This document lists and describes 10 formative assessment strategies: Quiz, Quiz, Trade; Whiteboards; Exit/Entrance Slip; Thumbs-Up; Response Journal; Four Corners; Think-Pair-Share; Snowball Fight; Sequencing; and Fist-to-Five. Each strategy is explained in 1-3 steps and is intended to check student understanding of concepts being taught and provide opportunities for students to respond to questions. The strategies allow teachers to quickly gauge comprehension levels through verbal, written, or physical responses from individual students or small groups.

1. Top Ten Formative Assessment Strategies
Opportunities to Respond

2. Quiz; Quiz; Trade
Directions:
1. Each student prepares or is given a card with a review
question on the front and the answer on the back.
Using Stand up; Hand up; Pair up the pairs determine
who is “A” and who is “B”, “A” quizzes “B”, and “B”
answers, while “A” listens, coaches, and affirms.
2. Partners switch roles, and “B” quizzes, listens, coaches,
and affirms, as “A” answers.
3. Students then trade question cards, using Stand-up;
Hand-up, Pair-up to form new pairs, and continue Quiz,
Quiz, Trade (you could repeat this many times)
Whiteboards
Directions:
1. Each student needs an individual dry erase
board, marker, and a piece of felt (this is a
cheap and easy way to have a re-usable eraser
for everyone).
2. This can be used during whole group or small
group learning to get a quick snapshot.
Exit/Entrance Slip
Directions:
1. After a lesson or concept is taught, hand
students a quick question to complete before
leaving.
2. This could be completed before lunch or recess
or before the student’s next class.
Thumbs-Up
Directions:
1. Pose a question and ask for the response with
a thumbs-up, thumbs to the side, or thumbs-
down.
2. A quick way to modify this is by changing the
signal. For example, during math when asking
whether a problem is addition or subtraction
students show a plus sign with their fingers or
a minus sign.

3. Response Journal
Directions:
1. Students should all have a notebook or
response journal that they keep with them in
their desk.
2. Students can respond in their journal about
anything you ask; this is a great way to find
out how students think they are doing with a
certain concept
Four Corners
Directions:
1. Label the four corners of the classroom with
A,B,C, and D, just like a multiple choice
question.
2. Ask questions and have students move to the
correct corner associated with that question.
Think-Pair-Share
Directions:
1. Think: Tell students to ponder a question
or a problem.
2. Pair: Students pair up to discuss the
answer or solution to the problem. This is
the time students might decide to alter or
change their answer based on the
discussion.
3. Share: Pairs are asked to share their
thinking (Ask students to share their
partners thinking to check listening skills)
Snowball Fight
Directions:
1. Ask students to respond to a question or
multiple questions on a piece of paper.
2. Once students are finished responding, have
them crumple the paper up into a little
snowball.
3. Stand in a circle and on the count of three, all
students throw their snowballs in the middle.
4. Once all snowballs have been thrown each
student picks up someone else’s and reads the
answers.

4. Sequencing
Directions:
1. Cards, which contain components of a
content area (steps solving a math problem,
actions in a story, etc.)
2. Working in pairs, students take turns placing
one card at a time in the appropriate
sequence.
3. Students reach consensus about the
placement before moving on to the next
card.
Fist-to-Five
Directions:
1. Ask students to hold up a fist and show 0 to
5 based on their understanding of the
concept (this could also be used for an
opinion question)