|
| Helping
ease childrens' test taking jitters
When taking the
state tests, children will be drawing on what
they know from their day-to-day lessons. For
this reason, at-home studying isn't necessary or
recommended.
If your children seem nervous about the tests,
offer words of encouragement. Practice a few
stress-relieving exercises together such as deep
breathing or shoulder shrugs. If they don't seem
to be taking the tests seriously, let them know
you view the tests as important tools for
showing that they are learning well. Let your
children know that you have confidence in them
and that you will be proud of their results as
long as they put forth their best effort.
As the test day approaches, see to it that your
children:
- get a good
night's sleep
- eat a
healthy breakfast and take a wholesome snack
to school
- dress
comfortably
are on time to school
- have all
the necessary materials (pencils, erasers,
etc.)
|
Grade 3-5 students face new
state testing
Help your children succeed with these tests
Beginning this school year, children in grades 3 and 5
will take a new crop of state tests in math and English
language arts. Similar exams have been in place for
fourth graders for a number of years. The expanded
testing in English language arts-covering reading,
writing and listening skills-and math for each of the
upper elementary grades is designed to show whether
children have a firm grasp on the skills they will need
to succeed as they move toward middle school, high
school and beyond. These tests will also help teachers
identify where the curriculum might need to be
fine-tuned to better meet students' needs.
Undoubtedly, high school may seem a long way down the
road. However, as they move ahead in school, children
will be asked to tackle increasingly more challenging
coursework. Once they hit high school, students will
need to show they have mastered the learning and skills
the state requires in order for them to graduate.
Success with their elementary school lessons now will
help them achieve these goals later on. Testing children
regularly beginning in the upper elementary years is one
way of ensuring that they are on track academically.
Such tests help show whether children need additional
help to confidently move ahead in school.
A look at the new state tests
Testing children beginning in the third grade is one way
of ensuring that students are learning their daily
lessons well. Such tests are carefully designed to
reflect the types of information and skills that
children are expected to learn at their grade levels.
Although students will be given opportunities throughout
the year to become familiar with the format of these
tests, the school year will not be spent drilling for
these exams.
The English language arts (ELA) tests
The English language arts tests are administered in two
sessions for students in grades 3 and 5 and three
sessions in grade 4. These exams are designed to measure
students' abilities in reading, listening, and writing.
The tests contain a variety of questions including
multiple choice, short- and extended-response and
editing tasks.
Reading
In the reading section, students read several passages.
These may include short stories, folk tales, poetry,
excerpts from biographies or other types of
informational writing. For each passage, students will
answer questions that demonstrate how well they
understand what they've read.
Listening
For this portion of the test, students will listen to a
passage and be expected to take notes in order to answer
questions to demonstrate how well they understand what
they heard. The listening section of the tests in grades
3 and 4 contain literary passages similar in content and
vocabulary to the materials they read and hear in the
classroom each day. The listening section for students
in grade 5 contains informational passages.
Writing
In the writing section of the test, children will be
asked to make corrections to a paragraph containing
errors in capitalization and punctuation (grade three)
or in capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage
(grade five). Before tackling this editing task on their
own during the exam, students will practice an editing
task with their teachers (see below) to make sure they
understand how to complete this part of the test.
Students in grade 4 will answer two extended-response
questions, one in the reading section and one in the
listening section. Their answers will be evaluated for
their writing skills, as well as reading comprehension.
Sample editing task (grade 3)
"There are some mistakes in this paragraph in capital
letters and punctuation. Let's correct them together. "
My red bicycle is my favorite toy. It used to belong to
my big sister Katie. She gave it to me. I ride it after
School each day. I like my bicycle because it is my
favorite color. Do you have a favorite toy.
Reading/writing question (grade 4)
After reading The View from a Hot-Air Balloon by Ben
Sutter students will answer questions, such as:
Which of these would be another good title for the
article?
A. How to Draw a Map
B. Making Sense of Maps
C. States, Countries, and Oceans
D. Airplanes, Balloons and Birds
Explain what the title of the article means. Use details
from the article to support your answer.
The mathematics tests
Each of the math tests in grades 3 and 5 is administered
in two sessions. Fourth graders will take three sessions
of tests. The first session will include multiple-choice
questions only. The second session-as well as the third
session in grade 4-will consist of short- and
extended-response questions.
Here are two samples:
Multiple choice (grade 3)
Sam and Jenna have been saving pennies. Sam has 232
pennies, and Jenna has 151 pennies. How many more
pennies does Sam have than Jenna?
A. 71
B. 81
C. 121
D. 181
Short answer (grade 5)
Students will study a line graph that shows a month's
worth of recorded times of sunrise in Albany, New York
and then answer the following:
A. At approximately what time did the sun rise on April
1?
B. On which date did the sun rise at 6:30 A.M.?
C. Based on the graph, describe the change in the time
the sun rises during the first three months of the year.
For
permission to reprint this article, please contact the
Capital
Region BOCES Communications Service.
<back |
Instructional
Services