancing Home and Work Life in your Calendar
-File Organization
…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!

See it HERE.

DIY Choice Boards

When creating your assignment, you’ll first want to decide whether you prefer a digital version or a printable hard copy. Either will work, so go with your preference.

You can create your template example right within google slides or on a google doc. That’s free and translates well for any system.

Menus can found in all sorts of formats, including a tic-tac-toe style, a list style, a choice board, extension menus, and/or learning contracts.  When I use the term menus I am referring to all of the preceding.

In my opinion, menus offer choices for students to interact with a given topic by varying the content, process, and/or product (which is DI 101).  While the format may look different, in essence, they are just a DI lesson plan in a different template.

The key with menus is not to force a specific choice, but rather give lots of options so that the student sees this as a learning opportunity, rather than “boring work that we are being forced to do.”

Now that you have a graphic organizer chosen, fill in the options for activities, making sure to include some items that are art-based (draw a movie poster for our story of the week) or even kinesthetic in nature (create a jump rope rhyme that explains how to add fractions with unlike denominators).

You can also reference different multiple intelligences options. It is nice to celebrate differences in our students and not just assign worksheets and reading al the time. Producing a short commercial with a classmate to showcase a new science invention is definitely way more fun.

One last bonus tip: I love using a free choice option on all of my menus and boards. Why? Perhaps the learning topic is one that a particular students is suoer passionate about. By giving the student an option to create his own option, the work that turns out is usually phenomenal. Of course, the child has to tell me explicitly what the learning task involves and how it will be assessed. We jot those notes down on the learning contract and away he goes.

Differentiation Menu Best Practices

• Many teachers are unsure of how to structure the learning time so it’s not just students playing in the classroom and then having poor quality work to be shown for it. I personally have found this to be a legit concern when you first introduce the concept of menus.

Explicit directions and going over rubrics with students is imperative. Even better: Have examples of previous student work that showcases what you are looking for when scoring a completed project (or make your own examples). Again – this will be easier to do after you have completed your first year of prepping weekly choice boards. Start collecting exemplary pieces of work to be shown to the next round of students.

• Make sure the work students are to complete can be completed in the given time. If you have 5 categories of centers and only 3 days of actual center time of 40 minutes each time, you will want to make sure students can complete each activity in about 20 minutes. That’s not really much time for a very involved project.
• Also – you can adjust the work for different learning abilities and age ranges. If you have a child who has autism and is limited in her ability to write out 6 new word problems for math, then adapt it to recording a video or an audio version.

Same with smaller students, such as kindergarten or first grade who aren’t able to document a lot of work, especially in the beginning of the year. You can still use this idea. Simply record the directions in short video clips on tech devices that are placed around the round.

When a child goes to that spot, he or she plays the message from you (trust me, they know how to use those tech devices), and then completes the activity you have just explained. That might be coloring something or reading a picture book with a partner.

You know your students best.

• Last tip: I always, always, always introduce my center menus with only 2 activities. That allows students to get used to the routine and workflow.

The next week, if that goes well, I will add a third activity for the same amount of time. I gradually increase the workload to what I feel the class should be able to reasonably accomplish in the given time. And once in a while – I add in “bonus” options just to push them a little beyond their comfort zone. It amazes me how some teachers underestimate what our students are really capable of and never push those boundaries. Try it a few times. They just might surprise you.

Need more ideas for your gifted students and early finishers?

At Organized Classroom’s Facebook page, we were previously discussing the book series “Differentiating Instruction With Menus” and I have to say, I love this set of books!

They have them for LA, Math, Science, and Social Studies for the middle school grades, as well as one for each in grades 3-5.

When I have a teacher I am working with that is teaching to the middle (average ability), I try to assist by suggesting pre-assessment (which will verify whether or not any student already has mastery of the upcoming subject material), and then trying to find (or create, if necessary) a corresponding menu that is of the same topic.

In this way, the students who have already mastered the required material can still be working on the same concepts and ideas, but at a higher level.

This really is a win-win for all because the student will be busy, hopefully engaged, and will be less disruptive to the rest of the class if he or she is not sitting and twiddling thumbs during your very exciting lesson about the American Revolution.

