It's everyone's "favorite" time of year...state testing! Well not really, but it does bring us one step closer to the end of the school year and summer break. State testing can cause stress, worries and anxiety for BOTH students and staff. So I decided to do a little something to pump up everyone for state testing. To see how we did staff pick me ups during testing, click here.
-I had a banner made from Vistaprint (ordered during a sale for just 99 cents) that says "Students do you best on the EOG test". EOG stands for End Of Grade, that's what we call it here in NC.
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| Banner from Vistaprint |
-Carol from The Middle School Counselor Blog (a fabulous blog by the way) shared this awesome idea of using sidewalk chalk to write positive testing messages at the school entrance. I shared this idea with the fantastic art teacher at my school and he and several students will be decorating both the front and back entrances of the school.
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| From The Middle School Counselor Blog (thanks for sharing Carol) |
-The AIG teacher gave me a ton of pencils which I tied ribbon with a nice note to give to all the students in 3rd-5th grades (these are the grades who test).
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| Pencils |
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| Note I attached to the pencils |
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| Finished product! I used red ribbon to tie the note onto the pencils. |
-I did a lesson with 3rd graders on relaxation and relieving testing anxiety (same as last year). To see my post on my lesson for testing worries, click here, but I read a different book The Big Test by Julie Danneberg.
This year I decided to add a testing survival kit activity. Can you guess where I got this idea from ...you guessed right Pinterest!
-I started out by giving each student a plastic bag and testing survival kit card to complete.
-I created a testing survival kit card for the students to complete as a part of the lesson (we go over the tips during the lesson). It's a fill in the blank activity, since students are more likely to remember what they write down, versus me just talking. I used an Avery postcard paper template so that I could fit 4 on one page. I also copied on colored paper for a little flare.
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| Testing survival kit cards (copied on colored paper). |
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| Copy of slide to complete with test taking survival kit activity |
-As we completed our survival kit card, I passed out the item that went along with the saying. I got all my survival kit items from Walmart. Here are the pictures of the items needed and sayings to go along with it for the survival kit.
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| Starbursts: You're a star so aim high |
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| Toothpick: Carefully pick your answers |
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| Gum: Stick to it and do your best! |
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| Red Balloon: You are totally REaDy for the test! |
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| Student completing his test taking survival kit, with his kit nearby. |
The students LOVED this lesson and activity and it certainly didn't hurt that everyone got a parting gift. I hope that this helped to relieve some of their testing worries.
What do you do to help calm testing worries?
I love this. I would have to come up with a substitute for the toothpick because some of our faculty might see it as a "weapon."
ReplyDeleteHi Jerri, do what works best for you and your school. I go over rules before we start the "test taking survival kit" and one of them is that ALL the items must stay in the plastic bag until they go home. Before I leave the class after the lesson, I have the students put their kits in their backpacks. Again, do what works best for you. Thanks for reading!
DeleteCute lesson idea, Andrea! I love it! :)
ReplyDeleteAngela