Teaching Students How to Take Tests

Testing! Ugh! The most dreaded time in all of the school year.  I would rather have 100 Christmas parties than 1 testing week.  Really.  I mean it!  And that is saying something. So much stress! For the teacher and the students.  So much riding on tests that only show a small snapshot of what our students can do.

But, alas, testing happens every year. And every year we, as teachers, try to prepare our students as best we can. Unfortunately, we can't just teach content. We also have to teach students HOW to take a test.  As a third grade teacher, this is especially important since none of my students have never taken a high stakes academic test. I actually have to add "how to fill in a bubble" to my lesson plans! Not kidding.

I came to 3rd grade from teaching early childhood in Pre-K and then in 1st grade.  I had thought I understood what upper grade teachers went through with testing.  After all, I took the tests as a kid myself, right? And we assess our students in other grades, so no real difference...boy, was I wrong! Ha! I got an enlightening education real quick. Lucky for me, I was surrounded by great teachers willing to help me adjust to what it took to ready 3rd graders for academic achievement testing.

My friend, Lora, had already come up with a great idea for teaching students HOW to take a test. She created the Smart Family! Posters of a super smart family that tests horribly because they make simple mistakes such as ignoring directions or racing through the test.  She graciously allowed me to take her vision a step further so we can share it with other teachers.

Introducing the Smart Family! They are not as smart as they think they are! Posters, a PowerPoint, editable teacher-to-parent notes, higher order thinking student response sheets, and parent-to-student note templates help teach students how to take achievement tests.

My students learned so much- about themselves!

I am in love with the parent-to-student notes! Some of my parents even had sisters and brothers write to my students.  So uplifting for my kiddos! They absolutely loved reading these each morning.

You can find the Smart Family resources at my store Tech Crazy Teacher!

Favorite Things {Testing is OVER!}

The Favorite Things Linky is a great way to share your 3 favorite anythings! Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Linky Parties page for more details!

Juliet and I just finished our week-long standardized testing. This got me thinking about my favorite things to do after the test is over. Here are a few of  my favorites...

Take time for art

On test days, we usually test all morning and still have the afternoon with our students. I don't like to do any heavy academic work after the test, but I also know that I need to provide enough structure to keep my class in line. One of my favorite things to do is incorporate art activities that we never have time for on "normal" days. Jen from Runde's Room has lots of art activity ideas on her blog. A favorite every year is her "I am" poems. I love to see the great things my students write about themselves, and I know it helps their (sometimes delicate) self-esteem in the tricky adolescent years. We're working on them today, so hopefully I'll be back tonight to add some pictures, but trust me, it's worth a trip over to her blog to check them out!

Try new things

Once the test is over, I feel safe to try new, different things in the classroom. A couple of years ago, I used this time to try Flipped Classroom lessons in Math. It went so well, I did it all the next year. (I'd have done it this year too, but this class is just different.) Last year, I did book clubs for the first time. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to try this spring, but I know whatever it is, I will be so glad to have testing out of the way so that I can take a risk on something that just might be amazing!

Teach! Just teach...

When I tell other teachers that the "big test" in our school system is given in February, it is often met with shock and sympathy. For a long time, I felt the same way, but I have recently changed my tune. 

Most teachers I know spend the two months between winter break and testing teaching our hearts out, trying to get everything covered in time. We constantly feel the ticking of the clock, and it causes way more stress than it should. 

But once the test is over, we're free! We are free to do what we love most, TEACH! No longer do we feel bound to curriculum pacing guides or even our own lesson plans. Students have loads of questions about a topic? Instead of feeling like we don't have enough time to spend on it, we dive right in without a care in the world. We teach the way teachers were meant to teach, and our students learn the way they were meant to learn. Free from the pressure of preparing our students for "the test," we are able to do what we do best! That is by far my favorite thing about the end of the test week.

What are you looking forward to doing after your testing is over? Has anyone else already tested like us?

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Five for Friday {2/27/15}

It's Five for Friday time, and I'm sharing a little peek at the past two weeks!

