Hi friends,
Do you feel like pulling out your hair? Are your students chewing up their pencils? Do you just want to scream every time someone talks about "the test?" Do you feel like you are drowning?
Test Prep causes serious stress for teachers and students alike. You wonder what standards you have covered. You think about lessons students have missed due to absences and gaps in understanding. You worry that students won’t remember the concepts you taught early in the year. This is completely normal! A couple of years ago, I changed the way I approached test prep and test review. Today I would like to share my system, and maybe it will help you too!
1. Don’t wait until “testing season” to prepare. Spiral review is your friend. Take a few moments each day to go back to topics covered earlier in the year and do a quick review on the topic. I make one copy of my 5th grade Math Test Prep for All Year Bundle (shameless plug!) and each morning before we start math, my students take out dry erase boards and work through the problems at their desks. You can use these packets or choose problems from your textbook. Don’t spend a ton of time doing this. Just 4-5 problems each day is perfect. I like to review the chapter we previously covered when working on a new chapter. This way the previous content stays fresh in their brains.
2. Task Card Scoot. You can use task cards you already have or even quickly write out your own problems on note cards. I do have over 50 sets of reading, math, and science task cards (another shameless plug!) in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you need more. I place the cards onto student desks and they solve the problem on their the dry erase board. Next they put their answer on a lined sheet of paper. Then, move one space to the left to complete the next problem. I continue with this until all the questions have been completed. This is a fast and fun way to assess who has it and who needs a little more work. If you don’t have large enough dry erase boards, just have students use an extra piece of paper to work the problem out as they scoot around the room.
3. Keep it fun! Students don’t need to sense the added stress of testing. Try to keep the spiral review and test prep as fun as possible. Turn questions into games. Let students get up and move (play Scoot, 4 Corners- if they think the answer is A, they move to one corner, B, another corner, etc.) Students will appreciate you for making review easier and less stressful.
4. Track the data. Keep track of which students have mastered each standard as you move throughout the year. It doesn’t have to be a huge task. You can just make a pencil and paper list or create an excel sheet. I like to use the Checklists included in each Standards and Scales resource because it is quite simple in its approach.
I keep these in a binder; one sheet for each standard per student. It is easy to take a quick look and see which students need help with which standard. I have Fifth Grade Florida Standards and Scales for Reading and Math, as well as Common Core Standards and Scales for Math in my store. And to be honest, Common Core Standards and Florida Standards are basically the same.
While I do currently teach 5th grade, and make what I need in the classroom, I do make other resources for other grade levels, that my colleagues request. Plus, I differentiate almost everything for my students based on what is needed, so I have multiple levels of test prep.
I have bundled everything for greater savings:
See you next week!
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