Testing Freebie

I got a little creative last night and created a little goodie to send home with my kiddos before the big testing day. It's a little pocket you can glue together that says "You're such a SMARTIE! Owl bet you'll do great!" On the back, there is a little poem. I simply glued them together and stuck a few SMARTIES inside for a little treat to boost their confidence. I hope you can use it in your classroom with your kiddos too! It's free on my TPT store. :)

It's About That Time...

I'm sure many of you are approaching state tests soon...our is actually this week! We've been working really hard in Room 203 and I think we are ready to show what we've learned this year. :)  We test on Tuesday and Wednesday each year so we always have that awkward Monday where you don't want to bog students down with test strategies yet you don't want to waste the day either. Tomorrow we'll be reading books like Hooray for Diffendoofer Day and Testing Miss Malarkey which are some of my favorites. We'll also be building the Reading Brain Book that I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.

As for math, I decided it would be fun to review with a game so Jeopardy it is! I used a simple Jeopardy PowerPoint template to create a fun game to review the major skills we'll be tested on this year. I'm thinking of splitting up the class into two teams to play against each other. It'll be review mixed with some competitive fun! The Jeopardy game is available on my TPT store for free so hop on by to download if you'd like to use it in your classroom.
 

One of the most difficult things that we struggle with in my room in reading is multiple meaning words.  To keep in the game mood of the day, I decided to create a fun matching game that I'll have my kids play in 'Memory' style. It's simply four different words, each with four different meanings. Each meaning can be matched up with a sentence using the word.  It's a quick, fun, and easy way to review before a test.  It can also be downloaded at my TPT store.

Well, I'm off to relax the rest of the night. It'll be a busy week so have a great one. Good luck to all of those who are testing this week!

Test Taking Strategies for Reading...

I've been off the radar because it's been extremely crazy around here. Our house is up on the market and we are looking for a house in Phoenix now so my spare time has been close to zero! At school we have the state test, STAAR, coming up in just a week and our review is underway! I've been using a "brain book" for the past couple of years and I'm not sure who the idea came from. This year I updated it a bit with the new standards that are tested. We usually review a few things a day during the week prior to the test. By the time Monday rolls around, students have a cute little booklet they can take home with them. It's a fun way to review instead of "drill and kill". I hope you can find some use for it in your classrooms! It is free on my TPT store so feel free to stop by and check it out. Happy Sunday!