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What is the CRA Math Model? - The Math Spot

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This is the power of the CRA Math Model.

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Example objectives:

DOK 1:
The student will label the parts of a fish (DOK 1).
The student will recognize nouns in a sentence (DOK 1).

DOK 2:
The student will graph the results of the survey (DOK 2).
The student will compare types of governments (DOK 2).

DOK 3:
The student will construct persuasive essays (DOK 3).
The student will assess the use of colors to portray mood in art (DOK 3).

DOK 4:
The student will critique government policies on unemployment during the Great Depression (DOK 4).
The student will design a program for addressing invasive fish species in the Mississippi River (DOK 4).

The importance of Depth of knowledge (DOK) goes beyond the objectives. DOK will also influence the instructional strategies you use. For example, instructional activities on how to label the parts of a fish will look much different than instruction on how to design a plan to address invasive fish. Unit plans should address different levels of DOK. When moving students through the levels, often teachers will start with lower DOK levels and move students to higher DOK levels once a foundation is set. Here is a good explanation of DOK with verbs and possible assessments/evidence.

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DOK 1: The student will label the parts of a fish (DOK 1). The student will recognize nouns in a sentence (DOK 1). DOK 2: The student will graph the results of the survey (DOK 2). The student will compare types of governments (DOK 2). DOK 3: The student will construct persuasive essays (DOK 3).

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Browse science standardized test prep resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources.

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3 Dimensional Assessments for the NGSS Made Simple

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3 Dimensional Assessments for the NGSS Made Simple

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iExploreScience | Because science is meant to be discovered.

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Three-Dimensional Assessments For The NGSS Made Simple | iExploreScience

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A three dimensional assessments asks students to use Science and Engineering Practices to demonstrate understanding of DCIs, using the lenses of the CCC.

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Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning

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Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning

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Erin Marie Furtak (Author), Lorrie A. Shepard (Foreword)

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Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning: Supporting Ambitious and Equitable Instruction

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Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning: Supporting Ambitious and Equitable Instruction [Furtak, Erin Marie, Shepard, Lorrie A.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning: Supporting Ambitious and Equitable Instruction

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Adapting Assessment Tasks to Support Three-Dimensional Learning

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Adapting Assessment Tasks to Support Three-Dimensional Learning

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Integrating ELD Standards in Math & Science

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Integrating ELD Standards in Math & Science

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IB MYP Science Poster Assessment Criteria Rubric Year 3

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This poster includes all achievement levels with score qualifier descriptors for International Baccalaureate (IB) MYP Sciences Year 3 (USA Grades 8/9)'s Criterion A, B, C and D on one page. Putting up a poster like this in the classroom helps teachers, students, and families refer to descriptors eas...

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Criterion Reference Assessment Rubric: Group Presentation

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Criterion Reference Assessment Rubric: Group Presentation

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Free Group Project Rubric Google Docs Template

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Easily create clear and professional assessments with our free Rubric Google Docs template. This simple and clean design is perfect for printing and offers a user-friendly experience.

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15 Summative Assessment Examples for Elementary Students | Chloe Campbell Education

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We can make the learning process exciting and comprehensive. Here are 15 creative summative assessment examples for your elementary classroom.

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Picture this. You're in the middle of a lesson on fractions. On the surface, it seems like your students are engaged and understanding the concept. However, when you pass out the independent assignment, you find a sea of confused faces staring back at you. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? This scenario was a common occurrence in my classroom, but I stumbled upon a solution: formative assessment for elementary students.

What are Formative Assessments?

In the realm of education, formative assessments are like compasses that guide teachers to the right path. Formative assessments for elementary students are activities that enable you, the teacher, to evaluate your students' comprehension, gauge their progress, and pinpoint areas requiring additional support. These short, simple activities are the secret ingredient to a classroom environment where learning is a joyous journey, not an uphill battle.

Formative assessments occur throughout a chapter or a unit. They typically cover one skill or standard at a time and allows you, as the teacher, to monitor how students are learning and emphasize the process of student learning. Formative assessments are embedded into the lesson and are not advertised as "assessments". Based on the data, you can improve your teaching strategy to help students master the standards prior to the final, summative assessment.

In this blog post, we dive into 15 formative assessment examples for elementary students, that will transform your teaching approach. These activities do more than just evaluate understanding; they breathe life into the learning process, making it interactive, enjoyable, and personal.

15 Formative Assessment Ideas for Elementary Students

1. Individual White Boards: Give each student a small dry erase board and marker. Pose a question and have them jot down the answers. With a quick glance, you can gauge the overall understanding of your entire class, a swift formative assessment for elementary students.

2. Create Hand Motions: Encourage students to devise hand motions symbolizing vocabulary words or teaching concepts. Not only does it enable you to assess their understanding, but it also adds an element of fun and interaction.

