Post-it Notes in a Primary Classroom: Five ways to add engagement to your assessments

Post-it Notes are a great way to add engagement to formative assessments that are used in classrooms. The best part is that they are super affordable and are always available. They serve a variety of uses for students and teachers and the following five Post-it strategies are aimed at adding engagement to assessment techniques that are already used in classrooms today.

#1. Post Up (exit slip): Pictured below is a dry erase board with two questions listed at the top. The two questions were aligned to the target and were referred to throughout the lesson as to what the students would need to be able to do in order to reach the desired daily target (I can statement). At the end of the lesson, all students were given a stack of Post-it Notes. They each took a note and wrote their name very small on the bottom (or back). They then answered both questions just like they would on a normal sheet of paper. Following this, they then posted their notes on the board under the two questions, and went to lunch. While the students were at lunch I took my anecdotal notes to the board and quickly recorded the data from the assessment. Why Post-it Notes here? It takes a normal pencil-paper type assessment and adds a little engagement through change and movement for the students.

postup

 

fillinblank#2. Fill in the blank (assessment during instruction): We have all heard of thumbs up/ thumbs down, yes/no cards, etc. To be a little more specific with assessment during instruction and finding out where each individual student is at (at the time), this type of assessment is another way to get students up and out of their seats and moving around. As pictured below, several math problems are written on dry erase boards throughout the room. There is a missing addend or sum in each equation. Students are all given a Post-it Note with a number already written on it. They must go walking around the room to find where they need to plug their number in at. They write their names on the bottom of the notes so the teacher can use real time observation to see exactly where students are, or check it moments later after students have posted up and returned to their seats.

sym

#3. Activity with Creativity: The title of this one says it all. Giving students the ability to create will basically add an unlimited amount of engagement to any activity. Materials needed on this one are yarn and Post-it Notes (different colors are ideal). Last year, while working with lines of symmetry students were given the chance to create their own shapes out of Post-it Notes. They could also create any design with their notes. Once finished with a design they could use a straight line of yearn to see if the shape/design was symmetrical. Check out the pictures below for an example or two.

close#4. Close Reading: The picture below pretty much says it all. I used to let students write these symbols on printed off passages. That was about as far as I had ever taken it. Now, with the Post-it Notes I can apply these symbols to any text that we read. As an added bonus, these bright colors and a hands on approach do apply a little more engagement to the text.

graph#5. Classroom Graphing: Different colors of Post-it Notes can really add some “pop and pow” to a visual. By applying this to a graph, it can grab the attention of the students fairly easily as compared to other methods. It is also something you can leave up as a visual for the rest of the day or week. Below is an example that you can twist and turn into several different types of graphing strategies.

Have you used these Post-it note strategies before? Did I leave a good one out? Let me know in the comments below!

Check back soon for Post-it Notes and…. Coding!

This post was originally published on www.1stcamefun.blogspot.com

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