Graphic/Text Features and Commit"Mint"

I had a Prof. Development today. 

The good news...I got out before 1!  

The bad news...it is the week prior to our State Test!  HUH?  Yup. 

This week (well for the past 6 weeks) we've been in HEAVY test prep mode.  

I'm covering those few TEKS that students didn't score well on during our Benchmark.  

 

We're working on text features and graphic features.  My kiddos LOVE procedural text.  

We've written it many times this year (4) and they usually do well on it.  

So, I went back to it to re-teach graphic features.  

We played a game of "Scoot" or Round-the-Room (as I call it).  It's my newest product at TpT.  

Round-the-Room Graphic Features.  

It is STAAR Style Q's and is TEKS aligned.  If you need some quick test prep, give it a try!

About 2 weeks ago, I posted about my FREE Test Taking Notes from the Teacher.  It includes a note for students to make a Commit"mint" to do their best on the TEST.  My students did it last week.  We ate peppermints and talked about testing anxiety. 

I gave everyone a sticky note and they wrote down one thing that made them nervous about the test and one thing they could do to help them do better on the test.  Then, I split the class into 2 groups and they sat in a circle and shared their ideas.  Afterwards, we made one big circle and shared out.  

Finally, we talked about what a commitment was and come up with the synonym, promise.  I passed out peppermints and they made their commit"mint" to do their best on the test.  I was really impressed with their ideas. Some examples were eat breakfast, get 8 hours of sleep, read longer to build staminia, take breaks, drink water, use strategies and pay attention when my teacher is doing strategies (ie: think alouds).       

Click the Pic to get the notes!

This Little Piggy hates thunder!