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Assessments
Assessment 1: Oral Reading & Comprehension (9/17)
I. read a short passage about a girl named Ellie on page 114 of the Improving Reading
Inventory (IRI) book. She then answered the comprehension questions on page 129 of the IRI
book and she scored 6/8. I then asked her a set of my own questions below.
o What kind of punctation do you see? How does it impact the text?
o How do we know Gram is important to Ellie?
o How old do you think Ellie’s sister is?
o What would be a good title for this passage?
o What is a synonym for tired?
o How could this story be more detailed?
o Tell me the order of events.
She scored a 6/7 on the questions I asked her. This oral reading and the comprehension
questions (along with my own questions) assessed her comprehension of key details from an
orally read passage, her knowledge of punctuation, inferencing, vocabulary (finding synonyms),
and sequencing.
While she read, she used her finger, showing that she is using her metacognition. I
learned that she doesn’t really grasp what is being read. She does alright with literal questions,
but inferential and applied comprehension questions need more practice and strategies. She
grasps some of the main ideas, but details get lost easily. When given a hint or an unrelated
example, she takes that example and barely changes it to “make it her own.” She doesn’t really
like to think about her answers or check to see if they make sense. Her attitude while ready
seemed pleasant and indifferent.
I then asked her to write what happens next in the story. This assessed her predicting
skills and making connections with the text. She basically rewrote parts of the story and included
details we wish we knew (which really didn’t have anything to do with the story). I learned that
she doesn’t like to think deeply and take the time to write meaningful text that makes sense. She
doesn’t go back and reflect on her writing, nor does she fully understand what makes sense in
connection with the text she read.

Assessment 2: Cause and Effect Cards (9/24)

I. was given 2 sets of cards, one group that were causes and the other group that were the effects
of the causes. She then matched the cause and effect cards. She did well on these (80% accuracy)
and exhibited metacognition as she explained her choices and self-corrected her work as she
realized that some of her answers were incorrect. While she read, she did miss many words and
seemed to move quickly through the assessment. She was eager to do all activities involving
these cards, though.

Assessment 3: Key Detail Cards (9/24)

On this assessment, she read or listened to a short paragraph and then answered a question
regarding a key detail from this passage. She orally read every other card and listened when I
read the others. She got 100% on this assignment, which is interesting because on assessments
after this, she struggled to pick out key details. With scaffolding and guided instruction, I. does
well with key details, but when left to self-monitor and self-correct, she does poorly at
monitoring her work ethic and time she puts into the assignment. While she did well on this, an
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area of improvement for her is learning how to pick out key details by herself. Again, she
enjoyed working with the cards.

Assessment 4: Context Clue Cards (9/24)

In this assessment, I. was given cards with a sentence that had an underlined word. She would
then find the definition of the underlined word (on a separate card) and match them based on the
context clues given in the sentence. She read these sentences aloud. I. sped through this
assessment and made a couple errors earning her a score of 80%. She didn’t really check to make
sure things made sense and didn’t check her work at the end. She did seem engaged since it was
a hands-on activity and she likes touching things and manipulating materials. From this activity,
I learned that I. doesn’t really know how to look for clues within a text to figure out what things
mean. She has trouble decoding words at times, and she has trouble slowing down, especially
when she is not in the mood to learn and would rather speed through it to just get it done.

Assessment 5: Antonym Matchup (9/24)

In this activity, I. was given a group of small cards (like puzzle pieces) and a group of larger
cards. Two small cards fit unto each large card like puzzle pieces giving captions to the images
and showing how they were opposites. I. did a great job making connections between the text
and the images and corrected herself as she refined her ideas of what the pictures were
representing as the words made themselves known in the activity. From this, I learned that I.
really enjoys working with her hands and having pictures. As shown in the following
assessments as well, I. does well when given the option to work in formats that are less formal or
traditional. Sorting and identifying are more enjoyable for her. I also learned that she has a strong
understanding of antonyms as she scored 100%. She had solid reasoning behind why she chose
the card and images she did for each set of opposites.

Assessment 6: Sequencing Cards (9/26)

The sequencing cards consisted of 5 short stories shown through pictures. The cards were mixed
up, and I. was asked to put them in order to create the story. They have minimal text and serve as
captions or are shown in speech bubbles. I gave I. the cards. We would both read them,
sometimes she would read them aloud and then I would read them. Usually, even if she read
them, I would repeat them afterward or clarify certain words she missed. On these assessments,
she scored a 7/25. As shown in the following tests as well, I. struggles to pick out details in
information. In this particular assessment, she struggled to see how certain details of the
illustrations and text made the most sense when they were put in a certain order. When asked if
she wanted to check her work, she said she wanted to leave them the way they were.

Assessment 7: Silent Reading Comprehension (9/26)

On page 115 of our IRI book, I had I. silently read a short passage. Upon asking her to do so, she
immediately asked if she could read it out loud instead. Throughout the silent reading, she used
her finger, went very quickly over the text, and looked around the room and yawned a few times.
She did not seem engaged or interested, and from her answers to the comprehension questions,
she did not understand any of it. The story was about a young girl moving with her family to her
aunt’s house and how she doesn’t want to. In her answers, she included references to the color of
the “friend” (the dog in the story) and how tall he was (which was not explained) and that she
made cookies (which was nowhere in the passage). She received a score of 1/2/10. She needs
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direct instruction and scaffolding for all levels of comprehension questions (literal, inferential,
and applied). From this assessment, I learned that I. does not like to silent read. When left to her
own devices, she hurries so she can be done, is easily distracted by anything else going on in the
room and doesn’t pay attention to details in the text.

