We try to provide parents with at least one portfolio assessment a year.  Portfolio Assessment is a different way of looking at your child’s development.  We collect samples of your child’s work during the year and write anecdotal notes about what we see your child doing/saying.  These work samples and notes will be the foundation of the portfolio your child will build during the year.  Information about how your child is learning, growing and changing (such as stories, photographs, cutting activities, writing samples, and paintings) will be collected.  Observations about how your child plays with others, listens to stories, puts a story in order, works a puzzle and uses large and small muscles will be added.  As the school year goes on, we will collect many samples of different areas of learning to see how your child is developing.  This method of assessment will show your child’s growth over time in a natural setting based on real performance.  Often a test only tells what he or she could do on a particular day and at a particular time.  Portfolio assessment also allows your child to participate in the evaluation.  It focuses on what your child is doing rather than what he or she is not doing.  Finally, portfolio assessment helps us as your child’s teachers plan our instruction and meet your child’s individual learning needs.  The assessment will drive the instruction.  Your help is important in assessing your child.  Occasionally, we will send home a few samples of your child’s work called a “showcase”.  It will help you see what your child is doing.  We would like for you to share and celebrate this with your child.  Also, please feel free to add notes about activities and interactions that you observe to your child’s portfolio.  These notes will add to our knowledge of your child.  If you would like to learn further about Portfolio Assessments read, "The Portfolio And Its Use A Road Map for Assessment (Second Edition)" by Sharon MacDonald.  

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