Upper Grade Test Prep Strategies

Hello Upper Elementary friends! It's Jennifer from Teaching to Inspire in 5th. We are knee deep in test prep over in Georgia. I wanted to write a post describing (and showing a few pictures) of my favorite test prep activities to use.



Gallery Walk:

For this activity, I post several problems on chart paper around the room. In groups, the students walk around and complete each problem. I have them complete them on a piece of paper first. Then, I choose groups to complete on the chart paper. Finally, if time allows, I have the groups rotate through one more time to compare and contrast their answers and strategies with the work on the chart.

Graffiti Test Prep:

If you have never seen this before, students respond to a text or stimulus on butcher paper at the same time. For this activity, I took three test prep questions and taped them to the middle of a piece of butcher paper. I sectioned off the butcher paper into four sections: A, B, C, D. This referred to the students and not the answer choices.
 
The students had to finish these sentences stems for each of the three questions:

• The question is asking me...
• The topic/skill of the question is....
• I already know ....
• The answer is ... because ...
• ....is wrong because... (done for all three incorrect answers)

Hands On Test Prep:

Finally, I love anything hands on that the students can manipulate. Here are two examples of hands on test prep centers I have used.

This one is a dialogue center where the students manipulate the punctuation and place it correctly.

This hands on center has the students correcting pronoun and antecedent agreement errors.

Do you use any of these strategies in your classroom? Or do you plan to try one out? I would love to know which one!


Jennifer

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Motivational Quotes for State Testing {Free Posters!}

Hi friends! It's Blair, from One Lesson at a Time. Well, it's about that time again. You know what time. Testing time. Everybody's favorite time of the year, right?? Errr.....sure. 

I'm a self-professed quote lover. Whenever I find myself in need of a bit of inspiration or motivation, I turn to Google in search of the perfect words of wisdom. I especially like using powerful quotes during testing season to help motivate kiddos - and myself - to do their best and feel confident about their abilities. 

Here are a few of my current favorites:

These posters would be great on a bulletin board or other display to help remind your students that they can do anything they put their mind to. They would also look fabulous in a great frame! If you'd like to download the PDF version of the posters to print out and use in your classroom, just click {HERE} to grab them free from Google Drive!

Here are some links to some related posts on my blog, One Lesson at a Time. The following poster is from a post that I did about selling on Teachers Pay Teachers - but there are some great quote posters that would work nicely for testing season there as well! Click on the picture below to check it out:

I also recently posted on my blog about the myth that teaching "gets easier". Click on the picture below to read my thoughts on that subject:

Looking for practical resources to use in your classroom to prepare your students for standardized testing? Click {HERE} to check out my test prep resources in my TpT store!

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading today! Have a great week!

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Reflections of a Writing Teacher!

     I have spent the past two weeks agonizing over what I could say in this post that would make it worth your time. I am not sure I ever came up with anything awe inspiring, or earth shattering. It seems that there are already so many fantastic ideas being tweeted and pinned that I am not sure there IS much left to post or tell about! Oh, I know that in our rooms we tweak and alter old ideas putting our own little "kiss" of uniqueness on it and present it as new. This is one of the best parts of being a teacher- taking ideas and making them our own.
     I have been a nervous wreck with the end of the year looming and state testing starting soon. The great state of Utah has decided to test each grade 3-11 with TWO different writing assessments this year. These scores will be a key component in our school grade, along with our newly redesigned state CORE test, which is called SAGE.
     Why the stress you ask? I am the writing teacher for the 4th-6th graders in our building- ALL 64 of them! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! To top THAT off, my 5th graders are required to take a third writing test this year as well during the transition to the new SAGE Writing tests.
    We (the 5th graders and I) have been working night and day to be ready for this test. The students will be given a prompt along with two articles about it (one pro, one con). They must then form an opinion, write a 5 paragraph essay, and quote text from the article to support it. Phew...
     Like most of you, I have many low readers and writers, many of whom are ELL and are still working on making a complete thought in a sentence.
     During all this practice, I had the students write to a prompt that I made up. The prompt was whether the students would rather have a 3 day- 10 hours of school day, or a regular 8am-3pm school day (with our current 1/2 day Fridays still in place). Here was the resulting 4 Square (more on that some other time, if you aren't familiar with 4 Square writing check it out- it is amazing!) from one of my students.

