The testing season has become so stressful for students and teachers. I’ve had experiences where my administrators have lowered that stress, but I’ve also had some administrators make it beyond stressful. Something that I’ve found to be helpful in lowering the stress for my students and me, has been to use cooperative group activities to practice skills. It’s a great way to test prep and get students engaged in the practice.
Here are five of the cooperative group strategies I use in the classroom to make test prep fun and engaging for my students.
One-Pagers
Give students a piece of paper and have them write down EVERYTHING they know about a particular subject. Have your students fill up the entire paper with color, designs, phrases, examples, and anything else that can portray the skill they’re reviewing.
Cooperative Writing
Put your students into groups and give them a writing prompt that looks similar to one they’ll see on an upcoming assessment or the state test. Some state tests also have practice questions that you can use for this purpose. Have students go through the writing process together using large chart paper. Give students group time to work on the writing piece over a week or so, and then have students exchange posters with other groups to give each other feedback on their writing. Make sure to equip students with a rubric and target response to help them during the writing process.
Modeling Listening
Find interesting videos that students can listen to and respond to with a prompt. Model how to listen to the video multiple times and then use a graphic organizer to list out ideas that will help with the prompt. Listening is a big part of some state assessments, so it’s important to make sure students are exposed to this all throughout the year!
Questions Around the Room
Post questions around the room (ELA or Math) and have students walk around using clipboards and an answer sheet. You can have this be a time to work quietly or in groups. Give students a few minutes for each question before rotating to the next, or have them choose which question to visit and then time to answer. Make sure the questions are related to the learning goal or that they’re review questions that are similar to what they’ll see on the state test or upcoming assessment. Most state tests have practice or interim questions you can use for this purpose.
Parent Letters
Send your families an email explaining that you’d like them to write an encouraging letter to their child before state testing. Send home cardstock or paper and envelopes and tell your students that their families will know what to do with them!
let
Here’s a sample paragraph you can email out to your students’ families:
“With testing quickly approaching, I need to request your help! I would like for families to write their children a note that will encourage them to do well during state testing. The notes will be a surprise for the kids. I will give them the notes from their families on our first day of testing. If you still need a blank sheet of paper, please email me and let me know. You can also email me your letter and I can print it out and put it in an envelope. All you have to do is write your child an encouraging note, put it in the envelope, and send it back. I’d like to have all the notes back by ______. I’ll get them ready to be passed out on our first testing day. I have attached some pictures below for your reference. Please let me know if you have any questions.”
There will be some students who may not receive letters, so ask other teachers, administrators, or staff members to write letters to students. You can also write some yourself. It’s important to make sure every student gets a letter! Email and call your students’ parents/families to make sure they got the message about writing letters, too! That goes a long way.
Grab a free letter template for parents to use here!
