It's Parent/Teacher/Student conference day!!! I'll be meeting with 10 families tonight. Phew! I sure hope my mouth and brain are still cooperating with each other by the end of the night. =P
Today we finally finished up all of the reading assessments. I'm hoping to have something fun for the kids to do tomorrow to celebrate the conclusion of assessment week. I'll have the tests all graded and ready to send home either Monday or Tuesday of next week. It's always a good idea to review tests with your children when they come home. Future tests will be in a similar format, and it's never too early to start teaching test-taking skills. Here are some suggestions (I use these with the kids, so hearing them from you as well would be great!):
* "going through the backdoor" That means reading the questions (or in some cases answer choices) before reading the story (or test question). I call it "getting your brain warmed up." You can demonstrate how test questions have specific key words that they can keep an eye out for while reading the story--making answering the question far easier.
* process of elimination: Many tests have 1-2 answer choices which are not reasonable or logical at all. Cross those out and focus on what you have left to work with.
* draw a picture or write out number sentences (for math): Many times I think the kids think that they can only answer the question, not use the paper there to figure out the answer. I often encourage them and model for them how to use that extra space to solve the problem. Sometimes I see kids do it, but then erase their work, which makes me think that they think they shouldn't be doing that. I encourage them to not only use that space, but to leave it. No need to waste precious eraser on working out a problem.
*Above all: Review (and even redo) work/tests that comes home marked wrong. Whether that be a worksheet or test, reviewing the skill with a parent in a one-on-one environment can be very beneficial. You never know what's going to make that light switch turn on!! =)
As the year progresses, I'll give you more strategies, but these are great to start with.
Have a great night---see some of you later!!!
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