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Out The Door Hands

Does it ever feel like there isn't enough time to formatively assess your students? I often feel that way and couldn't get over that feeling. And then it hit me! The kindergarten teachers use colored hands to help see if there students know their sight words. Each time they leave the classroom, they say one of the words and have the students place their hand on the correct word as they leave. I thought to myself, I CAN DO THAT! 

So, I created three colored hands and laminated them. Then, I used a permanent marker to write three different words or phrases. (This helps to make sure their not easily erased when they touch the hands. They can be erased when colored over with dry erase markers and wiped clean.) I started off with a multiplication symbol, division symbol, and subtraction symbol. As we left the room, I would ask them different questions that went with the symbols. Ex: What symbol do you use when you find a quotient, or, Jake has 5 jars of jelly beans. If he has 102 jelly beans in each jar, how many does he have in all? My students would then lightly touch the hand they thought matched the question as they left the classroom. 

I know what your thinking. What is stopping them from picking what the person in front of them picked? There isn't, but every time we do this activity I tell my students that they are independent people and I am looking for what they know. There is no grade attached to their answer and by relying on the person in front of them, it gives me a false impression of what they know. I also will end by saying, "What if the person in front of you gets it wrong and you follow them when you actually know the correct answer?" Usually this stops them from copying the person in front of them.

At first, my students were okay with the idea of the colored hands. Now, there isn't a day that goes by that we don't use them, and if I forget, there is always someone that chimes in.

I have also started to use this type of formative assessment for reading, science, and grammar. 
Ex: Simile, Metaphor, and Idiom. 
Ex: There, They're, Their