Hooray! My kids took three days of state tests last week and I am sure I speak for them when I say we are so glad it's over. I tried really hard to keep things light in the classroom, but they know that this test matters (in NYC these tests are used to determine promotion) and they really took it seriously.
I really emphasized coding text and justifying answers to eliminate incorrect choices and I am so proud of my kids that they did this on the test. The downside to that is that the passages were so long and the questions so complex that many students did not finish the test in time. I am a real believer that close reading should not be a timed activity, so I'm pretty upset that even my best readers (as in level Y readers) had to push hard to just barely beat the clock.
And now we are 10 school days away from the State Math Test - and we have SO many skills to cover. We spent last Friday reviewing subtracting mixed numbers. This is such a tricky concept for some kids - especially if they do not understand how borrowing really works. I showed my class how to subtract mixed numbers with regrouping and then how to use improper fractions. Students used an interactive notebook page to create a model and a reference sheet for themselves.
If you'd like a copy of this interactive notebook page, you can grab it from Google Docs right HERE.
Have a great week!
I hope they did well! We take our reading, math, and science state assessments all in one week, so the burnout is unbelievable. The kids really do work hard anyways though.
ReplyDeleteI have ONE week until we have six days-two weeks of testing. I'm so ready for it to be over I can't even stand it. Sometimes it makes me miss teaching little kids...less stress...until I learned they too will be taking tests this year. Yuck!
ReplyDeleteAlison
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