First time for assessment tests is K5!

Teachers must coffee up for these days!  They are full of training and practicing and praising.

We always took time the week before to do a simple practice.  I talked about these tests to show our parents what we can do by ourselves.  We will show Dad and Mom everything we have learned, are learning, and even some things we may already know!

New pencils.  Treats.  Brain breaks.  Stickers.  Extra snacks.  Longer recess.  NO REGULAR SCHOOLWORK!  

Lots of quiet.  Great listening skills.  Following directions.  

I make a big deal of these "big kid books".  We talk about how a machine checks their answers and we don't want to confuse the machine with extra pencil marks.  I had a child coloring in the black and white pictures as I was explaining.  I had another child write letters on the page randomly.  NO Worries...Just DO your best.

We talked about not distracting others by humming and tapping.  Wiggles are ok.  I had one student up on both knees on his chair.  I had another half standing up while another had their head down while listening and pointing to the picture.

I walk around the room constantly...continually scanning each student's actions to be sure they are not lost or confused.  We learn how to use the bookmark to follow along.  I always have a jar of special treats...Smarties, don't be a Dum-Dum suckers, fruit snacks, M&Ms or Skittles...and GASP...I let them eat through a section of testing as it takes the stress away.

We put a sign on the outside of our door that says we are testing and not to disturb...but please look in to make sure the teacher is doing ok!

We test for about 1-2 hours each day Monday through Thursday.  I never canceled special classes (art, music, PE, etc) we worked around them.  When we were done each day they enjoyed free play and then story time.  Our curriculum was ready for us to start our Science book around testing time, so we made a big deal of that by the time we got to Friday...complete with fun activities.  I learned the hard way to save the last two reading challenge tests for Friday morning.  Those two ending tests were hard on some of my little friends and usually I had one or two or four crying.  A couple others didn't even try.  

No matter the final day choices, we made a big deal of a job well done!  IT is a huge learning curve for five and six year olds.