3. Around the Room Cards: Tactile learning comes alive with question cards posted around the room. As students scoot around to answer the questions, you're conducting a dynamic formative assessment for elementary students. Looking for already made cards to post around the room? Check out these fun Around the Room Task Cards!

4. Comic Strips: Unleash creativity with comic strips summarizing the lesson or a specific concept. This activity is an innovative formative assessment for elementary students that caters to their artistic side.

5. Instagram-Style Post: Blend learning and technology as students craft an "Instagram" post summarizing their learning. It's a modern twist to traditional assessments.

6. Letter to an Absent Classmate: This activity is a two-fold win. Students demonstrate their understanding by summarizing the day's lesson in a letter, while the absent classmate gets a personal catch-up note.

7. Project-Based Learning: Project based learning activities like planning a sweet treat party are perfect for allowing students to practice real-world problem solving skills. Projects act as tangible representations of understanding. Through this hands-on approach, students get a chance to infuse creativity into their learning process.

8. Board Games: Reinvent learning with a board game designed around a topic. It fosters healthy competition and is a unique formative assessment for elementary students. Hoping to find board games already done for you? Check out math topics here and science topics here.

9. Write a song, poem, skit, or play: Here, students not only demonstrate understanding but also tap into their creative talents.

10. Bumper Sticker Summary: Challenge students to create a bumper sticker with ten words or fewer that encapsulates what they've learned in today's lesson. This is an engaging and succinct formative assessment for elementary students that encourages them to summarize key concepts creatively.

11. Text Strand: Have students send a text summarizing their learning. A modern, relatable form of formative assessment for elementary students.

Want math engagement ideas that will help you keep your students excited all year long?

12. Exit Tickets: Quick exit tickets at the end of class help assess understanding and highlight areas needing more attention.

13. Spot the Error: Worksheets peppered with intentional errors make students apply their understanding to identify them, strengthening their grasp on concepts.

14. Two Truths and a Lie: A fun, interactive activity where students pen down two true statements and one false about a topic, gauging their depth of understanding.

15. Write Your Own Test Questions: Let students take the lead as they draft their own test questions along with the correct answers. This intriguing activity not only measures their understanding but also gauges their ability to apply the concept, making it an innovative form of formative assessment for elementary students.

Formative assessment for elementary students is a critical component of effective teaching. These 15 examples inject creativity into the assessment process, paving the way for a positive learning environment. By implementing these formative assessment examples for elementary students, you can ensure that your students are comprehending new material while receiving the necessary support to foster their academic success.

Learn about Summative Assessments and get 15 amazing summative assessment ideas here!
👇SAVE THESE IDEAS ON PINTEREST 👇

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15 Formative Assessment Examples for Elementary Students

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Picture this. You're in the middle of a lesson on fractions. On the surface, it seems like your students are engaged and understanding the concept. However, when you pass out the independent assignment, you find a sea of confused faces staring back at you. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

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When you step into a doctor's office with a problem, they usually diagnose it by asking questions and using tools like thermometers or stethoscopes. When students step into a teacher's classroom, the most important "problems" the teacher must diagnose are the students' skills and knowledge. For a particular topic or subject, they need to understand what their students know about it and what practical abilities they can demonstrate for it, so that the teacher knows what areas to cover from the curriculum.

As a teacher, diagnostic assessments are the tool you will use to get this information. In this article, I'll explore the ins and outs of these crucial measurers of knowledge, including the various types, examples of each, and more, so you can understand their significance and how to use them effectively.

What are diagnostic assessments?

Diagnostic assessments are a type of test that diagnose students' depth of knowledge and clarify misconceptions, so that teachers know which topics they need to teach (or re-teach) from the curriculum. They are usually set for individual classes to help with lesson planning, but for larger cohorts, they can help to create entire subject programs. They can also help you set accurate targets for students, identify which intervention strategies may be needed for lower-level students, and pinpoint any higher-level students who would benefit from delving deeper into particular topics. On the downside, diagnostic assessments can take a lot of time to run, mark and analyse.

Despite being time-consuming, diagnostic assessments are a fundamental tool for identifying your students' learning gaps. Without them, you may find yourself teaching content that is too easy for the average knowledge of your class and be confronted with rows of bored faces, or topics that are too advanced for them where knitted brows and gloomy expressions are the order of the day. Like Goldilocks' porridge, diagnostic assessments allow you to teach the content that is "just right" for your particular students. And when triangulated with data from other tools like benchmarking assessments, you can build a vivid picture of your students' knowledge levels.

Diagnostic assessments can be used to test a broad scope of knowledge, including individual topics, groups of topics, or in some cases entire subjects. You may be starting a new unit on geometry and want to learn your class's average knowledge and possible misconceptions before creating your lesson plans. Or you may be starting a new school year and want to know their average knowledge of an entire subject like maths, to decide whether you should teach the concepts and skills at their grade level or fill their knowledge gaps by covering concepts and skills from previous or foundational years. Regardless of the scope, diagnostic assessments will help you discover what your students do and don't know, so that you can create effective lessons plans that are precisely aimed at their current level.

