Post date: Apr 6, 2018 2:24:05 PM
This week in social group, we combined all third and fourth grade students to discuss SBAC. We want to start to prepare them for taking the test since that will be coming up at the end of the month. We know this can be a stressful time for students and parents and we want our students to feel as successful and confident as they can when taking these standardized tests.
We started our class by brainstorming strategies we used when taking a test. We then reviewed the ideas we came up with. The anchor chart with our post its is below.
We then talked about our new MAP testing we started this year for monitoring student progress and data collection. We talked about how these tests are meant to mirror SBAC with the skills and prepare students more. We started by discussing how our strategies for MAP testing are very similar for SBAC and how we can feel successful on both tests. Then, since our third graders are brand new to taking SBAC, our fourth grade leaders gave us some ideas on how they take the test and what they do to stay calm and focused. Below is the anchor chart of those ideas.
After we come back from April break, we will separate the groups and work on making a remote control visual with strategies on it for students to refer to while they are preparing for the test to show them that they are "in control" of their success. We will also give them the opportunity to practice some SBAC-like questions giving them the time to see the interface but also clarify anything for them.
If you are interested in having your child practice for the SBAC test, the link to those practice tests is below.
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/assessments/practice-and-training-tests/
Have a great April break and we will see you in two weeks!