Where are my students at?
This year I changed grade levels and while I am extremely excited to teach grade three there is only so much I know about these students who are coming to me. The learning coach at my school has developed this amazing school profile that details information teachers want to know such as writing, reading, and mathematical levels.
That said, I still start my year our with a bunch of testing (How horrible does that sound?!). They are just ways I like to gauge where my new group of students are, rather than just getting started with curriculum.
Spelling
Mathematics
Language Arts
I usually throw in my Garfield assessments for finding out how students feel about reading and writing.