For my special education class, Assessment in Special Education, I had the opportunity to assist in running the kindergarten registration day at Highland Primary School. My experience was very positive. I was placed in a testing room, so I had to administer the Lollipop test to any child who came to my table. I asked the children simple question such as to point to certain colored pictures or to identify verbally the name of a picture. The test also had the children identify numbers, letters, and practice copying basic symbols. Through administering the test, I was able to determine if the child could properly hold a pencil, answer questions verbally and non-verbally, and based on the scores determine if the child was ready to start Kindergarten or not. I found that most of the children who came to my table did really well on the Lollipop test. Although some of them were nervous at first, I only had a couple of children cry when their parents left them. To combat this, I tried to distract them by asking questions and showing them the pictures of the lollipops on the test. This helped to get them distracted from the fact that their parents had left. Through this experience I was able to see what children at different developmental levels look like.
Additionally, this experience allowed me to see a great model for how a kindergarten registration could be run. I admired how the children traveled to stations around the school and earned stickers at each place they stopped. I also thought that this was a great opportunity for these children to see the school they might be attending in the fall. For parents, this decision could be hard and by providing them with an assessment that determines where their child is at developmentally, it allowed them to see on paper that their child was ready or would benefit from another year at preschool.
I also found this experience a great opportunity to interact with parents. It was interesting to see how different parents reacted to the Lollipop test. I felt that there was less pressure on the children whose parents sat outside of the classroom than the few parents who refused to leave their child. There were also some parents who were really nervous about their child taking the Lollipop test, which I found interesting because this test was not the final deciding factor of their child’s education. Overall, I learned a lot about efficiently administering assessments to young children and interacting with parents. I found this experiences really worthwhile and I will definitely take what I learned from this experience and apply it in my future school and classroom.
Additionally, this experience allowed me to see a great model for how a kindergarten registration could be run. I admired how the children traveled to stations around the school and earned stickers at each place they stopped. I also thought that this was a great opportunity for these children to see the school they might be attending in the fall. For parents, this decision could be hard and by providing them with an assessment that determines where their child is at developmentally, it allowed them to see on paper that their child was ready or would benefit from another year at preschool.
I also found this experience a great opportunity to interact with parents. It was interesting to see how different parents reacted to the Lollipop test. I felt that there was less pressure on the children whose parents sat outside of the classroom than the few parents who refused to leave their child. There were also some parents who were really nervous about their child taking the Lollipop test, which I found interesting because this test was not the final deciding factor of their child’s education. Overall, I learned a lot about efficiently administering assessments to young children and interacting with parents. I found this experiences really worthwhile and I will definitely take what I learned from this experience and apply it in my future school and classroom.