Informal or formative assessments permit immediate evaluations about student learning on a whole-class level. Teachers can observe student behavior and knowledge with regard to academic concepts and decide to revisit the material or move on to new concepts once the students have demonstrated comprehension. Informal assessments may look at group or individual projects, in addition to the whole-class checks for understanding, and often do not result in a grade. Examples of informal assessments include graphic organizers, charts, posters, art projects, group work and reflective writing.
One-on-one assessments give teachers an individual outlook on student learning by meeting with each child alone and giving each the opportunity to demonstrate her concept learning. Often used to check reading, writing, and letter comprehension, one-on-one assessments remove the external factors involved with students who are not yet comfortable speaking in front of their classmates and may not be savvy with teamwork.
Checklists can be an effective tool to assess specific pieces of achievement for first-grade students. During the primary years of elementary school, students must often learn blended letter sounds, sight words and numerical values, in which there is no "gray area" for evaluation; the students either comprehend the content, or they don't. A checklist can be a useful tool for one-on-one assessment, encouraging students to verbally speak their responses.
A student portfolio is a collection of completed work and may contribute to a first-grader's score for the quarter. Portfolios may be separated by subject area for each student and include areas such as math, writing and reading comprehension. Portfolios also give teachers a tool to show parents during conferences to back up their scoring decisions.