ISTEP SURVIVAL BAGS

We are two weeks away from our first big state test!  One of my colleagues found an ISTEP Survival bag and tweaked it so it fit our "Superhero Theme"!  We are going to have a pep session the Friday before we start testing and when the students come back to the classroom, they will have this goodie bag sitting on their desk.  It is our hopes that this will get them pumped up even more and ready to take the test!

We collected different items to use for each saying (toothpick, penny, gum, mint, eraser, smarties, and pencil). 

Click on the picture of the bag for this FREE resource if you want to use to help your students Soar to New Heights with their testing!!  On the last page, I left an area blank above the SURVIVAL KIT so you can make it to fit your needs!

Word Choice

Whew!! This time of year is very stressful for both teachers and students.  With all the snow days and two hour delays, our state standardized testing prep days have been cut way down - YIKES!!!  Last year Beth and I planned four weeks of ISTEP writing prep.  We took information from Smekens website and incorporated those into our lessons.  We also had our teachers portray different characters from their site.  This week, we will be meeting Prunella Purple.  She talks to the students all about how to use Purple WOW words in their writing.  This is a resource we used last year and I thought I would share!  After reading Fancy Nancy and discussing her "fancy" words, students were partnered up and found words in the text that were boring and made them into Purple Wow words. This helped them realize the importance of Purple Wow words but at the same time when too many of those words distract the reader.  I hope that you can use this in your writing!

 

Click on the picture for the resource!

Here are the ISTEP ladies from the Smekens website!
http://www.smekenseducation.com/the-test-ladies-are-everywhere.html