It’s almost time for the end of the year testing! Are you dreading testing? Or maybe looking forward to it?

I have always looked at the end of the year testing as a way to “show off” my students. I encourage my students to do their best. I tell them how hard they worked this year. I explain how they have learned all the standards they needed to learn to succeed on the test. I don’t dread this time of year, I look forward to it. It’s my students turn to show how great they are.

I do tell the students how important this test is and that they need to do their best and not guess. Leading up to the test, I do a lot of test prep so I know they are ready. 

In this post, I will explain how I prep for the test, all the activities I do, what I do during the testing week, and even what I do after the test is over to finish the school year. This is the ultimate guide to testing.

Ideas for Test Prep

Leading up to this point, I have taught all my standards for Math and ELA. I have specifically mapped out my standards, so I know I will get them all taught before the test. I also build in spiral review into math and ELA throughout the year so my students won’t forget what I taught them.

You may be at this point in the school year and realized you have not taught all the standards or done well with reviewing. That is okay, you just have to work with what you have. In the future, I will be posting exactly how I curriculum map and build in review for remembering, so make sure you are following our Pinterest and sign up for our newsletter. This will allow you to better prepare for the next school year.

A few weeks before testing, I start to review the standards even more with games and activities. Here is a list of ideas I will do in the weeks leading up to the test.

Online Test Questions:

The state I teach in has moved to online testing. All students are tested on a computer for Math, ELA, Writing, and Science. 

As teachers, we have access to online practice questions that look exactly like the test. I like to do these as a whole group, so my students know exactly how the test will look and all the tools they will see. If they know how to use the tools and features of the test, they are better equipped to just focus on the actual questions during the real test.

I normally start this about 4 weeks before the test. I will incorporate the practice questions as part of my bellringer for all subjects that are being tested. In fourth grade, it is just Math and ELA. In fifth grade, it is Math, ELA, and Science.

Each day during the bellringer for Math and ELA, I will pull up the practice test for all the students to see. We will answer one to three questions, depending on the length. They will write down the answers on their paper like a normal bellringer. As a class, we will discuss the content of the question but also the format and tools.

I feel like this is so important to help the students during the test. Sometimes, there are crazy tools the students have never seen. Or there may be weird formatting that you have to click and move items. Going over the test together just helps students be more confident when the test comes. They have seen what it looks like and how to manipulate it.

Also, in our state, they give a couple writing prompts for practice. I will do one together with the students. We will read the articles given, then write a five paragraph essay together using facts and details from the articles given. After this, I will print off the material for the other prompt and have the students complete this one independently. When they finish, we will also discuss it as a class. 

WARNING: If your students do take a writing test, make sure they are not copying a lot of word for word quotes from the articles given. The test will count this as plagiarism and they will get a 0.

If you take an online test, I am sure you have practice tests you can access online. If you are not sure, talk to your principal or testing coordinators at your school.

This tip is one of the most important things you can do during the test prep time. It will create more confidence in your students and they will perform better on the test.

Standard Review:

A little closer to the actual test, I will pull up the actual standards (or a kid version of the standards) for our grade. We will read through them as a class and I will have some sample questions for each. We will talk about the standard and make sure they know it and do some sample questions.

I will do this over a couple days but it shouldn’t last longer than a week. In fourth grade, I have 28 math standards. I will have maybe one to two questions for each standard. We can easily get through 8 to 10 standards in one day. 

This is not TEACHING all these standards, you should have already done that. This is just reviewing each standard quickly.

I feel like this really builds the confidence of my students. When they see the standards, they immediately say that they have learned it and even talk about some of the activities we did throughout the year to learn it.

I think it is so important to let students know there are actual standards they need to know. We are not making up what we teach the students. The test is also not a complete mystery about what is on it: it’s what they have learned and worked on all year!

Review Games:

Students love to play games. I will incorporate some fun activities and games to review all the standards. This is a little more fun than all the practice questions. Whatever way you decide to review with games, just make it fun!

We play Jeopardy or simple team vs. team answer the question games. Sometimes, we compete by getting to throw a ball in a hoop if they get a question right. Last year, I incorporated cornhole into a game, by letting them throw the bean bags if the team got the correct answer the fastest and we kept score. They loved it!

Please remember to keep all review as close to the standards as possible to make sure your students are prepared for the test. You can even add in some challenging multi step problems but make it a little more fun to do.

Kahoot

My students love playing Kahoot. They almost don’t realize they are actually doing work! I also love Kahoot because I can keep it individual for each student and you can download the spreadsheet of answers so you know how each student performed.

You can create your own Kahoot or find another Kahoot already made. Also, you can copy a Kahoot then add and change questions so you don’t have to start from scratch.

I made a Kahoot on all my math standards, one on reading standards, and one on grammar and writing standards.

The students really enjoy this. It is fun for them and a little competitive. If you have never used Kahoot, please go check it out!

Motivational Posters:

The Friday before testing starts, I like the students to make motivational posters. I tell them that there are a lot of students in the school taking the test and we want to motivate all of them.