Last week, we had the entire week off for #snowpocalypse2015, which I know is completely hilarious to our northern friends {Cassie!} because we only had 7-ish inches of snow. Around here, though, no one is prepared for that much, and no one can drive in it! I thoroughly enjoyed my week off with my family! The county schools were actually out a week and a half! 

This past weekend was so much fun! I went to the EdExpo in Atlanta, where I met Cassie for the first time in real life. We hung out with some incredibly talented bloggers and teacher-authors on Friday & Saturday before heading to the expo on Sunday. There, we were able to see some of the latest and greatest education products. I even got to bring some goodies back to my class, and have already used them! I'll be posting on my Chalk & Apples blog very soon with some of my favorite new products! This one, by far, is my #1... You'll have to check out my blog post to learn more about it! 

Perhaps the worst possible time for a "Snow Week" is the week before your school's standardized tests are scheduled. This is the ONLY thing that kept me from completely relaxing during my unexpected time off. We delayed testing by two days, thank goodness! During those two days, I reviewed test-taking tips & prepared my students as best I could for the test. They absolutely loved the new "Smart Family" test-taking tips pack from Tech Crazy Teacher! Having used them for three years now (perks of working at her school!), I can attest that they really do stick with my students, and keep them focused on good testing habits.

One of my favorite things to do during test week is cover all of the educational materials on the walls... said no teacher ever! I make the best of it by leaving my kiddos an encouraging note. In huge print. Right on the wall. They love it! I like to think that it helps in some small way for them to know I believe in them.

No test season would be complete without some fun review games to make sure they haven't forgotten everything they've learned! Tired of the same old Jeopardy-style games, I headed to TPT in search of a better idea. What I found was perfect! The Bazinga review game and Love, War, & Lightning are both review games for any subject, so you just add your own questions to them. Both games involve some surprises that the kids absolutely love! In Bazinga, you might have to do the YMCA dance or stand on one leg to get your points. In Love, War, & Lightning, you sometimes earn points, but sometimes lose them, and occasionally, you get to trade points with another team! The variety of actions keeps my class engaged the entire time. Best of all, they are both FREE on TPT! 

     

Head over to DoodleBugs to check out what everyone else has been up to! 

5 for Friday!

It's Five for Friday time! Here's a peek at what's been going on in my classroom this week...

Area & Perimeter

We have been hard at work this week on area and perimeter. We used the floor tiles to create shapes and find the area and perimeter of each one. Then, we used what we had learned to create a formula for finding the area and perimeter of a quadrilateral. My smarties even figured out how to use variables and the distributive property in their formulas!

BigIQKids

We just started using this website to practice vocabulary words, and my class is LOVING it! It's free, but there is a paid version as well that I haven't tried. As a busy teacher, I love that all I have to do is type our words in, and BigIQKids provides the definitions, sentences, etc. for me. Once my words are in, the games are automatically created and ready to go. There are spelling and vocabulary games, and as the teacher, I can select which games are part of our program. The site itself could use some design help, but it functions well, and my kids are asking me if they're "allowed" to play these games at home. (Umm... YES!)

GoNoodle! 

It has been SO cold here lately, and my class is definitely suffering from need-to-go-outside-itis! Fortunately, GoNoodle's Indoor Recess MegaMixes are a great fix for their fidgets! If you haven't checked them out yet, you need to! They are on the GoNoodle tab at the very bottom and there are SEVEN(!)different mixes to choose from.

Cardboard Challenge

Today we are starting the Cardboard Challenge! My students will be using the Engineering Design Process to create a Valentine's card box. The project is based on a kid who built a cardboard arcade in his father's auto parts store. My students will be challenged to build a cardboard Valentine's box out of whatever they can find in our classroom or at home. I have a pretty high group this year, so to up the ante a little bit, I am requiring their box to have some kind of a game element like Caine's arcade has. They are so excited, and I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Standardized Testing

Ok, this isn't happening THIS week, but it is coming up very soon! We test the last week of February, and I am starting to plan review activities, test prep lessons, and some motivation & encouragement for my smarties. What are your favorite Test Prep activities or Test Week lessons/activities? I need some fresh ideas!

I can't wait to see what's been happening in everyone else's classroom this week! Head over to Doodle Bugs to check it out!