PS – menus are great for ALL students, not just your high functioning!  Choice can really be a strong motivator for many children!

Would you like a free Spelling Menu Homework Packet?  Silly me, that is an obvious answer.  Grab it below.

How could you use menus in your classroom this year or next?  Sound off in the comments below!

~Charity

The post Order Up with Choice Boards! appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Since they are personalized for the child, you can really sit with each student to discuss what he or she excels in – and which that he or she could be working on.  Perfect for showing parents student progress as well!

I have traditionally used basic data graphs to show student performance in various subjects, which I then used in my student led parent conferences.  {If you are interested in those data binder forms or my Complete Guide to Student Led Conferences product, you can find those HERE.}

Materials Needed to Make Your Student Data Folders:

First, grab a two-pocket folder with brads.

On your folder, print out “Data Folder” labels on sticker paper, and place the labels right onto your 2 pocket folders. My blank labels are from a set from Organized Educator.

Include the following items:

• Data Folder Intro Letter {Need a template? Grab a freebie below.}
• Parent Signature Sheet
• Whatever academic content graphs you wish to monitor (math, spelling tests, reading comprehension tests, independent reading, fluency levels, etc.)
• Interim Grade Report
• Reflection Sheet

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for your assessment and parent conference routine?  This 82 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 14 articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:

• Saving Grading Time
• How to Set Up Student Data Folders
• Self-Assessment for Students
• Quick Informal Assessment Hacks

…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!

See it HERE.

As students complete scores that relate to your specific graphs, make sure they place those on their graphs and/or keep the actually assessment in the 2 pocket data folder. 

Both will be very visual for showing students AND parents the scores and how they are comparing to previous scores as the grading quarter goes on.  Perfect for students to really see the “WHY” they are in school part – and to remind them occasionally how much they really have learned throughout the course of a year. 

It also helps when they are writing their student reflections too!

Enjoy putting your data binders together and I look forward to hearing how they go for you!

Are there any tricks to collecting student data?

Staying organized is critical.  You will have a ton of numbers, papers, and charts that are unique to each individual child.  Housing all the data folder components in a teacher binder will keep everything within arm’s reach.

In my binder, I like to include:

• student goal setting template
• my student data
• any additional worksheets I might be required to fill out for administration
• Other printable masters for incoming new students throughout the year

The best way I have personally to do data collection in an elementary classroom, is to do it as a “center” during small group work time.

I pull out the individual student data tracker binder, along with any assessment materials I need to collect the data, and call over students one-by-one while the rest of the class works on their center learning.  Without having the resources to be able to assess outside of the classroom, this is the next best thing.

Classroom organization will play a huge role in your data displays and recording.  If you have a system in place to collect it, then ultimately share it with students, parents, and colleagues, you will be way ahead of the curve.

I have grown to love student data tracking, mainly because I can physically SHOW my students how much they are learning.  That is such an abstract concept to them.  They don’t see the lightbulb moments every day.  Using this method, I can really show each child how much he or she is capable of doing in a relatively short amount of time.

How students can track self-improvement goals?

Progress monitoring forms for your data binder are really only as good as the data you are actually collecting from students.  The goal sheets for students should be kid friendly.  Even for littles. They need to know what their student growth goals are and being a part of tracking their own data will be the key to knowing how far they have come.

In addition to individual student data, I love having a classroom data wall where the students are able to see how much they have grown as a group.  This visual needs to have easy access so students are able to clearly see the class goals for the school year.

Just grabbing a free student data tracking sheet – like a blank line graph template – is the best place to start.  Begin by taking a class average of a pre-assessment at the beginning of a subject unit.  Then, after the post-assessment scores are in, take another class average.

Make it a fun game by having the students try to correctly guess what the new average is now that they have learned the curriculum.  {They will really get in to this part.}

After a classroom drumroll, mark the new average and connect those dots.  Students will be in awe of how far the line goes up.  Use that visual weekly, if not daily, to reinforce just how much the children are learning throughout the year.

