Assessing Alphabet Knowledge

We all know that the alphabetic principle is KEY to making sure that all the other reading pieces fall into place. Year after year I have kiddos come to me in kindergarten who don't know their letter names and sounds. It is crucial to catch these students up as quickly as possible because we all know that this knowledge is the foundation of becoming a successful reader. 

Knowing how to sing the alphabet is not the same as knowing letters and sounds. Just because a child knows a letter, doesn’t necessarily mean that they know it’s sound. We as educators need to know exactly what they know, and what they still need to learn. We can do this through assessment! 

Assessment is often thought of as a “dirty word” but it doesn’t have to be. I want you to think of assessment as a challenge and a way to ensure you are on target with what you are teaching your kiddos. So where do we start?

Assess 

When assessing a student's letter/sound knowledge, it is important to assess the following.

1. Upper Case Letter Names

2. Lower Case Letter Names

3. Letter Sound Knowledge 

Once we have assessed our students' letter name and sound knowledge, it is time to analyze that data and form our reading groups.

Analyze

Students come to kindergarten with a wide range of skills and knowledge. This can make it difficult to form groups for small group instruction. The most important thing to remember is, sometimes a step backwards can result in a step forward for a student. 

When I begin analyzing my students' data, I like to have it all in one place. This chart allows me to look at the class as a whole, and then make decisions about their instruction. I usually take each individual assessment and put them in order from the most knowledge to the least amount of knowledge. Tip: Place them in order by uppercase knowledge. They usually fall right into place with only a few outliers. 

Once I can narrow my class into 3-4 groups, I take a look at where to start instruction. 

Teacher Tip:

Use this chart to help you narrow down those groups. Color code your groups so that you can easily tell them apart when you begin planning.

Make a Plan

Once our groups are formed, it’s time to dive a little deeper to find out exactly what I am going to teach to each group of students. To do this, I simply pull out a handful of sticky notes and write down what each student in the group needs. It looks something like this. 

Now that I know where to start instruction, I need to look at the continuum. We use this continuum because it is very important not to teach letters and sounds that look or sound similar at the same time. This letter name/sound continuum will help ensure that my instruction is explicit and systematic! Click here to grab the continuum below!

It is time to start instruction (my favorite part). Teaching letter/names and sounds can be so much fun! Next week, I will be showing you resources and activities to help support and teach those little learners! 

Monitor Progress

I feel like it is important to remember that these groups can and should be fluid. We monitor progress very closely and reassess students once a week.

Ultimately our goal is to ensure all of our sweet kinders know their upper and lower case letters and sounds by December! I hope that you will find this post helpful as you journey through the world of literacy with your kiddos.

If you would like to kickstart your alphabet instruction, click here to snag your letter name and sound assessment bundle!