Sharing is Caring...or in other words, another Freebie!

Well, I know that many of you are in the thick of testing right now.  We all feel your pain.  I am only 2 weeks away  from being right where you are.  So, I thought I would share something I did last year during testing time, that really seemed to make a difference in the quality of my students' work on the test. 

So here is another Freebie!  Because you know?  Sharing is caring.

These are testing motivation slips that I used last year, after a fellow teacher mentioned the idea.  Except, last year I just cut up some construction paper into bookmark size pieces.  So these are a lot cuter!  You can download these by clicking the images below.

So what I did was tell the kids that while they were testing, I would be walking around and monitoring their work.  Every time I saw someone using a good testing strategy, I would give them a stamp (you could do stickers) on their testing slip.  Whoever had 10 stamps/stickers at the end of testing would be part of our "I Did My Best on the Test!" pizza party celebration. Of course, you can make it any type of reward that works for both you, and your students.

Here are some tips for using these slips:

1)  Emphasize to students that they are not receiving stamps for correct answers.  A stamp does not mean they have the right answer.  It just means that they are showing you that they are trying to do their best.

2)  Some things that I was looking for were: 

• underlining and/or referring back to  the text to answer comprehension questions
• taking their time
• checking their work
• showing all their work and/or thinking
• using any tips or strategies we had learned during the school year (For example:  lightly crossing off any wrong answers, etc...)

I found these slips to be a fun way to get greater testing "buy-in" from my students.  I have to say, the quality of their effort improved drastically.  I hope you will find these helpful. 

I would love to hear from you as well.  How do you get your kids "geared up" and invested during  standardized testing? 

Enjoy and happy Friday,