Math Journal Proficiency Scale

Since we use math journals for problem solving almost every day I decided to try out proficiency scales with our math journals.  When I created the original one, I asked the students to help me.  We talked about the things that I needed to see in their math journals to tell that they understood the math problem (the 3).  Then we talked about what it would look like if they almost understood (the 2) or didn't understand at all (the 1). Finally, I asked them what would be above and beyond- what could they do extra to show that they really understood (the 4).  This is what we've been using for 2nd Quarter.

It worked really well for 2nd quarter because we haven't introduced addition yet.  Students were just drawing pictures to solve the word problem and circling their answers.  But now that we can finally (I detest our district curriculum map waiting until 3rd quarter to introduce addition) introduce addition and an equation we had to change the proficiency scale to reflect that.  So, my team and I sat down at one of our PLC meetings and came up with this new scale.  It's not much different- written in more kid-friendly language, but it also introduces the idea of an equation that matches that action of the word problem.

And, I made a better anchor chart than the one I had before. I apologize for the pictures- camera was acting weird.

So, I made all of this into a freebie on TpT.  Click here for the link.

Hope it's something that can help your students assess their learning!