It is so important to identify which phonics skills students know, which is why I’m so excited to share this free phonics assessment for Kindergarten-5th Grade with you! You’ll be able to use these quick checks as 1:1 assessments to guide your small groups placement, plan literacy centers, and/or independent reading activities. This decoding assessment is a great way for classroom teachers to start the school year and identify which specific skills to begin working on right from the beginning of the year. It will provide so much valuable information with regard to next steps to take for your phonics instruction focus. The free phonics assessment can be a powerful tool used throughout the year to identify student progress with the variety of phonics patterns included.
Kindergarten students and primary students will most likely begin with the earlier pages of the free assessment. While second grade and third grade students will be able to begin with some of the later phonics skills included, as they’ve most likely already mastered the earlier concepts from the Scope & Sequence. If you have struggling readers in upper elementary, you can also use these diagnostic phonics assessments to identify the phonics knowledge of your students. The word list for the phonics skills begins with CVC words, all the up through multiple syllable words with prefixes and suffixes, as well as various syllable types.
Focusing on a specific phonics skill with each level of the assessment tool, teachers will gain insight into the reading skills of their students. Teachers will also then have an idea of where to provide additional support for each student based on the student’s results on this free phonics assessment.
These free phonics assessments for Kindergarten-5th Grade can be used as a Science of Reading placement assessments tool. Latest research has indicated that the more explicit and systematic we can be in our phonics instruction, the better off students will be, as readers. So, the more specific we are when completing benchmark assessments with our students, the quicker students will be on the road to reading!
Diagnostic Assessments for Phonics Skills
While all students can complete all parts of the free phonics assessment for Kindergarten-5th Grade, it is not entirely necessary, depending on each individual student. As you’ll see on the Scope & Sequence included with these diagnostic assessments, a variety of phonics skills are including ranging from short vowel words to multiple syllable words. This large span of phonics skills allows you to use these informal assessments with hopefully all your students.
One thing to keep in mind when using this- you’ll first want to ensure that students have knowledge of letter sound recognition. A kindergarten teacher who has students who are working on letter sounds, both short vowels, and consonants, in isolation may struggle even with the first level of this free assessment. (You may need to begin with an alphabet assessment instead.) However, once the kindergarten teacher feels confident in the progress made on sound recognition, she can proceed with assessing her young readers with the real words included on the student assessment pages. It is a great tool for a kindergarten phonics assessment.
Free Phonics Assessment for Decoding
For decoding:
- You will give the student the Phonics Quick Check Assessment Mat that you’ve chosen. Again, just a reminder that you do not have to start at CVC words for all your students. You may already have some that you can tell are beyond CVC words, and can instead start them at a later phonics pattern.
- You will ask the student to read the words in order, one at a time. Students will practice oral blending as they move through the ten words on each page. Simple words that are also common words that students would know are used on these assessments to give you a clear understanding of each student’s ability in the area of decoding. As they read you will mark up the individual student data recording sheets (you’ll need copies of all of these, for each student).
- The student pages can be copied on colorful paper, or laminated, for repeated use.
- Recording sheets are provided, both for individual students, as well as for the entire class.
- You can just put a check under the words decoded correctly. If errors are made, I recommend writing what the student said under the word, in each box.
- You’ll then total up the number of words read correctly and list it below the box, along with the date tested. If a student needs to repeat one of the phonics patterns multiple times, I recommend making multiple copies of the Student Data Recording Sheet, for that student. You can then staple them together to show progress.
- If students pass the phonics pattern (score of 80% or higher), then you may want to keep the assessing going right then, and move onto the next phonics pattern. For some students who are reading well, you may get through a lot of these pages in one sitting. However, if it takes a student a long time to get through one phonics pattern page, I recommend waiting before assessing the next phonics pattern.
- After the student is done with her assessment, you’ll use the Whole Class Data Recording Page to list the individual scores and date passed.
Dictation Assessments
While decoding is a primary focus of this free phonics assessment, encoding is also a focus. Students can complete the dictation assessments as a follow up to the decoding. A word list is included of all the phonics patterns so that different skills can be focused on based on the individual needs of the students in primary grades, or upper elementary. You do not need to begin at the exact same spot for every single student, but rather choose which phonics skill is best to begin with based on the needs of individual students. While one student may begin with the r-controlled vowels free phonics assessment, another may start on long vowels, if it’s clear they’ve already mastered the other phonics skills.
Sometimes you will have a student who has a great decoding skill, but struggles with spelling those same words he can read. This diagnostic phonics test, in the encoding format, will show you exactly which phonics patterns are difficult for those students. You will state a word from the phonics word list, then students will write the word on their student pages. It will feel like a spelling test, but with a specific focus on phonics patterns.
You’ll then look over their student pages and review the results of this assessment. The individual assessment scores will then help you decide which phonetic skills to work on next, with each of your readers. Your small group instruction that follows this assessment will be easier to plan and feel very purposeful, and guided, based on the diagnostic phonics test results.
For encoding:
- You will give the student the blank Dictation Page. Same as encoding, you do not have to start at CVC words for all your students. You may already have some that you can tell are beyond CVC words, and can instead start them at a later phonics pattern.
- You will use the List of Words Page to state each word listed for a specific phonics pattern.
- As you read each word, the student will write one word in each box, on the Dictation page.
- Once finished, you’ll then total up the number of words spelled correctly and list it along with the date tested. If a student needs to repeat one of the phonics patterns multiple times, I recommend making multiple copies of the Dictation Page, for that student. You can then staple them together to show progress.
- If students pass the phonics pattern (score of 80% or higher), then you may want to keep the assessing going right then, and move onto the next phonics pattern. For some students who are good at spelling, you may get through a lot of these pages in one sitting. However, if it takes a student a long time to get through one phonics pattern page, I recommend waiting before assessing the next phonics pattern.
- After the student is done with her assessment, you’ll use the Whole Class Data Recording Page to list the individual scores and date passed.
After the Phonics Assessments
You can first introduce the free phonics assessment in a whole group setting where you’re showing all your students examples of assessment questions that they will see when they sit down one on one with you. Just be sure to use different sets of words than what is actually included on the free phonics assessment, so students aren’t simply showing they have a good memory! This is simply one way to make readers comfortable with the assessment before beginning. When students recognize that all their peers are doing the assessment as well, they are likely to be less stressed. Less stress as we know often leads to better performance.
After completing the assessment you may feel lost with what resources to use with each of your students. Included in the free phonics assessment, you’ll find links to resources I recommend using to work on the various phonetic skills. You can check out those resources below!
Phonics Based Reading Passages
You may also want to read more about each of these resources to see how they will best fit the needs of your individual students through the blog posts linked below.
Early Literacy Instruction – Reading Intervention Mats
Silent e Activities – Phonics Passages