While it might not seem like a lot day by day, having that constant reminder on the wall will keep the class motivated to continue the upward trend.  It is also perfect for parent teacher conference night.  Students get super excited to share the wall with their loved ones.

Goal setting for the next “higher dot” is now fun instead of a chore.  The group really helps to cheer one another one in order to increase the level of achievement across the board, without singling any one child out.

While student data binders are wonderful for one-on-one student growth goals, the classroom data wall is also an important classroom feature.

Need a Data Folder Intro Letter to get your wheels rolling? Grab it here then use Powerpoint or Google Slides to edit to your specific needs!

How have you set up your student growth data tracking measures in your classroom?  Sharing is caring and more ideas are better than one!  share with us in a comment below!

~Charity

The post Setting Up Your Student Data Binders appeared first on Organized Classroom.

That is certainly one way to assess a child’s knowledge about a certain topic.

But, there are several types of assessment that can sometimes be forgotten – and those assessments can be some of the best to showcase what students really know (and can apply in the real world).

Need some authentic assessment tips? How about some simple assessment tools for the classroom? Organized Classroom has you covered.

Most teachers can relate to the dread of standardized testing.

It is the culminating event that students and teachers are supposed to “show what you know.” As we all know, a student’s intelligence is not measured by one test on one given day in the school year.

Students are full of random facts, how they treat others, and background knowledge that only they have.

They are like snowflakes: No two are the same.

So why in the world would one type of test show all that knowledge in just 2 hours?

How about educators take back the testing methods and instead be able to prove to administrators, parents, and other stakeholders what each child truly is knowledgeable about as it pertains to grade level expectations.

At that point, we will be able to know just how far each student has come throughout the year and in their individual needs.

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for your assessment and parent conference routine?  This 82 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 14 articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:

• Saving Grading Time
• How to Set Up Student Data Folders
• Self-Assessment for Students
• Quick Informal Assessment Hacks

…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!

See it HERE.

What is in your Assessment Toolbox?

Having a variety of assessment methods allows teachers to see a clearer picture of students’ strengths and weaknesses in order to narrow the curriculum focus where needed. The learning process suddenly becomes much easier to see when you know what to teach.

Here are a few different assessment choices. All should be used regularly throughout the school year:

• Higher Order Thinking Assessments: Make sure to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to measure higher level skills, such as applying, analyzing, and evaluating.
• Multiple Choice: This is the type of test most “adults” think of when they imagine testing in the classroom. It is a great way to pre-assess students to see what they know about a unit/chapter before you actually teach it. You can find out very quickly in many cases that you can skip certain sections of the chapter when you notice 80% or more of your students already understand some of the concepts. That allows you to spend more time on the standards that they have not yet mastered. {And gives you some much needed breathing room too.}
• Real world situations and authentic tasks: Have students utilize problem solving using real life examples. Not only do they get to flex their interpersonal skills muscles, but they just might come up with a unique solution to fix an ingoing issue within the local community.
• Traditional assessment: This is an exam that can be done via paper and pencil or even newer assessments are now completed entirely online. They may include matching, short answers, or even essay questions at the end.

Examples of Performance Assessments for Educators

Need some ways to incorporate authentic assessment into your lesson plans? I love this little mini recorder from Learning Resources for all sorts of things in the classroom.

I love how light it is – I mean really light, so you could pop it in your pocket if needed. 

And it is magnetic, which is super handy too. 

But the coolest feature was the idea that students can just press a button (there are only 3 to choose from on the machine which makes it pretty much foolproof), and be able to document so many things in the classroom!

One quick note:  This particular video recorder will only capture 30 seconds at a time.  While that is not optimal for a huge assessment, it is feasible for showing short fluency passages. It can help to improve student fluency tone, but having immediate playback for students to see and hear.

Students can demonstrate a quick project they have completed. This allows you to view their higher level thinking skills without needing to assess individually or take an entire class period for students to present their projects.

What about explaining a math problem via the video? I love this solution because some students hate showing their work. Why do we require them to show their work? So we know they understand the why and the how. If you ask students to record the why while show you the paper with the how, they are far more likely to explain with more words than “I just knew how to do it.”