Morning Trivia {Spark Student Motivation}

Hi everyone! We all know how frequently students learn a concept just long enough for a test, and then forget it once the test is over. Well, I have an idea to help keep those concepts fresh, as well as teaching your students some random fun facts on a daily basis: Morning Trivia!

Here's how it works in my room:

• Every morning, I write a new trivia question on the board. Sometimes it's a random question from my Morning Trivia pack, but a couple of times a week, I use a review question from a concept we've recently learned. (This is *perfect* for reviewing right before standardized testing!)
• Students may work on morning trivia first thing in the morning or throughout the day if they need to do some research.
• Students may use any resources available to them other than the internet. They can use books, encyclopedias, or even ask other adults in our building. (I "outlawed" Googling the answer because it was too quick and easy!)
• Students write their answer on a slip of scrap paper and turn it in to our trivia box - which is just an empty baby wipes box covered in colored duct tape.
• At the end of the day, I draw one answer. If it's correct, that student gets a ClassDojo point. (You can read about how I use Dojo here.) If not, I keep drawing until someone gets it right.
• Usually, if no one is correct, I will tell them that the first person to tell me the correct answer the following day gets the point, and they may use internet sources at home.

I've been doing Morning Trivia in my room since sometime in January, and I keep meaning to write down all of my questions to create a product. Well...I finally got around to creating a Morning Trivia packet that includes 24 questions and answers for May/June as well as half page signs for each question and a printable answer sheet.  It is half price now through Sunday night, so grab yours now in my TPT store!

This is amazingly  motivating for my students! They just love seeking out the answer and wait with baited breath to see whose answer is drawn at the end of the day. Since this is so motivating, I'm linking up with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Student Motivation Saturdays linky. Hop over to check out all of the motivating ideas, and to enter a fantastic giveaway!

Five for Fraturday: Testing Week Fun!

My school is officially D.O.N.E. with standardized testing!!! Our testing comes super early in the year, but it's so nice that it's over and I can just teach for the next three months! Since my kiddos worked so hard all morning, we spent most of our afternoons relaxing. (I did squeeze in one educational actvity, though!)

Here are five things from my week:

  

As a last minute review before testing, we made human timelines of the events leading up to the revolution. I typed full page signs for enough events to split my students into even groups. Each group had 5 minutes to put themselves in chronological order - without speaking! This was amazingly tough for them to accomplish, but fun for me to watch all of their facial expressions and frantic pointing. They were having a little trouble, so I gave them 2 minutes to look at the timelines we had created in their notebooks (You can get it in my TPT store HERE). Again, they weren't allowed to talk. I found that this made everyone work at it, instead of relying on the natural leaders to do all the work. Once the 2 minutes were up, they were allowed to try one more time to get in order in their groups. After looking over the timeline, they did MUCH better! Here are my winners - they were the first group to line up in the correct order.

  

  

If you have to cover up everything useful on your walls, you might as well at least cover it with some testing encouragement! My students decorated bulletin board paper with motivational sayings, and I added one more special one the morning before the test.

 

We finished our baseball theme with some "Game Day" promises. Each student looked through our playbook of testing strategies and chose one they struggle with to promise to work on this week.

In keeping with the baseball theme we did last week, I sent baseballs home to the parents (one for each day of testing), and asked them to write encouraging notes on them for their students. I added a new note every morning, and by the end of the week, their desks were covered with encouragement! I only had a couple of parents not return the notes, and I just wrote notes for those kids myself.

We spent most of our afternoons doing art projects from the fabulous Jen Runde's blog. Her "I am" project was my absolute favorite. The kids loved getting to color the entire page and then write with sharpies over it. I loved getting them to brag about themselves a little bit. We all know fifth graders are right on the edge of the years of zero self-confidence, so I loved this way to get them thinking positively about themselves. I'm going to get them laminated next week and let them take them home after a few weeks in the hallway. (And apparently I forgot to take pictures of them, so I'll take some next week to share!)

Well, that's it for my week. Hope you all are relaxing and having a wonderful weekend! I'm off to start my very first Project Life album! (I'm sure I'll post about it soon!)