Because diagnostic assessments are often set before teaching starts for a topic or subject, they can be known as "pre-tests." According to the New York Times, these types of tests have shown to prime students' brains for the information that follows, which helps to solidify their knowledge. 1 They are often combined with identical "post-tests" after the program has been taught. For students, studies show that they can increase learning and retention (known as the "testing effect") ², and for teachers, they provide you with accurate before and after pictures of your students' knowledge. This helps you to understand the effectiveness of your learning programs and provides you with clues for improvement. There's also the important benefit of showing your students what happens when they work hard in class: they learn new concepts and become smarter! This can be extremely gratifying, motivating them to keep on succeeding and even helping them develop a lifelong love of learning.

10 diagnostic assessment examples and types

Diagnostic assessments are typically informal tests that are prompted by teachers (rather than being state mandated). This makes them unique to the school, where you can decide which types of assessments are suitable for your students and how often to set them.

There's a wide variety of diagnostic assessments types to choose from, including:

1. Quizzes

These are simple multiple-choice tests that are criterion-referenced to determine the right answers (similar to many ICAS assessments). They may also be based on specific curriculum outcomes, use scaled answers such as "strongly agree" to assess knowledge, or contain "hinge" questions to identify misconceptions.

During my time as a teacher, I used to run casual quizzes where I'd put a series of quick statements on the board and ask my students whether they agreed with it using a thumbs up / thumbs down voting system (similar to anticipation guides, covered below). This kind of exercise is a much less formal diagnostic, where we can incorporate discussion and then segway nicely into the lesson.

Quizzes are quick to mark and provide direct information on your students' understanding of specific topics.

2. Surveys

A straightforward conversation where you ask your students what they know about certain topics. As you work through each topic, the number of hands raised and the quality of answers can give you a rough indication of their general knowledge and help to guide you on which topics should be taught next.

3. Discussion boards

These are similar to surveys, but instead you ask students to come up to the board and write what they know. This can take the form of a "graffiti wall." You can recognise possible learning gaps by what should be on the board but isn't, as well as any misconceptions that your students may have.

4. Informal debates

As Socrates knew over 2,000 years ago, we can learn much from conversation and dialogue. Asking your students to casually debate a topic can help them to see it from various angles, with each side bringing their arguments, supportive reasoning and their passion to the conversation. More importantly, for the sake of diagnosing their knowledge, it also gives you a respectable summary of what they know about the topic being discussed.

5. Checklists or rubrics

Very quiet and almost impossible to hear

Quiet, but can just about hear

Ideal volume, everyone can hear clearly

Stopping and starting every few seconds

Occasional stops and starts

Consistent, good speed with few stops and starts

Clarity
Lots of mumbling, difficult to understand

Most words pronounced clearly, but some mumbling here and there

Great pronunciation, very clearly understood

Rubrics and checklists are ideal for testing skills like reading. In this example, you might ask students to verbally read a suitable text for their year level, and as they do so, you can assess their skill using reading rubrics like volume, clarity and fluency, and decide where to focus your efforts to improve their reading abilities. Or a PE-teacher may want to check what their students know about the fundamentals of a sport such as cricket, with listed items including things like "touching the wicket," "bowling" and "catching," which they can dedicate practice to if needed.

6. KWL charts

These are charts broken down into three columns - what I know, what I want to know and what I have learned - which are drawn on the board and filled out as part of a conversation you have with your students. It can help to activate their prior knowledge of a topic, get them curious about what is going to be taught, and when the final column is completed after the unit or lesson is over, it summarises the content and can make them feel satisfied with learning the new information.

Some teachers also like to include an additional section - how will you learn it (which makes it KWHL) - to encourage students to think about how to research and discover the information.

7. Mind maps

Provide students with a central topic such as "biological sciences" and ask them to surround it with what they know, with as many associative layers as they need. This can be done individually or as a group on the board.

8. Entry and exit slips/tickets

Students fill out simple entry slips with scaled questions such as "how well do you understand the material," long-form answers about specific topics or questions that are centered around the learning intentions for the lesson, or alternative information-gathering formats to assess their knowledge. When the class is done, they fill out similar exit slips to tell you what they've learned. These are a simple form of pre- and post-tests.

9. Anticipation guides

Plants and flowers produce offspring through eggs

Do you agree or disagree with the above statement? Why?

Anticipation guides are statements that students read - for example "plants and flowers produce offspring through eggs" - and answer with why they agree or disagree. They do this before you start your lesson, which helps to uncover misconceptions and assumptions that you can correct, and after the lesson, which can give them a sense of satisfaction at having learned the information.

