Assessment Plan

The purpose of this assessment plan is to evaluate and determine if the students have the knowledge of what a plant needs to grow, the different terms related to the process and ways the plants help the earth.

The learning outcome is by the end of the unit the children will be able to demonstrate an understanding of core knowledge of how a plant grows.

The assessment context will be to give the students a test that will measure their abilities to demonstrate the knowledge or skills they have gained. This test will not be a major test; just a gauge that I can use to measure if we should move on in the lesson or concentrate more on the material for a better understanding. I may use this as a pre-test now and test later to compare the results, depending on time limits.

Plants

1. What do plants need to grow?

a.         Sun

b.         Water

c.         Air

d.         All of the above

2. The definition of germinate is:

            a. what lives on dirty hands

            b. start to grow

            c. start to die

            d. the soil plants live in

3. The germination stage ends when a ____ emerges from the soil.:

            a. worm

            b. flower

            c. shoot

            d. leaf

4. The seedling's ____ push down into the soil to anchor the new plant and to absorb water and minerals from the soil.

            a. roots

            b.shoot

            c. top

            d bottom

5. The stem with new leaves pushes up toward the _____.

            a. tree tops

            b. rain

            c. clouds

            d. light

6. Roots act like straws absorbing ____and _____ from the soil.

            a. water and minerals

            b. dirt and worms

            c. stems and shoots

            d. fruit and flowers

7. Stems do many things for a plant.

            a. support the plant

            b. act like the plants plumbing system

            c. a &b

            d. all of the above

8. Leaves are designed to capture sunlight which the plant uses to make food through a process called ___________.

            a. eating

            b. irrigating

            c. photosynthesis

            d. photoshop

9. Identify three ways a plant helps the earth..

           

10. Draw and label parts of a flowered plant.

Rubric

Student’s Name:________________________

Plant Growth	Observed	Not Observed	No Opportunity to Observe
Define photosynthesis
List ways plants help the earth
Define the purpose of roots
What do plants need to grow?
Define germination
Purpose of a stem
Definition of a shoot
Draw and label parts of a flowered plant
What is the importance of light?
What do roots take from the soil?

I have chosen this rubric because it addresses the points that I am trying to convey to the students. If my assessment was a performance based assessment, my rubric could have been more in depth, requiring more information on the behalf of the student.

I think when creating these test and essay items, they were especially difficult because of the age group of children I have chosen. The children are too young to actually create a true/false or multiple choice tests. Therefore, I had to create questions that would cause them to think but still stay on their grade level. I had to make sure that I “matched my test items to intended outcomes” which I believe that I did. And I made sure that “each item deals with an important aspect of the content area” (Kubiszyn, 2010).When choosing the essay items, it was also difficult because the students at this age cannot write passages. I had to choose essay items that would cause the student to “organize, integrate, and synthesize knowledge, to use information to solve novel problems, or to be original and innovative to problem solving” (Kubiszyn, 2010). I wanted to make sure that I peeked their interest but not overwhelm them due to their age and capabilities.

Learning Outcomes

My professional goals after I graduate with a MAED in education is to teach preschool or run my own daycare center.  I think that the younger years in schooling, such as preschool, are the most crucial to a child’s educational career. This is the time when a teacher can make the biggest impression on a child.  This first experience lays the path for how a child feels about education. The learning objectives that I believe would be beneficial to a preschooler’s experience are as follows:

Learning Outcomes, Test and Essay Items: Preschool

1. The child will show a basic knowledge of colors and shapes by identifying their qualities, sorting and recognition. Build on math skills.

Test Item: Place 3 items in front of child those are colored-red, blue, and yellow. Have child identify each color.

Test Item: Place 3 items in front of child that are shapes- circle, triangle, and square. Have child identify each shape.

Test Item: Have child draw and color each shape. Circle-red, Triangle-blue, Square-yellow.

Essay Item: Ask child how some of these shapes are used. Example: Circle-wheel, Triangle-instrument, Square-box.

2. The child will be able to recall certain facts, sequence, and recognition of characters in a story. Build on literacy skills.

Read Story: Where the Wild Things Are

Test Item: Hold up card board main characters and ask child to name each one.

Test Item: Have square pictures with a scene on them and ask the children to place them in sequential order.

Test Item: Where did the boy go on his trip? And why?

Essay Item: Ask the children their favorite part of the story and to draw a picture of it.

3. The children will be able to show knowledge of how things grow and evolve. Watching a butterfly transform. Build on science skills.

Test Item: Set up the butterfly hut. Ask children what does the caterpillar need to live? His butterfly hut, leaves to eat and sticks to climb on.

Test Item: Observe the caterpillar building its cocoon. Ask the children what happens when he is inside his cocoon.

Test Item: the butterfly has hatched. What does it look like? Draw a picture of a butterfly using many colors.

Essay Item: Color and name each stage of the butterfly changing on pre-printed ditto- caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly.