Andrea Alvarez

Every August we decorate our classrooms, organize our centers, laminate our labels, and prepare exciting activities. But here's the question that matters most... When your students walk out of your classroom in May... what will they truly know? Not just the alphabet song.Not just counting to 20. Not just recognizing a few letters. Will they have the strong literacy foundation they need to become confident readers? Will they have the math thinking skills they'll need to succeed in...

The PM3 (End-of-Year) STAR assessment window is OPEN, classrooms everywhere are beginning to wrap up a year full of growth, learning, and discovery. Now what? As you begin testing your VPK students, it’s important to remember something that every experienced teacher knows deep down: Results may surprise you — some scores will go up, and some may go down. It happens! This final assessment is simply a snapshot of where each child is right now, not a full reflection of everything they’ve learned...

Tracking student assessment results is one of the most important responsibilities for VPK teachers. Between lesson planning, daily classroom routines, and supporting student learning, keeping assessment data organized can easily become overwhelming. That’s why I created the VPK FAST STAR Year-Long Progress Monitoring Tracker – Editable — a simple, clean tool designed to help teachers record and organize PM1, PM2, and PM3 results in one convenient place. Why VPK Teachers Need a Simple FAST...