Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Testing the Kindergarten Waters

Peanut and Jelly Bean have spent two years in our church's preschool program. It was a wonderful experience for them. I have stayed home with them since they were babies so they desperately needed some socialization. Within the first year the girls were out of their shells mostly and making friends.

Preschool taught them many lessons like how to behave in a group setting, listening to other adults, social skills, utilizing school supplies, faith based lessons, and Kindergarten readiness.

Recently, I registered them for Kindergarten and scheduled their assessments. Trying to explain to them what an assessment was proved to be a little interesting. I told them it was like a test. This would have been a fine answer if they knew what a test was. So, I explained that the teacher is going to ask them questions to see what they know.

Today I decided that I would show them what a test was all about. I wanted to make sure they could write all their lowercase letters since I noticed there were some they both still struggled to remember. I created two separate tests. Each test had 10 uppercase letters with a space next to each where they needed to write in the lowercase letter.

The girl's reaction to the test they were given was as unique as the girls themselves.

Peanut immediately sat down happily filling in an answer on every blank. A couple of times she tried to get my help and I had to explain that it was a test and I couldn't help her. She flew through the test and presented it to me. She got 6 out of 10 correct. I showed her how to write the ones she missed and had her sit down and practice them.

Jelly Bean sat quietly working on her test. She took her time...a long time. I patiently waited. Suddenly, she jumped up and ran off to her room. I followed her and found her freaking out over it. She looked at me and cried out, "I don't remember how to do a g!" Her very first test ever and the girl was STRESSED. So, I had to convince her to finish it doing her best. She finally agreed and got 8 out of 10 correct.

They both worked on their missed letters.

Peanut wrote out each one and they were done correctly. She did each one once and was ready to play.

Jelly Bean wrote out her missed lowercase letters along with her uppercase letters and then added for good measure all numbers 1-10. I never told her about extra credit, but I think she was trying to earn some. I think I found the overachiever in the family. Please, nobody tell her about grading on a curve!

I didn't realize today that my little test would show me way more than just lowercase letters.

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