Well, it's that time of year again-test prep time! I've tried many different plans, but the one that has been the most effective for us has been the silent reading challenge.
Why? Well, there are several reasons. First of all, we focus on silent reading stamina. This is an area often overlooked in reading. We read aloud to our students, we have them read aloud to us in groups, they read to a buddy, and so on. But, we usually assign independent, or silent reading as homework. How will we know if our students are actually reading at home and how will we know if they are understanding what they read? So, I introduced this concept to our teachers. I had them put up a Stamina Tracker, so they could track how long their students were able to read. In our intermediate grades, we started at 5 minutes, just to introduce the concept.
This is a basic poster. Some of our teachers have done a beautiful job with their Stamina Trackers and incorporated them with their class' themes. You'll also notice on this poster, that we have included three basic rules. In addition, we add HOT questions or questions where the students must make a connection. Because we are departmentalized, teachers have a different colored post-it note for each class, but you could do this with different group names.
After we begin tracking silent reading stamina, we introduce the silent reading challenge. I read the current story or novel we are actually using in class and I count out a 500-700 word portion. Our item specifications state that passages will be around this length. Then, I write up an assessment of 8-10 questions using our state's question stems with the answers listed in multiple choice format. I included the answer key along with each benchmark per question. This helped use the finished test as a formative assessment. This year, I added an idea I saw on Pinterest. I added this to my TPT resource to make it much easier for the teachers.
Here's how it works: Students are given 20 minutes to read the selected portion of their textbook or novel. They must read silently and answer their questions with at least 70% or higher accuracy rate. If they are success, they earn two candies. Yes, this sounds like bribing, but trust me, it's motivation. Then, calculate the class average and the average proficiency rate for the group. Track this progress on their Silent Reading Challenge Log.
Our kids'not only improved their independent reading stamina, but learned to love reading as well. You can find the entire package on my TPT store:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Test-Prep-Silent-Reading-Challenge
Why? Well, there are several reasons. First of all, we focus on silent reading stamina. This is an area often overlooked in reading. We read aloud to our students, we have them read aloud to us in groups, they read to a buddy, and so on. But, we usually assign independent, or silent reading as homework. How will we know if our students are actually reading at home and how will we know if they are understanding what they read? So, I introduced this concept to our teachers. I had them put up a Stamina Tracker, so they could track how long their students were able to read. In our intermediate grades, we started at 5 minutes, just to introduce the concept. 
This is a basic poster. Some of our teachers have done a beautiful job with their Stamina Trackers and incorporated them with their class' themes. You'll also notice on this poster, that we have included three basic rules. In addition, we add HOT questions or questions where the students must make a connection. Because we are departmentalized, teachers have a different colored post-it note for each class, but you could do this with different group names.
After we begin tracking silent reading stamina, we introduce the silent reading challenge. I read the current story or novel we are actually using in class and I count out a 500-700 word portion. Our item specifications state that passages will be around this length. Then, I write up an assessment of 8-10 questions using our state's question stems with the answers listed in multiple choice format. I included the answer key along with each benchmark per question. This helped use the finished test as a formative assessment. This year, I added an idea I saw on Pinterest. I added this to my TPT resource to make it much easier for the teachers.
Here's how it works: Students are given 20 minutes to read the selected portion of their textbook or novel. They must read silently and answer their questions with at least 70% or higher accuracy rate. If they are success, they earn two candies. Yes, this sounds like bribing, but trust me, it's motivation. Then, calculate the class average and the average proficiency rate for the group. Track this progress on their Silent Reading Challenge Log.
Our kids'not only improved their independent reading stamina, but learned to love reading as well. You can find the entire package on my TPT store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Test-Prep-Silent-Reading-Challenge
Great post! Please consider accepting my invitation to link up your blog post at the TEST PREP LINKY PARTY being hosted at
ReplyDeletehttp://teachingisagift.blogspot.ca/2013/04/test-prep-linky-party.html.
Sidney
Teachingisagift