What about using it for center directions?  I know how we all hate smile through gritted teeth when the same students ask multiple times for the directions again during small group time.

Video Book Report in 30 Seconds or Less! How about a fun way for students to share their latest independent reading selection with you? Make sure to grab the prep worksheet below!

Here is an idea:  Take the mini recorder, place it on a metal cookie sheet, and then place all the rest of the center materials on the tray as well, including handouts, manipulatives, scissors, writing utensils, etc. 

Then, when students arrive at the center, they can watch the video of you (yet again) explaining the directions, and they will also have all materials at their fingertips!  That could certainly be a wonderful solution to the constant interruptions when students aren’t sure what to do.

This particular recording device will only hold one 30 second video at a time, but you can download the video right to a PC or Mac!  So, if you are having students doing video assessments, just make sure to have it hooked up to a computer for easy transfer and safe-keeping of each video.  Then the next student can record again. 

This unit is also charged with a USB cord right from your computer, so no worrying about dead batteries in the middle of the day when you can’t get to more.

Need that Video Book Report in 30 Seconds or Less planning sheet? Download it for free below.

What other authentic assessments could you use a mini recorder for in your classroom? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

~Charity

The post Easy Video Assessment appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Other times in the year though, you could be giving a cumulative math exam and it sounds like wild elephants running through the hallway.

Never assume others will know that you need a little extra concentration quiet just because your classroom door is closed.

Instead, use a visual aid.

Once during a reading comprehension test, the students were quietly working until another class went out to the playground for a reward session.  Of course, the playground was right outside my classroom window.

And it was warm that day, so shutting the windows was out of the question.

Needless to say, there were many sets of eyes not looking at their reading test that day.

While there was nothing my colleague did wrong, perhaps if she had noticed a testing sign placed on my classroom door as her class walked past to get to the playground door, she could have at least asked her students to keep the noise level down a tad as a courtesy.

But she had no idea.

Ready for a step-by-step system manual with all the digital files included you’ll need to organize your classroom in just 5 days?

Organized Educator has everything you need and is ready for you to customize!

Click HERE to see all available themes.

How to display your testing sign

Depending on the type of door you have, you can attach your sign to the door in various ways.

If you have a metal door, simply grab some magnets and easily attach to the door in a prominent location.

Should your door be wooden, you can use sticky tack or sticky clips.

Another option that shouldn’t remove any paint from surfaces is painter’s tape.

Of course, if you aren’t permitted to place anything on the door itself, hanging it on a string from the door handle could be one more choice.

Always test your adhesive just to make sure you aren’t damaging any property.  No sense in having irate administrators or custodial staff.

Where to store your sign

I like to store my sign somewhere readily accessible.

That might be in a hanging pocket near the door.

Or perhaps right in my lesson plan file crate in the materials for the day of the test.

Once you have a regular spot for the sign, you could even assign a student to place the sign on the door at the beginning of the test and bring it back to you once all tests have been collected.  That makes it a little easier on you having to remember it’s still out in the hallway and others are tiptoeing around for an entire day – or longer.

Do you need a sign for your classroom door?

I’ve got you covered!

I do recommend printing on cardstock.  And if possible, all the way to the edge.

Laminating is optional, but it will last much longer if you do.

How do you keep your students focused on assessments when there are loud distractions outside of the classroom?

Feel free to leave us a comment below.

~Charity

The post Free Door Testing Signs appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Take a look at my tip in the video below.

Prefer to read the transcript? I’ve got you covered!

Hi everyone! I hope everyone as well today.

So today’s teaching tip has to do with being able to cut down on the amount of grading that you’re doing. Of course, some things like grading essays you’re just not gonna get around. I’m sorry. You’ll have to carve out time to do those.

And if you are a writing teacher, you will be doing a lot of those.

But there are a few other things that you could do if you have a lot of multiple choice assessments so that you are not spending the entire weekend or at least Sunday evening at nine o’clock grading everything to try to get caught up.

One thing to do is definitely if you have parent volunteers and there are no district policies against parent volunteers seeing students’ assessments, I find it wonderful to use a parent volunteer to grade homework for me. Even better if your students use “numbers” on their work instead of names, so the volunteer actually has no idea whose paper they are looking at anyway.

