Which informal assessment strategy is most effective for assessing rhyming skills?

The strategy of having the student attempt to make words with the same rhymes is particularly effective for assessing rhyming skills because it directly engages the student's understanding and ability to identify rhyme patterns. By generating words that rhyme, the student demonstrates not only their phonological awareness but also their creative linguistic skills. This active participation allows the teacher to observe the student's grasp of sound correspondence and reinforces the concept of rhyme through hands-on practice.

In contrast, simply reading a passage aloud might not provide insight into the student's specific rhyming abilities; while it showcases their reading skills, it does not actively assess their understanding of rhyming. Listening to a poem can expose students to rhyming structures but does not involve them in the production of rhyming words, making it less effective for assessment purposes. Writing a story, while beneficial for overall language development, does not necessarily focus on rhyming skills and might result in varied outcomes depending on the student's narrative focus rather than rhyme usage. Thus, the active engagement in generating rhymes is the most direct approach to assessing this particular skill.