Basic Reading Assessments {Free and Editable}

Over the summer, I redesigned my reading inventories that I use for pinpointing reading difficulties and tracking progress throughout the year. I am happy to share them with you. They will be fully editable by you. That way you can tailor them to your specific intervention program or requirements. WARNING: Don't worry if the file looks all "wonky" in Dropbox. It will look correct when you open the file in PowerPoint.

If you missed my math post, you can read it {HERE}.

These assessments will cover the main areas where kids encounter reading difficulties: phonological awareness, phonics, sight word knowledge, and fluency. I keep track of all of this data on a cover sheet that you can grab and edit {HERE}.

First, I give a phonological awareness inventory. This one is a blend of several that I have used over the years. It has been an invaluable tool to me. I have never had a child score low on this inventory who didn't have significant issues with phonological awareness. Each word/question equals one point out of 50. You can download your own copy {HERE}.

Next, we do a quick sight word inventory. The student receives a flip book of sight words so that they are not overwhelmed by too many words at one time. I used the Dolch list, but you can edit this to use Fry's list. List 1 = preprimer, List 2 = primer, etc. I don't use a score sheet. I just keep count of errors with my fingers. When I reach five, we stop at the end of that page. If they make no errors, I record the date of mastery on their cover sheet. You can get your editable copy of the flip book {HERE}. After you download/edit, just print, cut, and bind them.

Then, I give a phonics inventory. It starts off with letter identification and goes all the way to multisyllabic words. Each section has its own page in the flip book so you can stop whenever the student has reached a point of frustration or excessive errors. During our first session, I try to do letter id through real long vowel words. The flip book pages look like the one below. It always amazes me how you can separate the sight readers from the kids who can truly decode by comparing their ability to read real v. nonsense words with the same sound patterns. You can download the student book {HERE}.

As the child reads each page, I either mark out correct responses or circle incorrect responses. They are less anxious when they hear you making a mark for everything they read. I use this inventory to pinpoint specific phonics deficits. Then, I use it to pre/post assess each skill as I teach it. You can download/edit the 3 page score sheet {HERE}. 

Lastly, we do a one minute fluency read using a passage from DIBELS. You can get the student text and the assessor's sheet for free {HERE}. 

Many thanks to Kimberly Geswein and A Perfect Blend for their amazing fonts! 

I hope that these will be helpful to you! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or comment below. :)

Documenting Small Group Observations with Ease

As a Title I/RTI teacher, one of my main responsibilities is progress monitoring. Keeping up with all of that data can be overwhelming. In fact, sometimes little things that are just as important go undocumented. This year, one of my goals is to implement a system for documenting observations during small groups. 

Too many times, I have left a meeting about a student, and thought, "Crud muffins! I forgot to ask his mom to remember to send his eyeglasses each day!" or "I forgot to mention that Kaitlyn may have sensory needs. She's been chewing on pencils or buttons." The main reasons I forget are that:

1. I was too busy just sharing the data and the more minor issues get swept under the rug.

2. I didn't write it down when it happened. 

It is my goal this year to write down one observation on each student one time a week. I think that is attainable. If it works out, I will have 4 - 6 observations to contribute at the next RTI meeting on that child. Now, I am not planning to write down full out anecdotal records. I am not required to write those, and I will keep those of you who are in my thoughts and prayers. :)   I am just planning to jot down one quick thought about one student at the end of each session. 

Ideas for documentation:

-child specific improvements

-child specific struggles

-behavior issues

-changes in social behavior

-possible side effects from meds

-anything that the counselor/psychologist/classroom teacher/parent may need to know

Here is a quick demo that I whipped up. There is a space for writing in the names of the students in your small group. The weekly dates for the 2016-2017 school year are already filled in. All you have to do is jot down your notes. 

I made a full color and a b/w edition. If this would be useful to you, click {HERE} to download your copy.