Want to know more about time management strategies for classroom teachers?

Check out Teacher Life Balance Academy HERE!

I have always done a weekly homework packet. So on Fridays when the homework packets would come in, I would have a parent volunteer go through and grade the homework packets and let me know how that went.

I saved so much time and the volunteers were fantastic about checking to see which students handed in their homework and which ones didn’t – then going to talk to those students to discreetly find out where the homework was. Most of the time, the student just forgot to hand it in. It was something that I didn’t have to worry about.

Whenever I taught third grade I would use was a system called Trade and Grade.

Now, I would only use this system whenever I had an assessment that was a multiple choice assessment.

So even for my weekly reading comprehension tests from my basal series, we would use this system.

How it works: When everyone gets finished with their test they pass it up to the front. I collect them all. Then all pencils, pens, or any other kind of writing utensils are put away completely.

Next, I have them retrieve one crayon from the supply caddies with the only rule bring it couldn’t be white or yellow. Now they have a grading tool.

Then I would go through and pass back out all of the tests to different students.

Now, what I typically did was to give boys a girl’s test and girls a boy’s.

Why? Because I taught third grade and typically boys and girls weren’t best buds.

You know your students the best, and you know which ones would try to sneak through and cheat for each other. So just make sure you aren’t handing a paper to their BFF.

At the bottom of the test in the corner, I had the person grading write their initials in crayon. That way I knew who had graded the paper.

And I always told the students, if you make them a mistake and mark something wrong or miss something, I’m just might take that amount off your test.

Now, did I ever do that?

No, I never once did that because chances are, it was probably an honest mistake, but I always threatened that I would just so that they were aware of it and knew that there would be consequences if they were goofing off and not paying attention to what the correct answers were.

When they were all ready to begin, I would read the question and they had to have their finger on the correct number.

And then I would read the letter answer. Check.

If it was the correct answer, they were good and could put their finger on the next number.

If the answer was incorrect, they would take their crayon and mark a line through the letter of the correct answer so now not only do we know how many are wrong, but the correct answers were already marked as well.

Once you get your students trained to do this, it’s fantastic. S

You will go a little slower when you’re first starting, but after they understand the procedure each week, they quickly grab their crayons, mark their initials, and are ready to go.

They’re focused on you. They’re paying attention to what, what the letters are going to be called out.

Whenever all the multiple choice answers have been called, they count up how many are wrong and write “-X” at the top.

Then they pass it back to the owner of the paper.

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for your assessment and parent conference routine?  This 82 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 14 articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:

• Saving Grading Time
• How to Set Up Student Data Folders
• Self-Assessment for Students
• Quick Informal Assessment Hacks

…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!

See it HERE.

Now once again, if your district has a policy about privacy and students not being able to know other students grades, or if a parent complains, you won’t be able to do this. It’ll depend completely on your classroom probably from year to year (whether students are mature enough to complete this task correctly). And depending on your district and community too. So use your best judgment.

After the students get their own papers back, they were able to get immediate feedback on the test they just finished taking. They can see automatically what they received on the multiple choice portion – and I always took a few minutes to go over why an answer was correct with the class if anyone wasn’t sure why their choice was incorrect.

Plus, if I’m walking around while I’m calling out the correct answers while they are grading and I see that just about everyone has a mark next to number eight, then I make sure we go back as a class and look at that one. Real-time assessment and feedback is great.

I always saved the last two extended response answers and graded those myself.

So they didn’t really know exactly what their final score was yet.

After I have given students a few minutes to look at their scores and we discuss any questions, all the papers come back up to me before I ever put the supply caddies back on the tables.

I still don’t want pencils in anyone’s hands. Every single test has to be in my hand, before I allow the group leaders to go grab the caddies again.

Once they are all back to me, then they could put their crayons away and have their pencils.

Now, what I have is a nice stack of assessments that are, for the most part, 90% graded.

All I have to do is grade those last two questions and then come up with the final percentage and it write in my gradebook.

