Austinmer Public School 2013 Kate Rasmussen Austinmer Public School 2013

Good evening, my name is Kate Rasmussen Good evening, my name is Kate Rasmussen. I have been one of the Kindergarten teachers this year here at Austinmer. It was only my second year teaching and my first year on Kindergarten. I have found it to be challenging and incredibly rewarding. The amount of growth and hunger to learn in such young students has amazed me. Not only have I taught them through out the year but they are continually teaching me! Reminding me how simple life can be!

What is Best Start? The Best Start Assessment is a Department of Education and Communities initiative that provides schools with increased support for the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy during their first years of school. Students each start school with a varied range of literacy and numeracy skills. It is important for Kinder teachers to find out what EACH student knows so they can effectively plan and teach what their students need to learn next. Tonight I am here to talk to you about Best Start. ….. Some are familiar with books, can recognise some letters and even write their own name or count to ten, while others have not yet learned these skills.

How is it implemented? Your child’s teacher will administer the Best start Kindergarten Assessment. It is not a test! The teacher will observe each child individually. They will be asked to answer general questions and the teacher will record what they can do. The information gathered from the Best Start Data Assessment is to help the teacher meet your childs learning needs.

Best Start Assessment Process… Teacher Individually administers assessment to each student within first week of attending school. Data is recorded confidentially on the Best Start website (Only accessible by the classroom teacher). Parent feedback letter home. Best Start information night.

What is being assessed? Recognise familiar print in the environment Retell details from a story book Write their own name Understand about how books work Recognise sound and letters The Literacy assessment allows teachers to find out about each students early Literacy knowledge and understandings by using a series of specifically designed assessment tasks.

How well a student can count Which numbers they can identify Can they add small numbers Can they subtract small numbers Recognise a repeated pattern The Best Start Numeracy Assessment helps teachers devlop effective learning programs to build upon what student currently know.

Do I need to prepare my child? Beginning school should be exciting and a happy time for your child. The Best Start Assessment is only for teachers to gather information. It should be a reflection of what the student knows at the time… there is no need for any extra practise of “study”. It is simply a way for Kindergarten teachers to begin teaching from where their students are at and creating learning experiences that reflect their current learning abilities.

Parent Feedback… At the completion of all students assessments parents will be sent a Parent Feedback Information letter on what your teacher has learned about your child. This information can sometimes be confusing. Your child is assessed against the Best Start Learning continuum. When you receive the Parent letter home it may say your for example that your child cannot write their name. However, you are aware that they can. This is because they have not achieve all of the other points in the Learning Continuum Cluster which means they cannot move beyond this level.

Learning Continuum This is an example of the learning continuum and the points the child needs to meet before moving one to the next cluster on the Learning Continuum.

Confused? Remember you can always have a meeting with your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

Remember you can always have a meeting with your child’s teacher if you have any questions. If you need information your child’s teacher can provide you with parent information or direct you to a parent help website And most importantly… This information is for the teacher to create learning plans that help your child learn and grow!

Let’s make starting school a happy experience… Let the teachers do the stressing and assessing! Thank you Kate Rasmussen