I give the students computer paper (either colored or white will work). They will create motivational posters. We will brainstorm a list of sayings or quotes they can put on their posters. I will have a sample list below. 

After they finish their posters, they will hang them up in the hallways for all students to see. I think this is a great activity to not only encourage your own class, but the whole school!

Poster Ideas:

• Do your best!
• Good Luck on the test!
• “Donut” give up!
• Take your time!
• You are smart!
• You can do this!
• Rock the test!

Read Aloud:

The week before the test, I will read aloud some books. I read picture books to my students. I think students will enjoy this from elementary through middle school, and maybe even high school!

Some students start to feel anxious and nervous about the test. I do try to make it a big deal because I really do want them to actually try and do their best. Up to this point, I make sure they realize how important it is. Now, I will start to tell them that they are smart no matter what the test says. I explain that it can be challenging, but they can get through it. I try to give comfort during this stressful time and sometimes books help the most.

Below are a few books I like to read to my class:

• Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss and Jack Prelutsky
• Testing Miss Malarkey by Judy Finchler
• The Anti-Test Anxiety Society by Julia Cook
• The Big Test by Julie Danneberg

I really do encourage you to find these books to read to your class. If you can’t find them and don’t want to buy them, look on YouTube to see if there is a video of someone reading the story. Your students can watch that instead.

Ideas for Testing Week

Motivational Notes:

I like to give the students a little note with a piece of candy or snack on the morning of testing. You need to make sure that giving candy or snacks is okay with your school. Also, some schools allow the students to chew gum or eat a mint during testing. When I give my students these items, I do give rules and direction to this. For example, they need to keep their wrapper and spit the gum out in the wrapper when they are done with it so students aren’t constantly getting up out of their seat during testing. This can be distracting to others.

The notes I write my students are personal. By this point, I know a lot about the students in my room. I know the students that need more confidence and the students that need reminded to take their time. I will write up a little note for each student and leave it on their desk in the morning. I feel like this is a great way to show your students you really do care about each of them.

Parent Notes:

A couple weeks before testing, I send home notecards in a sealed envelope for the parents to write good luck notes for their child. I send a little note with them explaining what to do. I send home one notecard for each day of testing. In my grade, we have four days of testing. So, I will send home 4 notecards. I will tell the parents to write something encouraging for each day and even have other family members write something too.

I will leave the notecard on the students’ desk every morning we are testing. I think this is a great way to motivate students and make them feel a little more loved before the test. It also gets the parents involved in the tests.

We created a FREE resource you can download on our Teachers Pay Teachers store here. This resource is notes that you can send home for parents to fill out for their child before testing.

Afternoon of Testing Days:

At my school, we only test in the mornings. During the afternoon on testing days, I like to do a fun activity. This can relate to standards as well or just be an enrichment activity. I like to do something hands on and get them moving, since they sat all morning.

First, I love to do anything STEM related. STEM ideas are a great way to engage students and get them moving. We currently have three posts on easy and cheap STEM ideas you can use in any grade. Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Last year during testing, I brought in Legos for the students to play with. I downloaded the app “Stop Motion” and the students created stop motion videos. Basically, they move the Legos a little bit and take a picture, a little more and take a picture. Then, the app puts the pictures together like a movie. They absolutely loved this. 

During testing, I like to give the students a break. They have worked so hard all year and especially hard during the tests. This is a great way to let them have fun and relax from the stressful tests.

After Testing

Depending on your school, you may have some time left in the school year when testing is completely done. At my school, we usually have 3 to 4 weeks left of school after testing is over. This time can be extremely challenging. Students are normally done and ready for summer break (teachers too!). Most of the time, I have taught all my standards. So how do I spend these weeks? Projects!

I love to do project based learning during the last few weeks. I plan for long term projects and some shorter tasks. Throughout the year, I try to do some fun, engaging lessons, but there isn’t a lot of extra time during the school year to get to everything. I will keep back some PBLs, real world math tasks, research projects, and math art projects to do at the end of the year.

One long project I did at the end of the year was a Road Trip Across the United States State Project. Students researched a state in the United States, wrote an essay, and made a trifold board for each state. We then displayed all the boards and had a “road trip’ for all the students and even parents to walk through and see. It was a fun project that the students enjoyed that tied in a lot of ELA standards. This took about 4 weeks to complete. I have a resource available from our Teachers Pay Teachers store you can see here. I also wrote a blog post about how I implemented this in my classroom here.

I also like to do more art projects at the end of the year that may take more time. A project I love to do is paper mache. It’s a little messy and takes some time, but the students love it! I normally try to tie it to a standard. One year, I had the students research an animal, then make a paper mache version. Another year, they made an earth and we learned about recycling.

Those last few weeks at the end of the year can be challenging for yourself and your students. Make it more fun and engaging by doing some projects!

Testing time can be pretty stressful for teachers and students. I hope this ultimate guide to testing will help you during test prep, the actual test, and those weeks after the test.

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah