Spelling and Script...Handwriting! Handwriting! Handwriting! It is so difficult to find time to teach it...much less to ASSESS it...until now!
Spelling and Script: A Quick and Easy Grading Sheet is a simple sheet that has allowed me to fit two assessments into one timeframe, with very little extra effort!
How many times have you heard parents complain that handwriting, especially script, is "no longer taught" in school? As teachers, we sure wish the students had better handwriting, but really, with all of the emphasis on testing and the new Common Core Standards, who has the time to create a handwriting assessment, administer it, and then grade it?
This sheet will simplify your life, while showing parents that you share their concern that children be able to write neatly and efficiently in order to communicate effectively in school and in life.
And when your students are writing neatly at the end of the year, their other teachers will thank you, too!
I have used this sheet successfully with my inner-city third grade class, but having taught fourth and fifth graders, know that the other grades can use this as well. My students' parents have been very happy with the results, and my administrators are happy that the handwriting issue is being addressed in an unobtrusive way.
This is how it works: there are lines on the sheet for 20 spelling words, and each word has two lines. You give your usual spelling test (my guess is that you say the word, use it in a sentence, and then say the word again). The students print the word on the first line of each space.
After the test is administered, the students go back, and write each word in script on the line below it.
The teacher grades the first line for spelling, and the second for script.
I give one grade for spelling, and another for handwriting. This keeps the grading accurate for separate report card grades.
The way I grade it is as follows:
Spelling: each word is worth 5 points. For those of you having an issue with students capitalizing random words or letters, I subtract a point unless it is a proper noun. They learn quickly, ha, ha!
2. Handwriting: I grade handwriting on a 4-point rubric, which is included in this packet.
I quickly circle letters in words that need improvement, sometimes writing the word next to theirs if I feel they need to see it. It takes about one minute per page...sometimes less.
Handwriting, handwriting, handwriting...Let other teachers grumble, while you can be confident that you assess your students' progress in script every week!