Editable Letter Identification/Sound Assessment for Preschoolers

If your preschooler is learning her letter names and letter sounds, you may be wondering where her skills are. An editable letter identification assessment is what you need to understand exactly what your preschooler is capable of.

And there’s a bonus, too!

 

As many of my readers already know, I own and operate a preschool out of my home.  Running a preschool has given me the freedom to design and write my own literacy and math curriculum for preschool.  Along with curriculum, I have stood in need of a way to record my preschoolers’ development and progress.  This is how the “Editable Letter Identification Assessment” came about.

Now, let me be completely clear, here. I teach a new letter, in isolation of the rest of the alphabet, nearly every week. (Yup, kinda’ like “letter of the week” programs.  However, I support the targeted letter with meaningful phonics and print awareness). But just because I teach a new letter most weeks does not mean that I think that preschoolers need to know all their letters before they enter kindergarten.

There are a lot of parents who look for that in a preschool. Academics are easily measurable with a paper and pencil and examples of learning are easy to send home in the form of worksheets. But I make it clear to my preschool parents that learning doesn’t mean reciting.

In fact, here is an excerpt from the letter I send to my preschool parents before school starts:

Children will participate in daily oral language instruction, as well we phonological awareness and exposure to phonics. I do not stress about children learning letter names and sounds (although I certainly do teach them), but rather build their literacy skills through print awareness skills and emergent writing.

So, why am I telling you all of this?  Because I don’t want to misinform you.

Teaching letter names and sounds are important, and so is assessment.  But just because you have an assessment that shows where a child is lacking doesn’t mean that teachers or parents should start drilling and killing.  Instead, I explain to my preschooler’s parents that s/he will be entering kindergarten with their own set of skills, and it is a fantastic start to their education.  This assessment allows me to demonstrate exactly what those skills are, where they might be strong, and where they might have more to learn.

Editable Letter Identification and Sound Assessment

The best thing (well, nearly the best thing) about this assessment is that, not only is it printable, but also editable. It is designed to assess your preschooler three times a year.  At the time of each assessment, you enter the preschooler’s score and save the document.

My preschool parents really appreciate this assessment. Since teaching preschool requires hands-on activities and lots and lots of play, it’s hard to send home examples each week of what a student is learning. This assessment gives parents the information about their child’s progress they are looking for.

But here is the thing:

This assessment includes so, so, so much more than just letter identification and sounds.

What’s Included

• social skills (listening, speaking, manners, concepts of self, and work habits)
• literacy (print awareness skills, oral language, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge)
• writing (pencil grip, letter formation, name writing, and scissor cutting)
• mathematics (number sense skills, sorting, patterning, positional words, measurement, graphing, shapes, and colors)
• For the Teacher: A teacher’s guide is included for this assessment, with a list of needed materials.

And yes, you may have noticed, that all these skills sound just like the skills I teach in my literacy math lesson plans.   If the literacy and math lesson plans are already in your collection, you will want to pick this up, too.

You can find preschool curriculum here:

Preschool Literacy Lesson Plans Bundle

How to Write Preschool Lesson Plans for Math

The Absolute Best Way to Organize Lesson Plans

Assessment Scores

The scoring of the assessment is identified by how capable a child is on a developmental scale.

• D = developmentally appropriate
• E = emerging skills
• N = not emerging

The instructions for scoring each section is included in the teacher’s guide.

Bonus! Toddler Skills Assessment

Do you teach a toddler class? I have included an editable toddler skills assessment, too!

Using the same scoring as I discussed above, you can record a range of skills your toddlers are learning. (You know, all the really important stuff that is literally impossible to send home examples of, like sharing, making choices, showing awareness of own space, and so on).

What’s included int the toddler skills assessment

Here’s what you get in the toddler skills assessment:

• social skills (concepts of self)
• approaches toward learning (showing initiative, engaging and persistence, and creativity)
• physical development (physical well-being, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills)
• general knowledge (cognition skills like repeating and mirroring, or assigning roles in play)
• language and literacy development (listening, speaking, and reading readiness)
• mathematics (general math skills in all five math strands)

These Toddler Activities will help with Skills Assessments:

Color Sorting and Fine Motor Activity for Toddlers

Meaningful Writing Journal for Toddlers

The Benefits of Sorting Activities

Grab your copy of Toddler and Preschool Skills assessments!

I found it so much easier to track my preschoolers’ progress and learning with these assessments. It made targeting small group work so much easier. And my preschool parents love all the information it gives them about their child.

It has been an excellent tool for me and for the parents, and I’m excited to share it with you!

Get your copy here.

or head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to grab it.