10. Off level assessments

These are tests that contain topics from a different grade level. If your class (or a sub-section of your class) seems particularly advanced, and the subject's topics carry across multiple grade levels, you may decide to test them on some of the following grade's topics to determine just how advanced they are. If the assessment shows that they have a good depth of knowledge for the topics, you can consider teaching them laterally to solidify their knowledge further, testing more sophisticated skills like higher-order thinking and problem-solving. By contrast, you may feel the need to test some students on topics from the grade below to see where they sit and identify whether anything needs to be re-taught.

Any of these diagnostic assessment types can be created from scratch by yourself, lifted from subject textbooks, or downloaded from credible websites. The important thing is that they deal with the curriculum topics that your students need to learn, and that they diagnose all skill levels - easy, average and hard - to ensure they cover the often-broad knowledge range. Marking these types of assessment also requires vigilance and professional judgement as to why a student may have answered in a particular way - do they have misconceptions / intuitive theories that fly in the face of the curriculum? Are they demonstrating distinct knowledge gaps that need to be filled? These things can require a keen eye to spot.

Diagnostic assessments are a type of low-stakes assessment, which means they don't usually contribute towards grades. For the types that feel more intimidating, such as traditional sit-down assessments, you'll want to do everything you can to lower your students' stress levels so they can think clearly and provide you with more accurate results. However, the purpose of the assessment is to help you discover what they need to learn. So there's no right or wrong answers. And more importantly - learning should be fun! Many types of diagnostic assessment don't have to feel like tests, and in fact, the more creative and fun you can make them, the more engagement you'll get from your students, and the more excited and confident they'll feel. I once completed an assessment on atoms and molecules where I asked students to give me examples of items that are in their solid, liquid and gas states, and was able to determine their understanding by their answers. For another assessment, I'd create two lines on the floor using metre rulers - one for true, and one for false - and after being asked a question, students would decide which line to walk to while justifying their choice. We'd also play Bingo where students would have various cards with answers, and they'd have to find the correct answer to the question being asked (e.g. they'll circle their card that has 4 on it after being asked, "What is the square root of 16?"). These kinds of activities can really appeal to the various types of learners too, whether kinaesthetic, visual or auditory, and reinforce the idea that learning is fun.

Diagnostic, formative and summative assessments - what are the differences?

From these assessment types, the two broad groups are formative and summative assessments. Certain words in their names can help you to remember what they are used for:

Formative assessments are primarily used to identify learning gaps. They help you to form your teaching plans based on what your students know. They are also for learning rather than grading.

Summative assessments provide a summary of a student's knowledge for the topic or subject, given for grading purposes. They show you how much they have learned.

Formative assessments take place during learning to help you teach the right topics, and summative assessments show you how successful their learning has been. As you might have guessed, diagnostic assessments are a type of formative assessment. The key difference is that diagnostic assessments are usually completed before learning takes place to diagnose students' knowledge, and formative assessments are used throughout the learning cycle to give you regular feedback on their knowledge and allow you to change your teaching strategies to suit their needs.

Diagnostic assessments - summary

Diagnostic assessments help illuminate the depth of your students' knowledge on a topic so that you can decide what to focus on in class. They are a crucial tool for teachers, and encourage a "time-free" curriculum where your students' progression through their learning journey becomes more important than where they "should" be at a certain age; where you dismiss expectations by regularly analysing the learning needs of your particular students so that you can pinpoint not only what to teach them, but when to teach it to them. This helps to open doors of opportunity for your students and really makes a difference.

I hope this article has helped you to better understand the importance of diagnostic assessments. Good luck!

Nardin is a former primary school teacher of 10 years. During her time as a teacher, she served as Head of Years for K-2, was a trained NAPLAN marker, and was part of the team that wrote the 2021 NSW English Syllabus 3-6. She is currently an assessment consultant for ICAS and Reach.
References

1. Benedict Carey, 2014, Why Flunking Exams Is Actually A Good Thing, The New York Times

2. Mark A. McDaniel, Janis L. Anderson, Mary H. Derbish, Nova Morrisette, 2007, Testing the testing effect in the classroom, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology (Volume 19)

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Diagnostic assessments - teacher's guide & examples - ICAS Assessments

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Learn more about diagnostic assessments (various types and examples) so you can understand their significance and how to use them effectively

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Math Centers Assessment Rubric | Assessment rubric, Math centers, Math workshop

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Rubric: Math Class Work, Activities, Group/Partner Work

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Use this rubric to objectively and easily grade your students' work. Criteria: * Skills * Accuracy * Application * Neatness * Participation Other Rubric Products: Centers Rubric - The Original (with mini-rubrics) Rubric: Compare and Contrast Rubric: Handwriting Rubric: General Rubric (full-siz...

