5 Tips to Help You {& Your Students} Get Through Testing Season

For many of you, testing season is already here. I always found it so frustrating to do end-of-year tests 3/4 of the way through the school year, but I digress...

I thought it might be helpful to dig up some old posts of mine and some clever ideas from others and compile them to help you and your students get through this testing season in a sane and hopefully enjoyable way!

1. Our Jar of "Best Thinking"

I shared this on Pinterest the other day, but wanted to make sure it got more attention since it's such a wonderful idea. I think this would be perfect for any grade 3rd and under, or for any kiddos especially nervous about a test. Michael at The Thinker Builder shares all about this idea on his blog and it's worth the read. I especially love the idea of storing testing pencils in the jar and then passing them out (since we always have to supply the pencils for the test). Find out more on his blog HERE.

2. Brain Breaks

Of course I love and adore Brain Breaks all throughout the year, but especially around testing time, they take on a special role. I choose specific breaks before the test depending on their mood that day: to get their wiggles out, to wake them up a bit (our tests are always first thing in the morning), to focus their attention and calm their mind, and so on. I have them chosen in advance because we don't have a lot of time on testing mornings and I also want to make sure that I don't pull one that energizes an already energized class, or a calming one for my half-asleep kids first thing in the morning. You can pick up my Brain Breaks set HERE.

After the test, we always love to celebrate with a Watch & Wiggle Break. Learn more about those HERE.

3. Music in the Classroom

You're probably not allowed to play music during the tests, and that's okay, but as soon as the tests are done, and usually after a Brain Break, I like to turn on our classroom Pandora station to listen to some calming guitar music while the kids ate their snacks or read or just chat with a friend. I like to incorporate music a lot in my classroom and you can read all about some of the artists I love HERE.

4. Motivational Notes

Nothing is sweeter than building up your kids confidence this time of year. Especially since third grade is often their first year for state tests, I love these encouraging notes to inject some fun into testing time. I usually will have these on their table spots and they can eat them after the testing time that day. I used the Smarties with my class HERE and boy, were they easy and simple! Love that when this time of year is so busy anyway! I prefer to do this on the first day of testing only, since we have a whole bunch of testing days and no one needs a class that hopped up on sugar for that many days ;) Find all of these great cards over at technology rocks. seriously. HERE.

5. Active Monitoring Help

This one is for you, my teacher friend! I posted this on Facebook and love all of the hilarious ways Love, Teach came up with to pass the time when you're "actively monitoring" your students. It's full of laughs and definitely worth the read. Plus, the pedometer challenge may actually help you burn some calories during this terribly boring time! Check it all out on Love, Teach HERE.

What tips and suggestions do you have for fellow teachers and their students during state tests? Share any and all of your sanity-saving advice below!

QR Critters: Fiction & Nonfiction Questions for Reading Responses

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm around QR Codes in the classroom! I agree-- they are easy and engaging with thousands of possibilities!

I am excited to share my newest resource set with you: QR Critters for Fiction and Nonfiction Reading! These are available individually or as a bundled set in my TpT Store.

I'm going to walk through the Fiction Set, but know that the Nonfiction Set is nearly identical in its setup, but obviously with a nonfiction focus :)

I begin by printing these out and laminating them, then organizing them by topic into their own binder rings. Each are labeled with a number which can be found on the teacher's master list, so you won't have to scramble to scan each of these every time you want to use them for a lesson!

After they are divided, you can keep them in a Daily 5 center choice and/or in your Teacher Time Bin to have them ready to go whenever you need!

Not only are there beginning, during and after reading questions, the fiction set also has genre-specific questions to go deeper with certain elements:

The nice part about all of these QR cards is that they don't need to be used all at once, but you can strategically put several in a binder ring for a certain text and get some very well-rounded responses based on the characteristics of that book.

Or, you could keep them in a big ol' set and binder ring like so:

You can see the colors go in the order of the rainbow, so that will visually help your students with keeping these organized as well.

There are tons of possibilities for using these in your classroom, including, but certainly not limited to:

• setting a focus for the reading you will do that day
• partner conversation starters
• Guided Reading/Teacher Time work
• Daily 5 accountability
• extensions for higher readers
• extra practice for students struggling with a concept
• informal assessments based on a standard
• Literature Groups
• ... and more!

When it comes to using these in your classroom, all you'll need are the cards, the included student response sheet, a pencil, and a QR reader (I like the app QR Reader for my iPhone/iPads).

