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Oh teacher friends – the struggle is real! On-going progress monitoring and you want me to teach too?!? I don’t know about you, but progress monitoring could be its own full-time position.
Why I {LOVE} Progress Monitoring . . .
I’m a huge fan of progress monitoring because it allows me to know where my students are at all times. I see their growth and their struggles. I can adjust my teaching and differentiate as needed. That is, after all, what progress monitoring is all about.
But it is TOUGH to get it all in! What I was doing was okay, but not great. I knew there had to be a better way. That’s when I set out to create a new process that would work in my classroom without creating more work or taking more time (two big commodities for this teacher).
An Easier Way!
I ended up with these phonics based books and assessments. I was actually killing two birds with one stone – phonics practice for my students and progress monitoring made easier for me.
So here’s how it all works:
I create a skill focused booklet for my students. Sometimes this is a whole class skill, and sometimes it is a differentiated skill used in small groups. The more I used this in my classroom, the more I found its versatility! They were so fast and easy to create with the binding machine. And I found that with the binding spine and cover they were very durable and weathered lots of 5 and 6 year old use! But a good old stapler works too! And they make a great end of year portfolio of what the student has learned.
The best part of the skill booklets is that the activities are similar. What this means in my classroom is that after teaching what to do, my students can begin working independently. That’s a BIG deal. If you are a fellow lower elementary teacher you know just what a big deal that is!
As my students are working through their skills book, I am using the coordinating assessments / progress monitoring tools. It was super easy to do a quick check with my students during small group teaching time, while waiting in the hallway, or other times I set aside or found a couple of minutes.
At first, I printed these assessments out and kept them for each student. They were so easy to grab and mark. It was definitely a time saver! But then . . .
I decided to try using these as a digital progress monitoring tool. Oh my – chocolate pie! I felt like I hit the lottery. 😍 Now I keep a digital folder for each student on Google Drive. I open the assessment I need and can quickly check where my students are. Since it is all digital I can easily share the progress data with parents, administrators, intervention teachers and more!
This tool has been a life changer for me! I love the focused skill booklets for my students and they appreciate the consistency too. I no longer have the feelings of dread when it comes to progress monitoring because I know I have a system in place that works. I can now look forward to watching and sharing my students growth. I can adjust my teaching as needed and help each of my students meet their full potential.
If you are looking for a way to tame that progress monitoring beast – then you need to give this a try. You will find everything you need for all of these phonic skills:
- The Alphabet
- Short Vowel Sounds (CVC Word Families)
- Long Vowel Sounds
- S, L & R Blends
- Digraphs and Trigraphs
- Diphthongs and Double Consonants
