SOL Test Preparation 3-5

Test Nav

The SOL tests are completed by students in Virginia’s public schools using the online testing application, TestNav™. This application allows for secure administration of SOL tests to students on a wide variety of devices, including desktop computers, laptop computers, and tablets.

As a resource to school divisions and families, the VDOE provides Practice Items in TestNav. The Practice Items serve as an introduction to online test navigation, online tools, item formatting, and overall functionality and appearance of SOL tests within TestNav.

Click here to learn more about the SOL Practice Items and Computer Adaptive Testing.

Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT)

A CAT is an assessment customized for every student. How a student responds to questions determines the difficulty of the next question. Correct responses lead to more difficult test questions, while incorrect responses result in the selection of less difficult items for the student.

Click here and scroll to the bottom to learn more and watch some videos.

We have several literacy skills that are our most challenging on the SOL test. Please use these resources to support your child at home.

Main Idea and Key Details with Non-Fiction

Kids need to identify a whole that is more than the of it's parts. In a story, this means when kids read sentences or paragaphs, they are able to connect it together to form a whole understanding of the text. If students cannot identify the whole, they often only process parts of what they read or hear.

A main idea cannot be found if only a few details have been understood.

Summarizing Fiction and Non-Fiction

Mental pictures, or visualizing, is when students make a picture of what they are reading in their minds, sort of like a movie playing in their brain. This is especially helpful with non-fiction texts because it is informational and teaching you something. That is harder to visualize or make a movie in your brain because it's not a story or fiction.

Think about this: Our current culture also doesn't have much practice with visualizing. Why might you ask?

In the past, radio shows and record stories created sounds that prompted us to create images. Podcast would be something similar today. Now, we watch a lot of shows on TV or play video games that provide the images so we don't have think and create the images in our brain.

How to teach Visualizing - even in the car!!!

In order to teach your child to visualize, you will start small and go in the following order.

1) Start with Words

2) Move to Pictures

3) Move to Sentences

Start each time by saying, "We will picture words in our minds. We can picture a house and we can say house. Words turn into pictures and pictures turn into words. This will help us remember what we read and hear." This has set the expectation for your time together.

Finally, remember that gesturing is another form of imagery or making pictures in our minds.

Start with Words

Ask your child, "What do you picture or see for the word ____?" and fill any word in here.

For example, if the word was recital, I might say: "I imagine a small stage—maybe in a school auditorium or a community theater—with warm lights focused on the center. There’s a piano off to one side, a little glossy and slightly intimidating. A row of chairs is set up for the performers who are waiting their turn, some fidgeting with their sheet music.

Out in the audience, families are leaning forward with their phones ready to record. You hear those quiet pre-performance sounds—program pages flipping, someone whispering “good luck,” a piano warming up with a few soft scales.

Then one performer walks out. There’s that tiny pause where the whole room settles… and suddenly it’s very quiet. The performer takes a breath, maybe glances at the teacher or accompanist, and begins."

Pictures

The goal is for your child to describe the WHOLE picture to you in words so that you can picture it in your head.

For example, this is not just a picture of a dog and a ball in a park. That is just a few key details. The main idea of this picture is that the dog is running after the ball in a park.

Here is what you do!

Hand your child a simple picture like the one of the dog and ball above. You won't see/don't look at the picture. It can be a simple picture of anything.

You would say this as you hand it to them, "You look at this picture and I want you to tell me about the picture and your words will help me created a picture in my mind. Here is the picture. I don't get to see it. Your words are going to help me see the picture in my mind."

After, they describe the picture with words, you might need to ask questions to help you get the whole picture. Once you feel like you can "see" it, tell your child what you pictured and have them check YOU! When done, you get to look at the picture together.

Sentences

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