Then, just scan the QR Code card and a question pops up for your student(s) to answer.

On the top left of the card you'll see the number that corresponds to the teacher "cheat sheet" so you can always know what your students are answering. They will record the number in the circle on their response sheet and there's room for two responses per page. This encourages complete sentences and also gives enough room to cite evidence and examples from the text, which is a part of many of the prompts.

The Nonfiction set is very similar, although it does not have genre-specific cards, so there are 60 Nonfiction cards as opposed to the 78 Fiction cards.

You can get these individually from my TpT Store or you can pick them up as a discounted bundled set. Just click on the item below to be taken to its page and read all about the Common Core Standards these cards address. If you are also an owner of my top-selling Nonfiction Text Features pack, the Nonfiction QR Critters will go along perfectly!

Thank you again for your excitement and support! You have no idea how inspiring it is to get your notes and see how you use these in class! I hope these make a great addition to your Teacher Time Bin and/or reader's response toolkit and I'll be back with more QR Codes as the year progresses!

Bright Ideas: Sticky Note Summaries

Welcome to the Bright Ideas Blog Hop! I am so excited to be participating this month along with countless other talented teacher bloggers to share some of our favorite tips and ideas from the classroom!

This idea is one that I used in Teacher Time (Guided Reading), during independent reading, and even suggested to parents to use for at-home reading:

Sticky Note Summaries

These are simple, easy, and effective, especially if you have a reader who struggles to remember what they read over the course of a chapter book. Some kids just naturally retain information from one chapter to the next, but some kids really start disconnecting from reading in second and third grade because each chapter carries into the next and they simply can't keep it straight.

The supplies you'll need are really quite simple: a chapter book, sticky notes, and a pencil.

I demonstrate this first in Teacher Time/Guided Reading and we begin by reading one chapter from our book. At the end of the chapter, I will pass out one sticky note and have them put the chapter number on the top. We will then brainstorm one sentence that captures the main event/idea from that chapter and jot it down on the sticky note. We'll leave that sticky note on the last page of Chapter 1 and get started on Chapter 2.

When we get to the end of Chapter 2, I'll pass out one more sticky note. Then we'll label it with "2" on the top and jot down one sentence about the main event/idea from that chapter only, leaving it on the last page of Chapter 2... and so on:

When we get to the end of the book, we have quite a few sticky notes that cover the entire book broken up into manageable chunks. I have them take each one out of the book and organize them in numerical order by chapter. We can then review the main events from the story, watched how events unfolded throughout chapters, look for surprises and missed clues, etc. We can also use the information to write a much more cohesive summary without pulling events and ideas from the entire book from thin air.

While this sticky notes do not automatically flow into a complete summary paragraph (in fact, they never have in my case!), there are lots of ways I like to use these to help aid in comprehension and build a student's confidence with chapter books:

• Reread the previous sticky note(s) before getting started on the next chapter to give them a refresher of what's happening in the book so far
• Going over the sticky notes alone, with a teacher, or with a reading buddy at the end of the book before writing a polished summary
• Reviewing the sticky notes before taking a reading quiz to remind them of the main events and flow of the book from beginning to end.
• Involving parents in reading at home by having them reread the previous sticky notes and getting a general idea of the book so they can hold conversations around the book and know what's happening
• Involving parents at home by having them help their child come up with a sentence for the sticky note
• Collecting a student's stack of sticky notes at the end for an informal assessment
• Having them choose different sticky notes to "dig deeper" in the text, such as finding the problem, solution, favorite part, clues, misinformation, new learning, surprises, questions, etc. 
• and more!!

What I loved about Sticky Note Summaries was that it started as a way to help my strugglers, but soon some of my advanced readers started using the strategy as well. As one student explained it to me, there was just too much to keep track of in the longer books, so this helped them keep it all straight.

I also noticed it helped my strugglers set an intention for reading each chapter since they knew they had to fill out a sticky note at the end. It kept them more focused on the story and their goals more manageable throughout the course of a book. It's also such a simple strategy, after one round in Teacher Time/Guided Reading, kids are able to complete this on their own with just an occasional check in from me.

I hope this Bright Idea helped and gave you some ways to incorporate sticky notes and Sticky Note Summaries in your students' reading this year!

Technology Resources for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner and I wanted to share some technology resources you can use in your classroom to learn more about this holiday and celebrate in fun ways with your students.

There are loads of games out there, I wanted to try and narrow down all of the resources into my top four choices that are both instructional and engaging.

