Mailbox and Formative Assessment

Mail time! To excite students about writing, I brought in a mailbox for us to exchange letters. I bought it at Lowes for $10, painted it yellow, and spelled my name with magnets. I love reading their notes, and two students even wrote me a story! I've already learned things about the students through our writing that I hadn't known before. They seem to love getting notes back from me too and are anxious for me to check my mail when the flag is up. 

Something else I have introduced recently is the Ticket Box. Twice a week (for math and writing) I give students an exit ticket with one question or problem they must answer or solve. The task usually takes the students under a minute to do, and then they put their ticket in the Ticket Box. The exit tickets are an efficient way for me to do a formative assessment on students' progress and understanding to guide instruction.

To make the Ticket Box, I wrapped a gift box and cut a hole in the lid. I could have used a tissue box but I wanted a box with a lid so it would be easy to pull the tickets out, and I wanted something sturdy so it would last.

For math, I created a data sheet to keep a record of students' assessment. I uploaded a blank one to Google Docs if you'd like a copy! Here is a photo of the one I am using. I cropped off the students' names for this photo but their names are listed in the furthest left column. The grey boxes have the topic being assessed. The green and blue boxes have the dates. I put the green and blue boxes in pairs for each week since I want to assess twice a week. Hope this is helpful!

 

Enjoy the remaining three day weekend! :)