     I typed this student's work up with no name so we could analyze it with out fear or being made fun of. The students were really good about not asking whose it was, and the owner never once let on it was his/hers. PERFECT!
     We discussed it and then students worked in pairs to write out the paragraphs. I was feeling really good about where we were heading with all this.
     Next, I brought in the Scholastic Story Works Debates. They WORK PERFECTLY! They present an issue and then share the pros and cons. The students make notes about both sides, and then choose one. I have been extending that to have the students create a 4 square and write a 5 paragraph essay.
     Is it working? I  honestly don't know. I have been pushing them so hard that I am not sure what will happen on Tuesday.
     BUT...
     The last two days we have just stopped the stressing and have been having a blast doing OTHER types of writing. The students have been more excited about writing and it has been a great break. Monday we will head back for one last practice session, and then on to the big test.
     I have come to realize that I can only love them and guide them- the rest really is up to them. I have been in denial for many years thinking if I just care more or do the activity in 10 different ways they will want to learn. The reality is that I only can do my best to meet them where they are and then they have to pick up torch and run with it.
     Thanks for listening to my thoughts, worries, and hopes! I LOVE teaching and HATE it at the same time. But, I have great hopes for this class on this test. They are excited for it, they have worked hard for it, and they are going to ROCK IT!
    Here is to a very happy Friday and a Relaxing weekend-

~Mr. Hughes

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5 Ways to Liven Up Standardized Test Practice

We had our 4th quarter training session for the math department last week.  I was asked to talk about our ISTEP (Indiana's state test) resources. Each of the textbook series comes with a practice book of standardized test questions.  You could always just have the students work in the book and talk about the questions, but what fun is that.

1.  My students will do anything I ask them to if it is on the whiteboard.  They love to write on it.  I often use the dry erase boards when we play review games.  The group comes up with an answer together and when I say that time is up, they hold their boards up.  You could use the white boards in groups or individually.

2.  I was at the HASTI (Hoosier Assoc. of Science Teachers, Inc.) conference last month and went to a workshop by representatives of Dinah Zike. It was about using foldables for assessment.  We made the foldable that is below.  You fold over about 1/2 in. to glue to notebook.  With the rest, you cut into fourths and label A, B, C, D. When you ask the students to show their answer, they hold all but their answer choice down.

3.  My students LOVE using the clickers.  There is just something about using technology that gets the students fired up.  We use clickers from Turning Technologies. The only bad thing is trying to get the "recorder" to capture their answer.  The kids sometimes have to push their buttons many times to get their answer recorded.

4.  Last year our district had principals visit other buildings and do evaluations.  Of course, mine would come the week we were doing test prep.  I hunted for something that would be engaging for the students and look good for the evaluation.  I found Laura Candler's Buddy Test Prep.

The students work through a set of problems on their own.  When they are done they mark their answers in blue.  They then partner up with a buddy to discuss the problems.  If the student changes an answer after working with the buddy, they cross out their original answer with purple and circle their new answer.  The class then discusses each of the problems marking them with a green check mark or red X.

When I did this for the observation, I also added in the clickers...lots going on that day!!

5.  This last idea is what I call the cheap interactive smartboard.  I have a Mimio Pad. I can pull anything up on my computer, project it with the Dukane and use the Mimio Pad to do everything I would do with the mouse or keyboard plus I can use the drawing tool. You could use this to have a student work through a math problem, showing their classmates how they solved it.  I've used this when practicing for the constructed response portion of our state test.

I hope this gives you some ideas that you can use to get your students ready for your state testing. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit!

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Standardized Test Prep: Where's the Hook?

This time of year leading up to standardized testing can drain the life and motivation out of both students and teachers. There is so much to be learned, reviewed, practiced, etc. that school starts to feel...well, NOT FUN. We all know that students learn best when they are motivated, engaged, interested, and having fun. It's not just because they're kids. I learn best that way, too. The most interesting college classes, staff development presentations, workshops, etc. for me have always been those that were engaging and fun. It's just how I roll.

I decided that I had to infuse some LIFE into my test prep. I had to hook my kiddos so that they would be seriously preparing for standardized testing while enjoying it at the same time. I truly believe that making things enjoyable for kids is not "an extra" or an "add on" in the curriculum. You can teach and practice the most intense skills, and if kids believe they are having fun, they will focus, pay attention, and learn. That's my opinion after spending 24 years with these kiddos...and the test scores continue to prove it. 

I started out by coming up with a theme and a mascot. Meet Pirate, our test prep mascot.

I started to develop a pirate theme for my test prep lessons to hook the kids. I scoured flea markets, yard sales, gift shops, etc. for treasure chests in various styles. I even found a lovely cage for Pirate.

Students know it is a test prep day when they enter the room and find the treasure box. This is where the test prep materials are stored. If the treasure box is out and in the center of the room, they know that materials are inside. 

