How to Figure Out Where Your Kids are Starting
Many of these ideas are especially helpful during the first few weeks of school, but you can use them anytime you need to get a better feel for what your students know and where they need to go next.
3 low-stress ways to find out where kids are starting
- A quick 1:1 number talk during morning work, ask a student to count on from a random number and listen for where it breaks down.
- A simple sort activity, hand out number cards and watch how kids order or group them without any instructions.
- An observation checklist during centers, jot down what you notice instead of pulling kids for a formal test.
2 questions to ask as you watch kids work
- Is this a skill gap, or is it a confidence problem showing up as a skill gap?
- Who am I not getting a clear read on yet, and how can I catch them in the next few days?
1 thing to try
- Skip the formal pretest for now. Pick one small group activity you’d normally do anyway and use it as your first data point, you’ll learn just as much without adding one more thing to your plate.
