EARLY READING ASSESSMENT TOOLS

For young learners, the jump from reading one word to two words on a page can seem like a huge leap, which is why our series of CVC, CCVC, CVCC and Sight Words eBooks gradually build young readers competencies, moving from two word, to three and finally four to five-word sentences per page. In addition to the eBooks, we now offer editable reading assessment forms to help you evaluate students every step of the way on their reading journey, as shown in the sample below.

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These reading assessment sheets accompany each of our sight word eBooks and incorporate tips for implementing them in one’s classroom or as part of one’s homeschooling program, including the ones below.

1. Evaluating Decoding Skills

Our eBook collections have been scaffolded to afford students the opportunity to practice sight words singly before moving on to books that combine multiple sight words alongside CVC, CCVC and/or CVCC words in a sentence. When it comes to tracking student progress, our reading assessment tools can be used to note how successful a student is at decoding each word prior to progressing to the next book or set of books. In practice this would mean tallying the total of words read correctly and if the learner achieves a score of 90% or higher, deeming them successful and ready to be evaluated on another book.

2. Evaluating Reading Skills

As a student is reading, space for you to note reading skills observed has been provided on the reading assessment tool. This area can be used to jot down observations, like if the learner is looking at the picture for clues, is able to sound out all the letters, is able to read with fluency, etc. After listening to the child read and marking their score you can add notes for next steps, which could include areas to work on during upcoming lessons.

3. Evaluating Reading Comprehension Skills

We have also included a reading comprehension page for you to ask questions at the end of each assessment. These have been left blank for you to create and insert questions of your own which can include things like:

1. What can _______ do?
2. What things did you see?
3. How many _____ were there?
   

Whether you choose to use the reading comprehension section as part of the overall score that determines whether a student is ready to be assessed on the next book (or set of books), or simply as practice for answering comprehension questions in the future, is up to your discretion.

4. Frequency of Evaluations

The purpose of our program is to assist you in identifying student gaps in reading so that you can help your students to build a strong foundation; that said, how often you assess learners is your choice. It may be that you feel it best to evaluate students after introducing and teaching each new sight word, at the end of each term to provide feedback to parents on how their child is doing and plan steps forward for the next term, etc.

5. Evaluating Using Every eBook

Do you need to assess students on every single book? Not necessarily. While some might find it helpful to test students on each book, others may find that assessing students after a set number of eBooks read more beneficial, and this is fine as long as you feel you have sufficient feedback from which to inform and guide upcoming lessons.

At Education by Shala Books, we recognize that not everyone’s needs are the same, which is why our templates are available in an editable Word format so that you may customize them as you see fit. Have questions about our early readers program and/or assessment tools? Contact us! We are happy to help.

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