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5 Easy and Fun Summative Assessment Tools

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5 Easy and Fun Summative Assessment Tools

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5 Easy and Fun Summative Assessment Ideas - Miss Glitter Teaches

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Use fun summative assessment ideas in your classroom to shake up the learning while still getting data to differentiate your lessons. Ideas..

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EYLF Summative Assessment Report Template

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This is a fantastic assessment report to encourage children to reflect on their learning and growth. It’s a different kind of developmental summary template, that includes children in the process by using their understanding of their own development. You could ask them to draw a small picture in each section, while you assist when needed by scribing for them. The child could tell you what they liked to do in each area of the EYLF while you write it in. Alternatively, glue a photo of the child engaging in activities supporting each outcome and follow up with a short report of what is happening in each photo, and what the children are learning. You could also show some photos of the child learning and playing and put in what they say in the correct box. In the last box, once the child has finished their part, you can fill in the educator’s box on how the child’s learning is progressing.This developmental summary template could be used as part of your planning and assessment for each child, giving you a firm building block to use when it comes to writing reports.

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EYFS Summative Assessment Form: Prime and Specific Areas

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A handy summative assessment form for all early years practitioners! The form splits the Areas of Learning in the EYFS into the Prime and Specific Areas. The level the early years child is working at in each area of the EYFS can easily be recorded and analyzed. The form also contains each of the Characteristics of Effective Learning.

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27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom

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In this post, you will find 27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom! Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process.This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies! Many of the tools below are great for both formative and summative assessments.

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What are effective examples of formative assessments and how do they help teachers to gauge student learning?

If teaching your students is a journey, then formative assessments are the trail markers that keep your lessons on the right path.

Teachers use formative assessments to gauge student understanding throughout the learning process. Unlike summative assessments (like midterm exams and final projects), the input from formative assessments empowers teachers to modify instruction early in the learning process so students can have a personalized learning experience that meets their individual and collective needs.

Formative assessments also have the potential to let students take ownership of their learning by helping them identify their strengths and weaknesses. The act of self-assessment allows a student to evaluate whether or not her effort is sufficient and to make adjustments accordingly.

The most common examples of formative assessments are the simple acts of asking questions and using responses to measure whether or not students are grasping the content.

For example, asking your class does that make sense? after explaining a concept is an example of a formative assessment. If the responses reflect a strong understanding, then you can take the material to a more challenging level. If the responses reflect a lack of understanding, you can backtrack and review.

While questioning is a useful strategy, it often falls short of reaching the unique needs of a diverse group of learners, which is why teachers can benefit from differentiating the way they formatively assess their students.

However, not all formative assessments are effective at helping teachers to assess their students' learning at any given point in time or at helping students to self-assess, identify how well they understand a topic, and know when to ask for help.

If you are looking for examples of formative assessments that actually work, then you're in the right place. Below is a list of Formative Assessment Examples that you can share with students of any grade level to formatively assess a diverse group of learners in a way that is inclusive, engaging, and empowering.

Formative assessment is used to gauge student understanding during the learning process. As a teacher, you need to be able to assess how well your students are grasping a topic or concept before deciding to move onto something more challenging or entirely new.

One of the best examples of formative assessments that are simple and easy to implement is the use of mini-whiteboards (or mini dry-erase boards) in your classroom. Students can write their responses to questions and you can quickly walk around the room to see if your students are on the right track. Many teachers opt to ask a question, give students time to respond, and then have them hold up their dry-erase boards to instantly measure student understanding.

The instant visual feedback associated with these types of formative assessments will empower you to make changes to your lessons on the fly based on the needs of your students, which is why the use of mini-dry erase boards is one of the most popular formative assessment examples.

A good collection of examples of formative assessment must include activities that give your students opportunities to self-assess and make conclusions about how well they understand a topic at a given point in time.

When students have opportunities to reflect and self-assess, they are more likely to give feedback and to ask questions when they need help.

One of the most effective formative assessment examples in this guide is the Emoji Self-Assessment activity, which not only gives students a chance to self-assess, but it also lets a teacher know when her students are feeling confident, frustrated, confused, anxious, bored, etc.

This valuable input will allow you to make adjustments and to best meet the diverse needs of your students on an individual, small-group, and whole-class basis. The Emoji Self-Assessment activity is best used as an exit ticket during the last few minutes of class so you can review the responses and make adjustments to your next lesson.

You can click here to download our free Emoji Self-Assessment PDF Worksheet :)

The next idea on our formative assessment examples list is digital polling (if you prefer non-digital examples, continue onto formative assessment examples #4 for a non-tech alternative).

However, if you work in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) school or if your students have access to digital devices in the classroom, then you can take advantage of free polling software that will allow you to ask questions and have students use a device like a smart phone, tablet, or laptop to submit their answers before seeing instant results.

This kind of input is imperative to effective data-driven instruction.

