Thursday, April 18, 2013

STAR Testing Workshops

STAR testing is right around the corner for us California folks, and for those of you in LBUSD, testing begins the week of April 29th. If you do the math on that one, it's 11 days from today! Students will spend 2 weeks taking the English Language Arts and math portions (and other tests depending on what grade they are in, see that schedule here) and 1 week making up missed portions of the test, if needed.

This year, we are offering grade level workshops to help our students review concepts, preview practice questions, learn test-taking strategies, and build confidence. Each workshop spans 2 weekends and includes 4 total hours of instruction. We have gathered some of the best strategies from teachers, administrators, and district personnel throughout the district to put together a fun, interactive, confidence-building workshop series. Many of the strategies that students will learn in this workshop can also be used for in-class tests as well.

My absolute favorite part of this workshop is the parent resources. It sounds completely boring, and you're probably thinking that means some photocopied and stapled informational letters about the exams, some flashcards that are cut crooked and totally boring (that you'll never use), and a list of links that you can visit for more information. Parents will receive a goody bag full of all kinds of wonderful ideas, including but not limited to, breakfast bags, encouraging notes to slip into students' pockets, and exercise ideas that parents can do with their children at home in the morning or on the way to school. Are you intrigued yet? To see snapshots of the materials being made, follow us on Instagram @kidsunderconstruction.

STAR tests can be overwhelming for students and anxiety-inducing for parents, but we're here to help turn these standardized tests into celebrations of knowledge. We hope you will either join us on forward this information to someone that can. For more information, or to register, visit our website here.

No comments:

Post a Comment