Content Review and Test Prep Games

Whether you are wanting to review previously-taught content or you need to prepare for state testing, you most likely need some novelty and fun to go with it.  There's just something about making it into more of a game that takes the sting out of it.

I wanted to make games that could be used with any task cards, test questions, or core subject.  So, the result was 4 games that require very few materials and almost ZERO teacher preparation.

This packet:

•       Helps make test review and preparation less painful and more fun

•       Has students thinking critically about both the questions and the answers

•       Uses collaborative and cooperative learning techniques

•       Incorporates Language Arts

This packet includes the following games:

•       Beat the Bubbles (Test Review and Vocabulary Review)

•       The Answer is ______.  What is the Question?

•       Ball and Cup

•       Show What You Know Board Game

Pick up a copy by clicking here.

How about you?  What kinds of review games do you use?  How do you make test prep more fun and less tedious?  I'd love to hear what you do!

More Test Prep

So many teachers have been talking about using Prepdog as a review tool that I had to go check it out.

This FREE website is for 2nd through 10th grades, and has practice tests, tutorials, and lessons for math, reading, grammar/language, and science.

An activity I personally use for social studies:  Word Whomp

1. Cut/laminate all the letters of the alphabet and put them in the bag. 
2. You or a student randomly chooses a letter from the bag.
3. Start a timer for 1-3 minutes (depending on how challenging you want it to be).
4. Students write as many words as they can think of that start with that letter that relate to a particular subject.  For example, if the letter drawn is "J," students might write Jamestown, John Smith, James River, Jim Crow Laws, Judicial Branch for social studies.  **Differentiations: Students work in pairs/small group
5. 
   Compile a Word Wall list of all the found words.
6. The student with the most words gets to choose the next letter from the bag.

Extensions: 

1. Create a timeline for all the words.  For example, John Smith comes before Jamestown.  Some words will be tougher to pinpoint the exact date, so this is a great opportunity to challenge students to justify their answers. 

Test Prep Part 3

Thanks to Mandy at Mandy's Tips for Teachers blog, I now understand how the "Scoot" game works! 

http://mandys-tips-4-teachers.blogspot.com/2012/03/preparing-for-test-part-one-review.html



Head on over to her blog to pick up a free copy of her Scoot board.

Mandy suggests using the cards already created on http://www.proteacher.net/.

I may create cards from the released state test questions on http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/.  I use this website to create test reviews throughout the year.



State Testing Prep Part 2: Math

In Virginia, our state tests are called SOLs.  I'm not kidding.  It might as well stand for what you probably think it means, but it's supposed to mean "Standards of Learning."  Ha ha.  Anyway, I've been actively looking for ways to make test prep less painful.

Mary at Guided Math blog had a great suggestion.  By the way, you need to go check out her blog: http://www.guided-math.com/

She was talking about the free math practice site Sumdog: http://www.sumdog.com/

This website lets students create individual logins/profiles and it tracks them as they complete levels of math practice problems.  It starts really simple with basic addition and subtraction and works its way up to fractions, patterns, rounding, etc.  It has 122 different math topics from which to choose!

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?