Assessment
I plan to do my assessment very simply. Each job has something that has to be written down and shared with the group. I will evaluate whether each student understood the book and the assignment by looking at written work and by listening to what they each contribute to the group.
I know that some children in the class write down their ideas better than they can verbalize them and others are the opposite. I know which strengths and weaknesses each child in the group has and I will pay special attention to these things. If I know that one child has a difficult time explaining what his/her idea is, I can focus on what they have written.
I will not assess reading rate, just comprehension. I want to make sure that each student fully understood what each book was about. I think that comprehension is more important in this instance than rate.
In the launch activity, we will do a chart of what they already know about ocean animals and I will assess what they know and what they think they know. This will give me a good starting place, because they could know more or less than we think they already do.
I will consider the work each child does each day to be a formative assessment. If I see that one or several children are struggling with a concept, I will know that we will have to go back to that. I will use mostly observation and daily work to see how well the students are understanding the material presented.
The summative assessment of this unit will be the powerpoint presentations at the end. I will be able to see how much knowledge they have gained from these books. They are already familiar with powerpoint and enjoy doing presentations.