For example, take a look at the formative assessment examples below where Google Slides was used as a tool to poll student responses on two different questions (Situation A assessed understanding of prime numbers and Situation B assessed understanding of perfect cubes). Notice that, in Situation A, the majority of students answered correctly, which indicates that the class has a strong understanding of this topic and that minimal review is needed. However, in Situation B, there is much more variety of responses and the majority of students answered incorrectly, which indicates that further review is needed.

To get started using polling for formative assessment in your classroom, we recommend using Google Classroom. However, other free options include Survey Monkey, Poll Everywhere, and Kahoot.

If your students do not have access to internet and/or digital devices in your classroom, you can still take advantage of polling and the instant feedback it provides by using post-it notes.

These examples of formative assessment require you to post a question on the board along with several choices and then give each student at least one post-it note to write their answer/response/reasoning on (you may choose to give students multiple post-it notes if the question allows for multiple responses).

Once students have completed their response, they will stick their post-it note on top of or near their respective choice. Once all of the responses have been posted, you will have a useful visual representation of student understanding that will help you to decide how to best meet the needs of your students moving forward.

While the post-it formative assessment activity can be used at any time during a lesson, we recommend using it as an exit ticket activity where students post their responses on the way out of the classroom. This way, students have more anonymity and they will be less inclined to change their answer due to peer pressure.

When it comes to effective yet simple formative assessments examples, look no further than the Venn Diagram.

Venn Diagrams can be used to compare and contrast two or three topics or ideas related to whatever you are currently teaching. This formative assessment tool forces students to think deeply about topics and extend their understanding beyond basic knowledge of facts and definitions.

Additionally, formative assessment activities that are highly visual cater to students with a visual learning preference who typically struggle to express their understanding verbally or through traditional written responses.

By differentiating this way, students have the freedom to express their understanding without boundaries, and their responses are usually surprisingly creative!

Looking for more formative assessment examples that give your students opportunities to be creative and gain a different perspective on whatever it is that they are currently learning?

The Create Your Own Questions formative assessment activity takes a Jeopardy-style approach to questions and answers where, like the host of Jeopardy, the teacher gives students the answer (or answers) and the students, like the contestants on Jeopardy, must respond with a question.

This type of formative assessment allows for higher-level thinking and creativity while simultaneously providing the teacher with valuable insights into how students are understanding and thinking about a given topic.

This formative assessment activity can be differentiated in many ways and you can choose to have students provide only one question or three questions (easy, medium, and hard) as shown in the sample student response below.

Examples of formative assessment that incorporate things that students are interested in-like social media-are great for boosting student interest and engagement.

For this activity, students are tasked with an exit ticket activity that requires them to summarize, in words, what they have learned under a 280-character similar to a twitter post (or tweet). The exit tweet activity forces your students to express the main ideas in a clear and concise matter.

The activity also forces to carefully think about what they plan on writing before they even start because they will be have to adhere to a character restriction that has real-world implications (since the same restrictions are placed on twitter posts).

You can click here to download our free Exit Tweet PDF Template (there are three exit tweets per page to help you save on paper; simply scissor-cut each page into three activities).

If you're not acquainted with popular internet slang and acronyms, then you probably don't know that ELI5 actually means "explain it to me like I am a 5-year-old."

By teaching others what they have already learned, students can organize their thinking, express their thoughts in words, and identify any gaps in their understanding. These benefits are why many teachers have their students work in groups and teach each other what they have already learned-because it works!

Using ELI5 as a formative assessment is simple. Give students a topic and have them describe the key concepts, ideas, and procedures-in writing-as if they were teaching it to a 5-year-old.

Another important activity type on our formative assessment examples list is assessing how well your students understand how different topics are connected to each other and what direction their learning is going in.

One great way to gain insights into how students perceive the direction of their learning is to have them make predictions about what they will be learning next and explaining why they feel that way.

For the predictions formative assessment activity, simply have students express in writing what they think they will be learning next (based on what they have already previously learned) and explain why. You will likely be surprised by the depth of student responses, which will help you to give your students a more coherent and interconnected learning experience.

The final examples of formative assessment on this list is the classic thumbs up/down activity. This type of formative assessment requires the teacher to ask a question such as:

Does that make sense to everyone?

How do we feel about that last example?

Are we ready to move onto a more challenging problem?

Then, students are instructed to respond non-verbally by raising one hand showing a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or thumbs-sideways, each of which represent the following:

Thumbs Up: I understand, I am confident, Yes

Thumbs Down: I do not understand, I am not confident, No

Thumbs Sideways: I am not sure, I partially understand, I am a little confused

While this may be the simplest of formative assessment examples on this list, the practice is incredibly effective as it gives you an immediate idea of how your students are feeling and whether or not you should take your lesson to the next level or backtrack and review before moving on-which is precisely what good formative assessment activities are supposed to do.

