Test Taking Strageies

As our students begin to read and comprehend at higher levels, it is important to test their comprehension in a formal way. We begin to give the students written comprehension test. However, because 1st graders have never taken a written test before, they are not sure how to best find the answers. In January we incorporate in our homework a reading passage the students will read nightly. During the week in the classroom we are teaching the students strategies to help them answer questions about the passage. The first strategy is very simply learning how to bubble in the answer. Next we teach them to read all the answers. (RATA). They might see the answer as the first choice but they still need to read all the choices.

Next the students need to prove their answers. Not all questions can be found in the story, but for right now the questions with the "stars" next to them should be proven. That means the students will look back in the passage and find the answer. Once they find the answer they will highlight it with a marker. Next they will write the question numbers next to where they highlighted.

Finally the students learn that some answers are "BAM". Right there word for word like your choice from the question. While other questions you might have to think about to decide what the best answer should be by reading the details from the story.

For this month of January, these are the strategies we are working on. Stay tuned for February's strategies.