Back to School Week 2: Assessment Tips

First, I would like to thank everyone that entered the giveaway for my back to school Student Procedure Handbook:

Congratulations to Stacy!!!  She won the prize!!! :)

Also, I am SOOOOOO close to having 100 followers on TPT, Instagram, AND Bloglovin'!  CRAZY!!!  I am already planning a SUPER giveaway for when I reach that milestone!!!  If you would be interested in donating an item, please visit HERE.

I'm linking up again with Miss V.  and Mrs. D. for their back to school (eeek) weekly linky:

So, this weeks topic is assessment.  I'm going to share TWO things that I have done that I have LOVED doing!!!

First, this is just a little assessment helpful hint.  For math, my students had "Toolkits" a binder where they kept all of their notes (foldables, handouts, etc.) and in it they also had their dry erase board.  All their dry erase board was was a clear plastic sheet protector with a piece of card stock in it!!  Perfect!  I also went to the Dollar Tree and bought baby socks for the kids to erase their boards. What was also great was they kids could stick the sock AND the marker in the plastic sheet, too so everything was in the same place! :)  I used these dry erase boards EVERY day in math.  It made for PERFECT formative assessment!!!!

The second thing that I started doing about two years ago was more Project Based Learning (PBL) activities.  These activities made for GREAT end of unit/novel assessments!!!!!  Who wants to just take a final test every time??  Boring! :)

What is GREAT about these PBL activities is that it takes EVERYTHING that the students have learned either in a unit or in a novel, lets them choose from a menu of differentiated activities which encompass ALL multiple intelligence's so the students are picking an activity that is fun and engaging to THEM!

I have done a PBL for all of the units that you see below:

My particular favorite was always Bud, Not Buddy just because my students ALWAYS love that book, and LOVE the projects!!!!  Same with the Blackbeard one if you're a NC teacher! :)

To assess each project I use a rubric which is included in the units.  The students always know what is expected of them up front, too.

You can find all of the units in my TPT store! 

Also, don't forget to stop by Mrs. Spangler's website this coming week for her AWESOME celebration giveaway!!!!!