Now my students are eleven and twelve years old, and they still buy into this. I hear things like, "Pirate left something for us!" Kids have great imaginations, and if the teacher is motivated and silly and excited, they will be, too. Even the kiddos who think test prep is boooooring or our mascot is silly soon buy into the fun of it all. They can't help themselves!

Inside the treasure box are all of the usual test practice materials. There are passages that must be analyzed and discussed, open-ended questions that must be answered, multiple choice question practice, review of key reading terminology, etc. Miraculously, things that would otherwise seem dull somehow seem a bit magical when retrieved from the treasure chest.

Kids are motivated to do their best work on the practice. They know that possible treasures await. Sure, I know that in theory all kids would be intrinsically motivated to do well on everything without rewards. That's just not how life works in my opinion. We once had a teacher workshop activity where the winning teacher would win a "late pass" to school for a morning he/she wanted to sleep in. Do you think we were motivated? Oh, yes! Extrinsic motivation does have its benefits, and I utilize it for everything it's worth during test prep. 

When we finish the test prep and discuss/go over the answers together, sometimes the students who volunteer can select treasures. I use all different methods. For example, I sometimes fill one of the treasure boxes with colored "jewels" (well, my version). A student who has answered a question picks one and at the end of the review, he/she finds out what the color means. For example, pink could mean bonus participation points, yellow could mean one pirate card, etc.

A pirate card is a little card that a student will fill out for a chance to win a pirate prize drawing after testing is over. When a student wins one as part of test review, he/she fills out his/her name and the date and returns the card to me. I store the cards in a treasure chest and keep them safe until the drawing in April. In April, I have a big drawing at a team meeting with some fun reading prizes. The kids love it each and every year!

I also sometimes use my Message in a Bottle bin for test prep. I switch the messages depending on what I want to do for the test prep session. Sometimes the bottles contain specific test prep questions. A student must select a bottle and answer the question. If the answer is correct, the student wins a pirate card. Other times, I will put numbers in the bottle that correspond with test prep questions on materials we are using. When we discuss/ go over the answers, a student volunteer picks a bottle and is the discussion leader for that question.

Sure, it's easier just to copy the test prep, have the students do it, and go over the answers, but WHERE'S THE HOOK? There's the problem. When my kiddos see the immediate fun and reward in it, they are motivated to think, try, and volunteer. And you know what happens? They LEARN. The end result is better test scores. In this teacher's humble opinion, it's really worth the effort.

We also practice for the reading test by playing some review games. One of my favorite activities is playing reading bingo to review key reading terminology. We cover these terms so much throughout the year, but it's a good idea to review again in a fun way so kids aren't taking the test and thinking, "Wait...What's theme? I forgot!" We all know it happens.

As the test day draws closer, our pirate goes a little rock and roll on us! It's time to ROCK THE TEST! That has long been my motto for test day...probably because I am such a music buff. I incorporate some music into test prep to pump them up. 

We do activities to review test tips. I print out test tip review cards and students present one minute persuasive skits or commercials about them. We do this in a very short time, but it is always effective. We discuss the tips and why they are so important. In the past, we have even written acrostic poems featuring test tips using the words ROCK THE TEST. Whatever burns the tips into my students' minds is worth it.

St. Patrick's Day always falls during test prep, and we always find one of treasure boxes filled with good luck coins for the test right around March 17. I think our parrot friend must know some wee leprechauns and arranges that for us each year!

On test days, I try to offer my kiddos continued motivation. I have given them little goodie bags containing two pencils, an eraser, tissues, a mint, etc. with a message of confidence on the front.

We celebrate the end of testing with a little bit of refreshment as well.

Every teacher has his/her own style. My method of test prep may not be for everyone, and that's okay! I feel it is what has worked best for my kiddos. Sure, we may not love all this testing, but we CAN make the best of it. We CAN prepare kids so that we are getting ready for the test with heavy duty practice and still having fun at the same time. That's a win-win in my book because it keeps kids engaged and motivated, and that keeps them learning. I see what a difference this change in my method of test prep has made for my students and their attitude toward the test, and I think there is great validity to the idea of "we do well at things we enjoy." 

If you'd like more information about fun test prep ideas, stay tuned tomorrow for a great post by Amy from Math, Science, Social Studies...Oh, My! She has some incredible test prep tips coming your way!

If you like some of my ideas, check out my Rock the Test: Reading Test Prep Bundle and Let's Play Reading Bingo game at my TPT shop just by clicking the links below. I really hope your kiddos ROCK THE TEST this year, my friends!

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