This method of grading works great if you have multiple choice or if you just have a quick little quiz that you wanted to do a status check for. Sometimes I would even say “trade with your diagonal partner.” They would trade real quick and check it if it’s not for a grade in the grade book.

Once you teach kids how to Trade and Grade (most likely grade 2 and up), it really takes some of the work off you and the students also benefit from immediate feedback on their assessment.

If that might not be an option for you or your school, I also asked the same question over at the Facebook Fan Page, and the fans gave plenty of suggestions as well!

Make sure to grab your freebie eBook to get all the ideas in one place.  Thanks to all the fans who participated in the Collaboration Wednesday question!

What other tips could you add for taking back the grading time commitment?  We would love to hear in the comments below!

~Charity

The post Saving Grading Time! appeared first on Organized Classroom.

I always found that right after Winter Break I realized how close testing time really was and I became a drill sergeant. 

While testing is not always fun or interactive, I do believe that practicing on a regular basis up until the week of testing makes the actual test not such a big deal. 

If we have practiced weekly, then I am fully confident in telling the students, “It is just a regular day.  You have done this a million times before and you know what to do.”

One way I prepare students is with a weekly practice test that is timed. 

Because my desks are in groups of four, I want to resist the urge to sneak a peak at his or her neighbor’s paper. 

I wanted an easy way to create some privacy without having to get out bulky cardboard to set up and take down each time. 

Instead, I used 2 colored folders to create “offices.” I buy the same colored folders at the beginning of the school year in bulk when they are a penny each.  I probably have an extra 500 folders always on hand.

The folders are easy enough to place into their desks and pull out when requested. 

They put them up and have a private area to work. 

It also minimizes the urge for those that speed through their test and then look around to see if they are the first done.  It is much harder to look through the folders without being caught.

If you start to have issues with students who are playing with their pencils through the crack in the folders, another option is to take some clear tape down the middle of 2 folders.  They will lay flat and still be able to fit in a desk nicely as well.

Students are not allowed to color, write their names, or personalize the folders for a reason. 

I want them to look uniform and be as little of a distraction as possible. 

Plus, they can be used from year to year! 

I know some teachers will laminate the folders which make them even more sturdy, but I always worry about the students who like to pick and peel away at the lamination, which proves to be a different distraction. 

File folders can also be used, but I do find that the basic 2 pocket folders are cheaper and easier to replace.

There are definitely several options above, so use what you like the best for your preferences and students.

Prepare students and parents for the big testing days

Never wonder how to present your state achievement test information to parents again! 

Make standardized test day a little more fun!

This Test Taking Survival Kit printable includes a list of “necessities” to improve scores and attitudes, a parent night powerpoint, and a testing door sign for the day of the test is also included!

See it HERE.

One other super handy tip: Print off some “test tip reminders” on sticker paper and place it on the inside cover of one of the office folders.

This of course won’t be allowed during the actual state testing day, but it will be used so many times throughout the school year up to that point, that students will hopefully have the tips and words memorized by then.

Want a copy of my testing tips?

They come 4 to a page and I print them on Avery 8165 full sheet label paper and then cut them apart on the lines.

Grab your copy below.

How do you prepare for standardized testing season? 

Do you pull desks apart?  Do the students turn in different directions – or something else?  I would love to see your tips as well in the comments below.

Happy test preparations,

~Charity

The post Testing Season Practice Time appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Differentiation in the classroom is a given, and one way to differentiate is by changing up the product for different level/interest of the learner.

Of course, if you are allowing open-ended assignments, you want to make sure that expectations are very clear – or who knows what you might end up with – but when done correctly, assigning hands-on projects that match student interest or learning styles can produce some amazing representations of the learning goals!

I learned this very early on when I decided to assign a group of third graders a project in which they were expected to construct a choice of a poem, diorama, or bumper sticker.

I received a wide range of projects, from the one that exceeded any type of expectation I had to the one that was obviously done that morning (or maybe even during lunch).

Of course, I quickly stopped to reflect on how I had best conveyed the general expectations of the assignment – and quickly I realized that self-reflection of my own teaching was a good thing – lol!

