Five for Friday (Including a Useful Assessment Freebie)

Happy Friday!
I cannot believe we just wrapped up our fifth week of the new school year.  It has been a total blur.  But, things are really starting to come together for my little class.  I can tell because I am not absolutely dead tired at the end of this week.
I actually have enough energy to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share 5 things from my classroom during this week's Five for Friday Linky.
Here goes...

Number 1

I brought in a couple of super exciting additions to our classroom.  Click and Clack are our new class pets.  They are adorable parakeets.  The kids are totally in love with them.  They come home with me on the weekends to visit with our kitty, bunnies, and dog.
Things are working out great with these colorful guys.

Number 2

Back to school means lots of assessing.  It's so important to have a strong understanding of where your young learners are.  Some assessments are informal, some are done whole group, some are formal, some are on the computer, and others are individual.
It can be a real challenge to fit in individual assessments with primary students, especially at the beginning of the year.  They are so not independent on most tasks.
A couple of assessments I like to use are running records (Reading A to Z) and my data binder basic skill assessments.  If you would like a free copy of my data binder assessments, click on the picture below.

Number 3

While doing my assessments I used a new little goody from etsy (The Preppy Ladybug), my monogramed clipboard.  I've had it on my wish list for a while.  I finally got around to picking out the details to order one of my own.  It is so cute, that I had to order a second one, this time in my school colors.

Number 4

In my free time (hehehe-really just staying up too late), I made a new set of pieces for our class agenda.  Students really like to know what we are doing each day.  Having an agenda helps them feel more at ease and they don't ask nearly as many "when are we going to..." questions.  It also helps me stay on track to better fit everything in.

Number 5

Each year my students' first homework assignment is to learn to tie their shoes.  During that week, they can tell me when they are ready to demonstrate their shoe tying ability.  At the end of the week students that can successful tie their shoes, join the Shoe Tying Club.  They are awarded a certificate and visit the principal's treasure box.  It's a pretty big deal to my firsties.

For a FREE copy of my shoe tying certificate, click on the picture.

I guess that's about it.  I hope the beginning of your school year is going smoothly.  Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting Five for Friday.

Enjoy your long weekend.

What's In Your Data Binder? (An Assessment FREEBIE)

I've just completed my fourth week of the new school year.  Four weeks that are always so jam packed with establishing routines and procedures with my new first graders.  Weeks that are also full of assessments . . .  formal assessments, informal assessments, assessments that can be administered whole group, and some that have to be given on an individual basis.  The info that I gain from these assessments is so important to me.  It gives me a starting point for my instruction.  It also gives me data that I can share with parents as we progress through the year.

Like many of you, all this info goes into a giant binder.

This binder has a tab for each student and most of the materials (such as extra recording sheets and various flash cards) I need to complete assessments.

Some of the data I include in this binder is:  letters (naming, writing, & sounds), sight words, running records, STAR scores, numbers to 120 (naming and writing), time, fractions, shapes, place value, and math fluency.

I collect some of this data through whole group whole group assessments.  However, a good deal of the assessments are one on one.  It certainly is a challenge to fit them all in, but totally worth it.

My data binder also houses student goal and achievement pages that help guide our data chats.  Students keep track of certain skills and set goals for themselves with these pages.  Students love it when they get to color in a prize ribbon for mastering a skill.

If you are interested in a closer look at the assessments and recording sheets I have in my data binder, click on the picture below.  I have put everything together into a packet that you can have for FREE.

I hope some of you can get use out of this packet, even if it's just inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful long weekend.

Best.