Assessment 8: Writing Sample (10/1) & Revision (10/3)

The day I assigned this writing, I. was not having it. It took 5 minutes to convince her to do any
work, so her paragraph is about what she was angry about: having to wear pants instead of
shorts. Her brief paragraph contained very simple sentences that were repetitive and straight to
her point. From this, I learned that she doesn’t write every word she says. There were fragments
(that she did correct as she was writing it), and she doesn’t have a good grasp on punctuation. As
she was attempting to spell words, I noticed that she omitted sounds as she was sounding them
out. These letters were then left out of the word even though she said the phoneme as she was
sounding out the word. When I asked her to revise, she glimpsed it over and said she didn’t want
to change anything. From this, I learned that I. doesn’t like to review the work she has already
completed. I get a sense of “I’ve already finished it, why look again” type of approach to her
work. Since spelling and writing doesn’t seem to be her strongpoint either, going back and
changing and moving words around is strenuous. Through the writing process with I., I found
that she needs to slow down and develop her thoughts. She also needs to work through
conventions and making sure her writing is detailed. She also has no real understanding of the
writing process, so that is definitely a skill to work on with her in the future.

Assessment 9: Word Identification Worksheet (10/3)

In this assessment, I. was given 10 sentences with a blank and a word bank. She then used
context clues to determine which word made the most sense in the sentence. She really activated
her metacognition in this activity. Throughout, she discussed the differences between words,
how it related to the sentence, and misunderstandings she had herself (“Why do you need the
word ‘swimming’ in front of ‘pool’?”). From this, I learned that she has a good understanding of
context and what makes sense in a sentence. I also learned that she works more diligently when
given choices in her work (given a word bank instead of an open-ended response). When I ask
her to work on an open-ended response, she is much less willing to elaborate and take pride in
answering. (She has trouble with spelling, and it takes her a while to write.) When I give her a
word bank and have the sentences already typed out, she talks through her work, is more likely
to check it to make sure it makes sense and seems more willing to complete the assignment.

Assessment 10: Sentence Elaboration (10/3)

From working with her over the past month or so, I have found that I. does not like to elaborate. I
gave her a list of 5 simple sentences and told her to add to them to make them more detailed and
interesting. She did add information to the sentences; however, the information was also simple,
and as we concluded with the worksheet, she would add another just-as-simple sentence or a
fragment. From this, I learned that I. needs prompting when asked to elaborate. She did a decent
job of connecting the details she decided to include to her own life and her own preferences
(such as eating pizza because she likes pepperoni).

Assessment 11: Logical Sentences (10/8)

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I read I. 5 sentences and ask her to revise them or change them so that they make sense. Each
contained a piece of information that didn’t make sense with the rest of the sentence. An
example is, “To celebrate Halloween, we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” I. did very
well with identifying what didn’t make sense and offering logical revisions to make the sentence
appropriate. I learned that she is observant when something doesn’t quite fit in the context of a
sentence or passage.

Assessment 12: Listening to Reading & Story Map (10/8)

I read aloud Mossy by Jan Brett. Beforehand, I explained that we would be filling out a story
map that included boxes to explain each of the following questions: What was the story about?
Who were the characters? What was your favorite part? What was the problem? Was it resolved?
She then drew a picture from the book and rated it (5 stars). From this, I learned that I. has a hard
time picking up on details of stories through oral reading, silent reading, and even when listening
to someone else read. When asked who the characters were, she got the main character’s name
right, but couldn’t remember the woman who took Mossy the turtle, the little girl who thought
Mossy should go back in the pond, or Mossy’s turtle friend, Scoot, who were all major parts of
the story. She mixed up names and even created her own name for the one character she couldn’t
remember. She had an understanding of the story over all when she explains what the story is
about, but even her explanation of the resolution is weak. She seemed very engaged as I read the
story and seemed to enjoy this activity/assessment.

Assessment 13: Vocabulary

Vocabulary assessments were done over the course of a couple weeks. They were split up due to
the length of the vocabulary list and I.’s stamina to complete work with a pleasant attitude. On
definitional, she scored 5/17, on contextual 11/17, and conceptual 14/17. (I was lenient, so some
of these may have been marked wrong by another grader.) I created a matching activity for the
first 14 words to see if I. understood the words definitionally…she definitely did not. I then
asked her to describe what the words were like or what they felt like (conceptual) before asking
her to write a sentence using the word (contextual). She did much better in these sections. When
she understood a word, she used it appropriately in the sentence, and when she didn’t she would
usually stick with a topic (ex. socks and leaves) and put the vocabulary word somewhere in that
sentence she made up. Other times, I would verbally ask her to give me the definitional and
contextual meaning of words and write her answers down and then have her draw or explain the
conceptual understanding of the word as well. All results are in her student work attached to this
analysis.

I. did better with conceptual understanding of the words than contextually or definitionally,
though. She also enjoys drawing, so asking her to draw a picture of her suggesting something
was far more appealing to her. One thing I found throughout these assessments was her lack of
understanding how to write. For instance, at one point she began writing right to left while
creating a conceptual understanding of the word. Overall, I. could use more instruction regarding
these vocabulary words and how they relate to her learning.

Assessment 14: Onsets and Rimes (10/8)

I. was given two flipbooks, one with the rime -ack and the other -ing. She then wrote the onsets
to make words with these endings. (She actually did really, really well with this.)
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