Another
season of state assessments is upon us. I’m sure so many teachers
can relate to this: You have all grade level standards to review for reading,
math and science- and no time to do it in. You are feeling stressed, but
you do not want your students to feel any stress.
What’s a teacher to do?
Whether you view test prep as a necessary evil, or just plain evil, the fact remains that your students deserve to be well prepared for their assessments. Just like every year, the weight of all the assessments causes stress for administrators, teachers, parents, and unfortunately the students. All of of this pressure can drive you crazy, and a crazed teacher obviously means students who are off-the-wall. Here’s where I take a few deep breaths and pull out my arsenal of test prep tricks. Bring it, state assessments, we’re ready for you! Follow my recipe for test prep, and you’ll be ready too!
Test Prep Recipe
Ingredients (duplicate as needed for each subject tested)
1 cup of state standards
1/2 cup of FUN
1/4 cup of Humor
Serving Size: The number of students in your class.
Directions
1. Keep your test prep fun, sweet, and simple! Whether you have a few days, a week or a little more time to dedicate to reviewing skills taught all year make it a time filled with games, practice, and prizes in your classroom.
2. Realistically, you will not be able to review all of the skills. It is imperative that you choose standards that your students still struggle with, standards taught at the beginning of the year, and standards that you know your students can excel at if they are just reminded of the skill.
3. Students do need to practice: But it doesn’t need to be sitting down with a test prep booklet. Make it fun! Turn prep into a game. There are thousands of task cards for sale at Teachers Pay Teachers. You can easily do a search for the skill that you want students to practice. Then cut and laminate the task cards. Put them in a center! Let students rotate through a variety of centers for a specific amount of time (it depends on the amount of centers you create and the number of students you have). Then review the answers once students have gone through all the centers. Or play Scoot with Task Cards. I have blogged about this before, but basically you place one task card on each desk and you give students about 1-2 minutes per card to solve it on their own sheet of paper.
You can read about how we play Scoot in my classroom here. Super important: Make sure that you make time to review the answers and if possible, review in small group with any students who struggle with standards.
A cute learning activity that I am incorporating into test prep is an idea that I got from my friend over at Tailored 4 Teachers. She did this last year with her 4th graders, and I am doing it this year with my 5th graders. It's an egg (learning) hunt! I am going to put task cards into plastic Easter eggs and hide them in plain sight around my classroom. I am choosing cards from standards that my students have struggled with all year. Students will find an egg, open and solve it, and then students will share their task cards with the class and explain how to solve to others.
4. Once testing day(s) arrives, it is important for your students to know that you aren’t worried. And if you are nervous? Fake it until you make it! Remember, the test-taking attitudes your students form now may impact their test-taking behaviors for the rest of their education. After all, standardized tests don’t go away as you go up through the grades. If anything, you are creating the foundation for your students to take the SAT in high school. Keep in mind that a lot of your students’ attitudes will be shaped by the feelings you project.
5. This is the time for you to emphasize that testing is a chance for your students to show off and show what they know. Each morning students are testing, I give testing treats. This is just a little something I give to ease the stress.
What are your test prep strategies? How do you stay sane (and keep your students from going bonkers) while facing the testing pressure? Please share your ideas in the comments section below.
What’s a teacher to do?
Whether you view test prep as a necessary evil, or just plain evil, the fact remains that your students deserve to be well prepared for their assessments. Just like every year, the weight of all the assessments causes stress for administrators, teachers, parents, and unfortunately the students. All of of this pressure can drive you crazy, and a crazed teacher obviously means students who are off-the-wall. Here’s where I take a few deep breaths and pull out my arsenal of test prep tricks. Bring it, state assessments, we’re ready for you! Follow my recipe for test prep, and you’ll be ready too!
Test Prep Recipe
Ingredients (duplicate as needed for each subject tested)
1 cup of state standards
1/2 cup of FUN
1/4 cup of Humor
Serving Size: The number of students in your class.
Directions
1. Keep your test prep fun, sweet, and simple! Whether you have a few days, a week or a little more time to dedicate to reviewing skills taught all year make it a time filled with games, practice, and prizes in your classroom.
2. Realistically, you will not be able to review all of the skills. It is imperative that you choose standards that your students still struggle with, standards taught at the beginning of the year, and standards that you know your students can excel at if they are just reminded of the skill.
3. Students do need to practice: But it doesn’t need to be sitting down with a test prep booklet. Make it fun! Turn prep into a game. There are thousands of task cards for sale at Teachers Pay Teachers. You can easily do a search for the skill that you want students to practice. Then cut and laminate the task cards. Put them in a center! Let students rotate through a variety of centers for a specific amount of time (it depends on the amount of centers you create and the number of students you have). Then review the answers once students have gone through all the centers. Or play Scoot with Task Cards. I have blogged about this before, but basically you place one task card on each desk and you give students about 1-2 minutes per card to solve it on their own sheet of paper.
You can read about how we play Scoot in my classroom here. Super important: Make sure that you make time to review the answers and if possible, review in small group with any students who struggle with standards.
A cute learning activity that I am incorporating into test prep is an idea that I got from my friend over at Tailored 4 Teachers. She did this last year with her 4th graders, and I am doing it this year with my 5th graders. It's an egg (learning) hunt! I am going to put task cards into plastic Easter eggs and hide them in plain sight around my classroom. I am choosing cards from standards that my students have struggled with all year. Students will find an egg, open and solve it, and then students will share their task cards with the class and explain how to solve to others.
4. Once testing day(s) arrives, it is important for your students to know that you aren’t worried. And if you are nervous? Fake it until you make it! Remember, the test-taking attitudes your students form now may impact their test-taking behaviors for the rest of their education. After all, standardized tests don’t go away as you go up through the grades. If anything, you are creating the foundation for your students to take the SAT in high school. Keep in mind that a lot of your students’ attitudes will be shaped by the feelings you project.
5. This is the time for you to emphasize that testing is a chance for your students to show off and show what they know. Each morning students are testing, I give testing treats. This is just a little something I give to ease the stress.
- Dum Dum lollipops: Because they are not dumb-dumbs!
- Nerds: So they can be a nerd and read every word!
- Blow Pops: So they can blow the test away!
- Smarties: Because they are smarty pants!
What are your test prep strategies? How do you stay sane (and keep your students from going bonkers) while facing the testing pressure? Please share your ideas in the comments section below.
