Taking the Sting Out of State Testing

So, here's my question for you:  How do you go about teaching test-taking skills and/or remediating with the students that need that extra push?  Technically, I do this all year long, but it always gets a little intense toward the end of the year.


I have been inspired to think about test prep in a different way from some very creative teachers.  Stephanie from Teaching in Room 6 blog is one of those teachers: http://teachinginroom6.blogspot.com/2012/02/test-prep-180-test-prep-stations.html.  She does her test prep in stations/centers.  How cool is that?  That way it's not the same drill-and-practice, put me out of my misery kind of stuff.  When we get closer to ground zero, I'm definitely going this route!

For All Subjects:
Another thing I thought was really neat was how Stephanie's incorporating technology with a computer center, which is another of my goals for myself this year.  Here is one website that looks to be very promising that she's recommended:  http://www.proteacher.net/.  It's totally free and all of the resources are as well (as far as I can tell so far).  Bonus!  Here's the link for all the wonderful task cards/worksheets that pertain to 4th/5th grade review work:  http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/group.php?groupid=150

Virginia Studies
A website that I personally recommend if you are a Virginia teacher is http://www.solpass.org/index.html
It costs $200 per school, but you get a TON of activities, worksheets, videos, and study guides that are directly related to all VA standards.  Our school has a subscription, and I don't know what I'd do without it.

Writing
I don't know about other states, but Virginia has decided to take its writing test online starting this year.  Here's the website where kids can practice: https://va.testnav.com/vaqc/epatLogin.jsp?testnavTestId=5001&testnavFormId=wptg5b.  I plan to have this as part of their center/computer lab time.

So how about you?  Do you know of any other great websites that help with test prep?  What do you use?