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10 Formative Assessment Examples for Your Classroom - Mashup Math

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This post shares 10 effective and engaging formative assessment examples that you can use in your classroom. These examples of formative assessments range from exit tickets to self-assessment to polling. All of the formative assessments in the post will help you to gauge student learning and best me

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How do you identify students' strengths and areas of growth in math? How do you meet this big range of needs? Having a math diagnostic assessment that's easy to use AND provides data that's easy to understand is key. You'll also want the information to be transferred into clear, actionable steps.

In this post, I'll go through a free math diagnostic assessment I offer. I'll explain how to use it, the different components, and most importantly, what to do with the information once you're done.

What Is A Math Diagnostic Assessment?

A math diagnostic assessment is used to "diagnose" or identify the strengths and areas of growth of students in your classroom. The assessment should help you determine exactly what math skills students are proficient in. Then, based on each student's results, you can identify math skills students already know, as well as skill gaps.

This is incredibly valuable because the results will give you the exact next steps to help kids move ahead in math!

This free math diagnostic includes an assessment for Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.
Here are the broader categories covered in the Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade assessments:

Operations & Algebraic Thinking

Number & Operations in Base Ten

Measurement & Data

Geometry

**Kindergarten also covers the category of "Counting & Cardinality."

For every section, there are teacher directions so that you can plan accordingly:

Then, of course, there are materials for students to complete as they are being assessed! Here are some examples from the Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade assessments:

Many of the components can be given in a large or small group setting (such as circling which group of items has more/less), whereas some components should be administered in a one-on-one setting so that you can get accurate data for individuals.

Collecting Data

There are a variety of ways you could use this free resource. Use the math diagnostic assessment:

as a pretest to see what skills students have before teaching a unit

as a summative assessment at the end of a unit

at the end of the school year to see what skills students have mastered or are still developing

at the beginning of the year to see which skills students have mastered/need support with for the upcoming school year **(For this option - if you are a 1st grade teacher, for example, you'd probably want to use the Kindergarten assessment to get an accurate picture of what students have already mastered, since students wouldn't have been taught the 1st grade skills yet.)

This resource has options for teachers to mark students' answers on either a single assessment scoring sheet or a multi-student assessment scoring sheet. See examples of each here:

Some teachers prefer one or the other. Some even like to start with the single and then transfer to the multiple, so I wanted to offer both options!

You've Completed The Diagnostic - Now What?

After completing the math assessment for your student(s), you'll have lots of information at your fingertips! You'll see things that students were able to do, but also most likely skills that students aren't familiar with.

We can look at this data through a waterfall analogy. We can start big picture, trickle down to group trends, and then end with individual takeaways. Here's a list of questions you should ask yourself (and write down answers to) when reflecting on the data:

What are some strengths our class has as a whole? (at least 2/3 of the class was able to do)

What are some areas of growth our class has as a whole (at least 2/3 of the class wasn't able to do)

Are there certain skills that a group of students is really advanced in? (i.e. five Kindergarten students were able to compose teen numbers)

Are there certain skills that a group of students had trouble with? (i.e. six 1st grade students weren't able to count a group of objects up to 10)

Are there individual students who are advanced in particular skills? (i.e. one Kindergarten student could add/subtract two digit numbers)

Are there individual students who are fairly behind in certain areas? (i.e. one 2nd grade student who can't identify 2-D shapes)

Answers to these questions will help you determine which type of instruction you should do in whole group, small group, and 1:1.

If a majority of your class is at (more or less) the same starting point, you'll be able to do a lot of your instruction whole group. This will help maximize the instructional time your students are getting to cover the same skills.

However, if your class has a pretty wide variety of skill levels, you'll most likely want to be doing a lot of (but not necessarily all of) your math instruction in a small group setting. This will allow you to tailor each small group lesson around a different skill that matches the ability level of the group.

If you're seeing some individual outliers (high and low), you'll want to make notes of how you can incorporate this one-on-one instruction throughout the day/week. Maybe you can provide differentiated materials to this student during math time. If you have an aide, they can pull the student to work on the specific skills.

Materials To Use For Instruction

Trying to find or create materials for a vast array of abilities can be difficult and time-consuming! That's why I developed my Math Library. The categories covered in the Math Library mimic the skills addressed in the math diagnostic. Each Math Library is organized into different categories (like "Addition and Subtraction") for easy downloading.

There are tons of different types of resources in each of the Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade libraries- worksheets, games, hands-on materials, Google slides, etc! New activities are added each month, and you'll receive an email letting you know that fresh materials are ready for you!

Conclusion

Having a math assessment will provide you with the necessary tools to identify student strengths and areas of growth. Click here to get access to my FREE math diagnostic assessment!

Happy teaching!

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Use This Math Diagnostic Assessment to Identify Strengths and Areas of Growth - Learning at the Primary Pond

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Having a math diagnostic assessment that's easy to use AND provides data that's easy to understand is key. In this post, I'll go through a free math diagnostic assessment to identify student strengths and areas of growth.

