Early childhood educators recognize the importance and validity of observing children's activities in the classroom, documenting them in an organized format, and assessing them in relation to the range of expected outcomes for children in that grade. Experienced teachers, however, know that the process of observing, documenting, and assessing children's activities can be difficult and time-consuming. This guide presents an overall system for assessing kindergarten students, with forms and checklists, designed to be completed in the midst of the school day, when the children are actually being observed. The easy-to-complete forms enable teachers to record observations of individual students or the class as a whole. Following an introduction, chapter one presents information about the kindergarten assessment process and the assessment sheets. The second chapter provides an overview of the schedule for using the assessment sheets and suggestions for using them. The following 10 chapters explain in detail the areas being assessed, the information compiled by specific sheets, how to compile the information, and how to utilize it. The topics covered are: (1) baseline assessment; (2) assessing students' initial activities; (3) assessing learning center participation; (4) assessing individual students' development; (5) assessing social characteristics and development; (6) lesson assessment; (7) language arts assessment; (8) assessing mid-year activities; (9) spring assessment; and (10) year-end assessment. A brief conclusion completes the guide. Contains 18 references. (TJQ)