How do you….. DATA?

Data22

With the ever growing demands on Kindergarten teachers and students, data collecting and keeping can seem like an impossible task. However difficult it may be, it’s also necessary. Without gathering and analyzing meaningful data, we can not plan lessons targeted to the needs and strengths of our classes. The demands in each district, school, and grade level are diverse. At my school, we teach and test a new set of sight words every two weeks. The children are expected to learn to read and spell these words. We also teach multiple letter sounds for each letter and high frequency vowel combinations that we want our children to use when reading and writing. We use guided reading levels to measure reading growth and are lucky to have a subscription to Reading A-Z. In addition, we are keeping common core data in read, writing, language, etc. Without accurate up to date data, it would be impossible for me to plan lessons that will intensively and adequately move my students along at the rate I should. So… about that DATA!

Our weekly data forms look like this. On M T W I pull conferences and guided reading groups during morning work, independent reading, and literacy centers. On Thursday and Friday I pull students to collect data via these forms and running records for reading growth (as needed). Click on the picture for this word document.

Data PictureI keep all of the data from these weekly tests on a spreadsheet in my BEASTLY looking Data Notebook.

20151111_132441~2~2(1)In addition, I have a section for EACH STUDENT in my Data Notebook – The student sections are organized like this:

  • Quarterly Student Led Conference Forms20151111_132500~2~2(1)
  • Reading Data
    • Reading Data Kit {Click on Picture}Slide1
    • Benchmark Running Records
  • Math Data
    • Math Data Kit {Click on Picture}Slide1

These are my Data Notebook and record keeping basics. I will post again soon with other data keeping tips.