My news feed has been filling up with posts about testing from my pals over at the Elementary School Counselor Exchange. Here in NC, we don't test until the last 10 days of school but I know that testing has begun (or already passed) all over the country. I thought it might be helpful to share all the wonderful resources I have gathered to prepare my kiddos for testing in one place. Some are products on my Teacher Pay Teachers store but I have a bunch of freebies too! And EVERYTHING in this post will be 20% off for the next 4 days until March 28, 2015 as a big high five for getting through the testing season.
Tier 1
For tier 1 activities, I usually teach 2 lessons about test prep. In one lesson, we learn about brain exercises and guided imagery to help with the pre-test anxiety kids have building up. It's a very casual lesson where we practice each of the brain booster activities, discuss general testing reminders, and go through the guided imagery. I also present this information to my teachers in their PLC meetings so that they can continue all of the activities in the classroom as well. All of this is in a professional development bundle at my TPT store. Here, I am including a FREE guided imagery script you can read to your students. They love this! Every year someone says "Why haven't we been doing this all year?"
For my second classroom lesson, I like to do something fun and confidence building. So much of the weeks leading up to testing, the kids are drilling and practicing and they need to have a moment to lighten up a bit. For that, we do the Coat of Arms lesson. The kids get to make themselves a personal shield to show their confidence. You can get a copy of the shield for FREE here or download the whole powerpoint and lesson plan from my teacher pay teachers store. Just right click the image below to save and then print.
Tier 2
As a tier 2 intervention for those kids who need a little more support, I incorporate testing taking skills and stress management into my Academic Achievement Group (blog post). In this group we play Roll Away the Worries a stress management game and play Test Taking Bingo. The kids LOVE both of these games. You can download a simplified version of Test Taking Bingo here - just have the kids cut out the squares and glue them on the blank one in random order- if you want the cards pre-made, they're available here. The following is also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store: Academic Achievement Bundle and Roll Away the Worries.
You want it all in one place? I've made a Testing Bundle just for you with everything in this post!
