Test Prep Blitz 2014

It's almost time for the big game, and we've been working hard at training camp! We were engaged in lots of learning with my Test Prep Blitz Bundle! Of course, we reviewed test strategies using my posters, and then later in the week,  the kiddos went on a gallery walk around the room in search of test strategies to complete their play books.   It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop on my carpeted classroom floor.  My students were so serious about matching the strategies to the descriptions.  They definitely put on their game faces!

They also reviewed test strategies by practicing test prep strategy cheers, and writing their own! 

Each class drafted  "The OAA Promise", and my kiddos signed it before snagging promise bracelets.

We played a round of "The Affix Hustle" (which is essentially like scoot, if you're familiar).  The kiddos walked around the room and answered questions about prefixes and suffixes on a recording sheet.  I played some fun NFL themed music, blew my whistle when it was time to "hustle", and then we went over the answers together as a whole group.  This was a HIT! 

This year, instead of working with my students side-by-side for this "Play Book", I just set it up as a center.  It worked out well that way with my current population of students.

I also decided to put the hula hoop Venn out as a center this year, and I actually liked that approach better because it allowed each student to actively manipulate the cards.  I kept scanning answers and asking questions as students worked, so with this group for example, we had a little chat about their placement of the "You use special equipment" card.  They ultimately decided it belonged in the middle after we discussed the equipment utilized by football players and soccer players.

This is probably one of my favorite centers.  Ever.  This year, I added some fun field goals and little "finger footballs into the mix.  The kids still flip a coin to see who gets to go first, then they take turns answering questions.  If they get an answer right, they get to put one cup on the field.  The first player to put eleven "men" on the field wins!  Of course, this year, I let them flick the football every time they answered correctly.  This game was extremely popular with both grade levels, and I LOVED that I was able to use different task cards to tweak it for the different grade levels.. and also to use the same center again and capitalize on its popularity while addressing another skill throughout the week.

Of course, we still need to work on actual test passages.  I chose a few short passages throughout the week and stuck them in as centers.  The kiddos used clipboards and completed them in "huddles".  One day I added blue pens with pennants for a little novelty.  They actually really enjoyed this too. 

In addition,we played several other center games like "Spin It to Win It" and Cleaning Up Word Pairs.  You can see another action shot of the Play Book too!

Both groups also had a chance to practice various skills with a football toss center.  The students worked in pairs, alternated asking questions to one another, and passed the football back and forth.  This was another really big hit.  I have a ton of kinesthetic learners...so I try to keep that in mind when I design activities.  Like the football field game, this center is easy to differentiate and switch out to address several different skills.  I just used task cards I already had in my classroom.

This fun game is called "Compound Dominoes". Basically the kids match the cards from start to finish to review compound words, and then they create their own set of dominoes.

This center is a fun board game to practice syllabication.  I have my kiddos roll the die, clap out the syllables in the team names, and record their answers.  This year, I used little plastic trophies and helmets from the dollar tree.  I just numbered them one through four with a black Sharpie.  Nothing fancy!

I also had my student play a game of Synonym Bingo.  They used erasers as markers... but I also stuck craft pompoms in the center as another option.

I am fortunate to have a really great parent volunteer, so I asked her to work with small groups to complete the Homophone Draft.  She is a former teacher, and she is wonderful.  :)  The current spelling list was comprised of homophones, so she went through the list using each word in a sentence, pretending to "call" them on our whisper phones, and they spelled out the correct homophones each time. Then they filled out their official contracts.

Occasionally throughout the week, even amidst all of the fun, we used GoNoodle for purposeful brain breaks.  This is such an amazing FREE resource!  I highly recommend it!  If you want to read my full review of this wonderful website, click to read one of my recent posts, GoNoodle: Brain Breaks Made Easy!

As you can see, I managed to snap a few action shots throughout the week, but I didn't go overboard this time.  If you want to see more pictures of what this little celebration is like you can check out my posts from 2013 in The Big Test Prep Blitz Reveal Part One and The Big Test Prep Blitz Reveal Part Two.  There are a few pictures in both posts that show components that I did not necessarily capture this time around, so it's worth checking out if you're interested in doing something like this with your own students. As we move into next week, we will be gearing up for our Testing Tailgate!  The kiddos will be wearing their favorite sports gear and we will be playing tailgate/picnic themed games to review.  The big test is right around the corner, and I am confident that my students are READY to RUMBLE! :) We are ready!

In other news, I kept forgetting to blog about this, but I wanted to share a few pictures from our Exploring Maps: Pirate style lessons.  I like to use this unit to review the basic components of maps before delving deeper.  The Silly Symbols activity is such a fun way to review map keys and symbols! 

 

After reviewing the parts of a map with this unit, they created maps of imaginary countries. I think they turned out great!  The foundation that was laid with our pirate activities helped pave the way for even deeper learning throughout the duration of that unit.  This is just one example of where we went from there.  :)

Okay, and this is really random, BUT while I am catching up, this is just a really simple activity we did to review onomatopoeia when we were reading "Suki's Kimono".  I bought those little garage sale tags from the dollar store, and we used them to display examples onomatopoeia around Suki's shoes.

Lastly, I am excited (and a little nervous) about sharing a little video interview I did with Sheila Jane from She Sprinkles Teaching Magic.  She has a fabulous YouTube channel called Teaching Magic, and she is currently in the beginning stages of a new video series called "Teachers We Love.  I am honored that she asked me to be a part of that project, and I am amazed that she was able to edit the video into a fifteen minute segment.  We talked for about forty-five minutes, so she must have been busy, busy, busy trimming lots of chatter out of the video.  (We are both talkers, and I have clearly lived up to my mom's old nickname for me...Motormouth.  As a teacher, talking is an asset, right?)
Anyway, I suppose, if nothing else, this video is a glimpse into what I am like as a real person beyond the pictures and typed words.  I have really enjoyed learning about other bloggers and Instagrammers through this series, and I hope you will too!