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• Saving Grading Time
• How to Set Up Student Data Folders
• Self-Assessment for Students
• Quick Informal Assessment Hacks

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The next time, I made sure to have an easy rubric ready for each of the projects, as well as a sample I had created myself so that students were able to have a clear goal in mind as a base point from which to start their own.

The second time around, the assignments were much better and I was able to grade accordingly knowing I had set forth very clear and reasonable expectations to the students.

How do you develop and customize a rubric with a rubric creator?

You can create rubrics for learning objectives, behavior, cooperative activities, or anything else you can come up with that needs clearly set parameters.

If you are at a loss for where to begin with your rubric, here are a few sites that have fast, pre-made rubrics ready for your use and/or blank template generators for you to create your own:

• Recipes4Success – there are default text options on this rubric maker which is a nice starting off point
• Teachnology – this site has a bunch of links to various generators as well
• Rubistar – always my personal favorite and go-to rubric generator
• iRubric – love that this site also has an option to share rubrics so you never have to recreate the wheel

When creating your rubric, begin by deciding 4-5 main categories in which you will be assessing students.

If it is writing you are grading, look for items such as grammar and mechanics.

If instead you are looking at an open-ended project, you will want to assess creativity, completeness, and neatness amongst other things.

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After you have your 4-5 main categories, choose a point breakdown.

You may want to keep it simple and do a 0, 3, and 5 point option.  Or maybe 60, 85, and 100.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide what the various weights are worth for your formal assessment piece.

After adding your categories and point values for each of the columns, create 2-3 criteria which you will use to verify whether the student hit that mark or not.  Build on the criteria for higher point values.

Make sure to save your work so you can “tweak” the copy later and use again from year to year.  #winning

What is a rubric sample template?

As part of my Jungle Theme Classroom Essentials Set, there is a blank rubric which allows for you to customize – and I have decided to share it with you today.

After downloading the free file to your email, use Adobe Reader to open.  Do not just double click on the file as that tends to open it in Preview.  The file will not be customizable should it open in Preview.

After making sure to open in Adobe Reader (it’s free to download if you don’t already have it installed on your computer), you will see blue text boxes right on the rubric.

Feel free to edit the file to whatever you like, save, and print!

I would love to hear how you have used rubrics in your classroom too!  Feel free to leave a comment!

~Charity

The post Rubrics ‘R’ Us appeared first on Organized Classroom.

Assessment is part of being a good teacher and while many think the only way to assess is through a paper and pencil test, I am here to gently remind those few that there are lots of ways to assess student learning. 

And running records are great not only for seeing growth, but also for having a paper trail to monitor individual student strengths and needs.

You might want to check out:

Need some new ideas for your assessment and parent conference routine?  This 82 page digital book has you covered!

Includes 14 articles from Organized Classroom, including topics such as:

• Saving Grading Time
• How to Set Up Student Data Folders
• Self-Assessment for Students
• Quick Informal Assessment Hacks

…and even more!

Now available in our Shop!  And the second copy to share with a friend is half price!

See it HERE.

The video below shows you a quick and easy way to set up running records that can be as formal or as informal as you choose!  Use different colored cards for different reasons:

• Reading workshop
• Writing workshop
• Math fluency
• Vocabulary Mastery
• Reading Fluency
• Behavior, and more!

Watch the video below to see the tutorial for making your own flippable running record assessment:

Prefer to read the transcript? I’ve got you covered!

“Hi guys, Charity Preston here from the Organized Classroom Blog.

Great to see you back!

Today, we’re going to do a fun little tip for assessment.

If you like to do running records and keep track of some things, these are fantastic for parent conferences. If you need to make a phone call it’s documentation right at your fingertips.

Now, if you’re a veteran teacher, you probably already know about this. But if you’re a new teacher, you may or may not have seen this before. And I want to make sure that all teachers have seen this idea.

This is my handy little clipboard that you could then hang on your wall somewhere. Obviously this says, do not touch. That is because it is going to contain some assessment information.

You don’t want students getting their googly eyes all over it. This is for your eyes only.

Another quick little tip: I was kind of disgruntled because I only had an ugly old clipboard that I didn’t really want to use for this video so I was going to go to the store and buy new one.