BrainPOP

As you know, I am a huge fan of BrainPOP and was fortunate enough to teach in a district that had a subscription. This video is not free unless you are a subscriber, but I wanted to include it because it seems like many of you are. This is a fantastic video since it describes St. Patrick's Day, St. Patrick himself, and traditions around the world that don't involve drinking or adult libations-- so it's very safe for kids :)

BrainPOP also includes quizzes, worksheets, and other fun related features. I loved projecting this whole-class one time through, then watching it a second time and stopping it to talk about things, have kids ask/answer questions, take notes, etc. You can also download their iPad app and use it for small groups-- there are loads of possibilities!

To get to their St. Patrick's Day video, click HERE.

BBC's St. Patrick's Journey

This is a great center choice for Listen to Reading since there are words across the bottom of the page and has quick and informative sections all about the life and times of St. Patrick.

There are several versions you can choose and I went with the non-Flash English version. The Flash didn't work for me after several attempts, but the non-Flash was just as informative and really gave some interesting facts about the time periods in Ireland leading up to St. Patrick as well as his life and the legacy he left behind.

This site would also be a great whole-class read aloud that you can project into a whiteboard/screen and discuss as you walk through each part. You could do the whole thing or just bits and pieces-- take a look to see what would fit best with your class :)

You can find St. Patrick's Journey HERE.

The History Channel

These videos are short and simple and address some of the common traditions we think about when we say "St. Patrick's Day" here in the states.

There are 15 videos total and you should (of course!) preview them before you show them to your kiddos--some of them show drinking and most have an ad preview before it shows. That being said, these are high-interest and short and sweet, mostly around 2-5 minutes!

Some of my personal favorites are "Why Green?" and "NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade" with the archival footage of prior parades and the staggering statistics of just how big it has become!

To access all of these videos from The History Channel, click HERE.

St. Patrick's Day Word Search

I am a huge word search fan, and this one is a lot of fun to play!

As you select a word, it highlights the letters and if it's correct, shamrocks cover the word and dim it on the word list. A great vocabulary game to play this time of year.

You can find the St. Patrick's Day Word Search HERE.

If you're interested in my St. Patrick's Day Word Work Set, it is available in my TpT Store by clicking on the picture below.

I hope these resources gave you some new and interactive ways to learn more about this festive holiday and its rich tradition.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Find more Technology Resources throughout the year here:

A Video Walk-Through of QR Critters

If you follow me on Facebook, you know about these new packets already (and may have even scored a free copy for yourself!), but since I will be making them for several holidays throughout the year, I wanted to put together a video walk-through to give you a better sense of how these can work in your classroom.


This video is also on my YouTube channel if you'd like to subscribe and be notified when I upload new videos.

You can pick up the St. Patrick's QR Critters here:

• 2 & 3-Digit Addition
• 3 & 4-Digit Addition
• 2 & 3-Digit Subtraction

And the bundled set of all three is available by clicking the picture:

Click above to see this in my TpT Store.

You can find all of these and future sets by clickong on "QR Critters" on the left side of my TpT Store HERE.

I hope this helped in explaining this newest packet! Enjoy and have fun with these-- they are always such a hit with kids :)

Hand Sanitizer Bathroom Pass Revisited

I first posted about this idea way back when when I first started blogging: My hand sanitizer bathroom pass:

The original post (and free download) is HERE. It remains one of my most pinned resources and even made it onto Buzzfeed's 25 Clever Classroom Tips last year!

I have the kids leave this pass on their desk/at their table spot when they use the restroom. When they get back, they put the pass back and use the hand sanitizer. It's an added layer of germ-killing! This system also makes it easy for me to see who is out of the room. 

I wanted to make something more snazzy for class, so I present the newest version of my bathroom passes made with the help of my Silhouette Cameo: 

One thing I love about this performance-grade vinyl is that it can hold up against moisture. This is important not just because it will probably get hand sanitizer on it, but it also can be wiped down with a Clorox wipe anytime to keep it germ-free (especially important this time of year!!).

Another reason these are so great is that these containers can be refilled throughout the whole year and always look new and sleek. You can get the bulk hand sanitizer and just refill them, saving the need to buy lots of new containers, so it's better for our planet :)

I bought the sanitizer from the Dollar Store and the front sticker came off very easily. I used the familiar bathroom icons, KG The Last Time font, and some blue and pink vinyl scraps.

I hope this gave you another idea for how you can use your vinyl cutting machine. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you're still staying warm in this long winter season!