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Virtual Manipulatives for Science – Anek Belbase

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Visualizing scientific concepts like magnetism and gravity can be fun, tedious, or somewhere in-between depending on your perspective. For early elementary students, it is probably hard to find a substitute for concrete models that demonstrate scientific concepts – like planetariums or fruit-models to communicate astronomical concepts.

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6 Sites for Virtual Labs That Your Students Will Love

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Are you hesitant about using in-person labs in the classroom? Virtual labs are a great option for both in-school and distance learning! There are LOTS of options out there for online simulations - definitely too many to count! Here are some of my favorite virtual labs to use with my students.

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Best Virtual Science Tools - Proximity Learning

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Explore how Proximity Learning brings hands-on science to online classrooms with interactive experiments and real-time engagement for K–12 success today.

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Interactive STEM Simulations & Virtual Labs | Gizmos

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Unlock STEM potential with our 550+ virtual labs and interactive math and science simulations. Discover engaging activities and STEM lessons with Gizmos!

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Over 1.1 billion simulations delivered

160interactive simulations

97language translations

3001teacher-submitted lessons

Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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Toy Theatre: Virtual Manipulatives for Science

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Toy Theatre: Virtual Manipulatives for Science

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Science Manipulatives " Toy Theater | Learn * Create * Play

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Virtual Science Teachers – Free Online Science Interactives

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STEM Resource Finder | Concord Consortium

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The STEM Resource Finder is a collection of the Concord Consortium’s best resources for science, math, and engineering education. Our curated collections offer lesson plans and units for your class based on these resources. All for free!”

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Support Reading Comprehension with Activity Worksheets for Organizing Information

Science A-Z Graphic Organizers support content-area learning and reading comprehension as students read fiction and nonfiction science texts. The Graphic Organizer collections are arranged by primary (grades K-2) and intermediate (grades 3-6) as well as by nonfiction and fiction. Select appropriate sheets for informational texts or literary texts to support students who are learning at different developmental levels and reading for various purposes.

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Science A-Z Graphic Organizers support content-area learning and reading comprehension as students read fiction and nonfiction science texts. The Graphic Organizer collections are arranged by primary (grades K-2) and intermediate (grades 3-6) as well as by nonfiction and fiction.

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STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering, and math - are a crucial part of a child's education both now and in the future. These STEM books are filled with great stories and cool project ideas that can help lay a foundation for any mixture of STEM disciplines. We hope the books recommended here spark excitement, teach something new, and make STEM accessible to your children.

STEM Books for Kids Ages 4 - 8

STEM Books for Ages 8 - 12
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in 2017 and updated in 2023.

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18 STEM Books That Make Science and Technology Fun for Kids | Brightly

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Science, technology, engineering, and math are crucial parts of a child's education. These STEM books are filled with great stories and project ideas.

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Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12

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NSTA, in conjunction with the Children’s Book Council, is pleased to announce the list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students. Representing the best science trade books published in 2025 for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the books featured on the list include captivating stories, compelling characters, and beautiful illustrations.

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Science Nonfiction Elementary Plus - Elementary - Categories

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Welcome to Junior Library Guild, the collection development and book review service relied upon by thousands of schools and public libraries across the country.

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The Engineering Design Process: An Eggstronaut Mission

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“And all things were created for Him. All that came into being exists for Christ — that is, it exists to display the greatness of Christ. Nothing — nothing! — in the universe exists for its own sake. Everything from the bottom of the oceans to the top of the mountains, from the smallest particle to the biggest star, from the most boring school subject to the most fascinating science, from the ugliest cockroach to the most beautiful human, from the greatest saint to the most wicked genocidal dictator — everything that exists, exists to make the greatness of Christ more fully known — including you, and the person you have the hardest time liking.” – John Piper

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•“God has to be an engineer to have put all this together. Only an engineer would have the logic and creative genius to build the universe and design and fabricate all the plants and animals. God calculated bone stresses under loads, did chemical calculations for digestive systems, kinematics for muscle movement, pipeline hydraulics for blood flow and electric circuits for nervous systems, and used bird nests' architecture.” -Webb, B. C., God is an Engineer, Chapter 5, 2004.

•As an ENGINEER…

•God begins with the end in mind.

•God begins with a specific plan for His project.

•God carries out the plan in stages and detail.

•Unlike human effort, God can create from nothing.

•God may have considered, but does not need to consider, alternative solutions.

•Romans 11:36 - For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To God be the glory forever and ever.

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In Chapter 9, Dr. Leiffer and Dr. Graff examine the relationship between God and the Engineer—the intersection of God’s character and actions and engineering.

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The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.

Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.

–Psalm 19:1-2

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Science Talk: Developing a deeper understanding of literacy through understanding content

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Science Talk: Developing a deeper understanding of literacy through understanding content

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How to Read the Next Generation Science Standards