My daughter actually suggested to use packing tape to cover it up. So I did. Check this out. And it’s like a new clipboard. I’m so excited. So anyway, that’s a fun little way to spruce up a clipboard if you didn’t know that.

Alright – back to the assessment idea.

This is what it looks like under the Do Not Disturb sign.

You’re going to have notecards taped onto your clipboard.

Now I have two columns because I have 30 students in my class. So if you have many less than that, you could probably just do one column down the middle, but I wanted to go back and forth with them so that I would have enough on one side of the clipboard for all of my students.

Now, this is how it works. Basically you take regular note cards lined or unlined, that already have holes punched in them.

I didn’t have note cards with holes punched already, so I just grabbed a stack of them, threw them into my hole puncher and punched the tops of them on either side.

Begin by grabbing one note card and add a student name at the bottom of the card someplace.

Make sure each one of your students has a card.

Once you have a card created for each child, you are going to begin placing the cards on your clipboard.

You will be starting from the bottom, so if you’re doing it alphabetically (up to you the order), go ahead and start with your last student in the alphabet.

You’re going to add that card first right on the bottom edge and use a little piece of clear tape along the top edge of the card to secure it in place.

And then you’re going to repeat the process with the next student by adding the next notecard over top of the first, while still being able to see both students’ names. Add your little piece of clear tape to the second card.

Keep repeating that process until you add all student cards to your clipboard. Now you have an accordion that can flip and you can write on any single card.

So when I was talking to student #30 during their writing conference time for example, I wrote the date and that we discussed the rough draft of their current assignment.

You can add more details if you want to, such as something to focus on before the next conference.

Each student has their own individual set of notes and individualized instructional goals that you always have access to right at your fingertips simply by grabbing the clipboard for that topic. It even works for behavior management!

The great part of this is whenever your card is filled up on the front, you can even write on the back too.

When one particular card is full, just peel the card off, fold the tape over (don’t pull off as it may rip some of the documentation off the card), and you can file any way you like.

One option is to grab some binder rings. This would be an example. I’ve got two holes. So I have two O-rings.

Each student would have their own fancy little assessment card file here that you could then place into their student file, which would be fantastic.

You might also be interested in:

This program is 62 pages, and includes 26 templates that are completely editable so you can personalize your conferences to your liking! Also includes forms for having ongoing Data Folders – recommended for grades 2-12! Parent Conference Night has never been so easy! Discover for yourself!

See more pages here.

You can pull it out for a parent conferences, report cards, midterms, or whatever you want to do.

Another fun tip would be to use several clipboards with different colored notecards for different subjects. That way on the individual student document on their ring in their file would be easy to locate specific information for individual subjects or topics in which you had private conferencing.

The times when you would normally conference with a student one-on-one is when you’re going to want a clipboard, because then you can walk around with your assessment tool or have it handy for private conferences at your desk.

You’ll have this in front of you, you can sit and chat with the student, and write down your notes. And you always have record of that.

So then you can go back to the parents later and say, “On 8-22, we did talk about this. And yet he’s still having problems with this. And look, we talked about it five more times after that and we still don’t see anything different. So let’s do some kind of intervention.”

This is super handy for you to remember those individual student needs, especially when you’ve got anywhere from 15 to 30 students or more in a classroom.

Then whenever you are finished with it for the day, you can pop your little “Do Not Disturb” sheet on there and go hang your clipboard up someplace where students cannot easily gain access to it – or lock it up in a filing cabinet until it needs used again.

That is out fun little tip for today. Really easy assessment documentation flip cards.

I know that many veteran teachers have used this as it’s not a new concept, but it’s one that is important (plus it’s easy to implement and it’s super cheap). So I thought I would pass it on.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s tip!

If you have any tips to share with our readers, feel free to contact me at Organized Classroom. If you’re loving the videos, make sure that you click on the subscribe button on my YouTube channel.

Thanks so much and I’ll chat with you again soon. Bye.”

How would you utilize this simple setup in your classroom?  Please leave me a comment below to share – I love even more great ideas.

Enjoy!

~Charity

The post Flipping for Assessment appeared first on Organized Classroom.