Testing...testing...we're reading for standardized testing

First and foremost, I can't think of any teacher who truly enjoys standardized testing.  

Do I like analyzing data to see trends and how my students have improved? Of course.  Do I spend days doing "test prep" and "teach to the test"? Nope.  I offer quality instruction every day of the school year, not just right before exams.

I start by sharing this image with my students and their families:

Yes, testing is important.  Yes, testing needs to be taken seriously and their scores can impact their placement in sixth grade classes.  But do their fifth grade standardized tests determine the rest of their lives?  

No.

But they've got lots of feelings regarding testing.  We even have a big {pep assembly} to get them all pumped up (but honestly, it leaves some of them feeling even more anxious).

So, about a week before testing, I send home a request to families.  This year, it conveniently coincided with progress reports so I was able to send home this notice and colorful stationary without arousing too much suspicion from my students.

I also sent out class dojo reminders to parents to return the letters.  Some sent back beautiful notes like this:

While others never returned the letters (things happen) or sent back blank stationary.  That was kind of a bummer because I ended up writing nineteen letters the night before testing started.  (Yes, 19/36 of my kiddos needed a letter.  Each one was hand written and slightly different, so they knew it was personalized and I care.)

I didn't want my students to not have something to open the morning of the test.  Every table had letters:

After breakfast (because all our students get free universal breakfast), my students opened their letters.

There were tears.  It was a sweet, beautiful moment.  They went into the test feeling loved, supported, and encouraged.  That's what all students need.

During the test, they got fruit snacks (bad choice with the computers) on the first day.  

Things went relatively smoothly the first day.  I did have to write my first citation (during testing) for a student not listening.  I can't stress enough to this student that listening to directions during testing is kind of a big deal.

After the test, they got some indoor recess (due to the weather) and played games.  They have no homework (besides reading) on testing nights.  I also don't expect much from them academically on testing days because the hope is they've used all their mental capacities to do amazing on their test and have nothing left to give.  So we do some brain breaks, read for pleasure, watch some science videos (thank you Discovery Education!), and we work on logic puzzles.

The second day was a little more frustrating.  There were some major computer issues with the server (not on our end), so students got a lot of extra reading time.  They did an amazing job with being quiet (because they basically had to be quiet the entire day).

My last one finished testing a few minutes before the bell.  I spent almost six hours actively monitoring standardized testing.  For those of you not in the teaching realm, it means I walked in a circle, watching them type.  I pretend I'm in NASCAR, silently making my hundreds of laps around the computer lab. I can't read the test or the questions, I can't help them in any way, I just have to smile and encourage them.

I did get to rock this sweet testing shirt that a fellow teacher made:

They didn't find it funny. I thought it was hysterical (but that's usually how things go.  They don't always appreciate my delightful sense of humor.)

Due to all the computer glitches and their best efforts, we didn't even get a fun reward on Friday (day 2 of the first round of testing).  To show them that I was proud of them, I bought a bunch of rice krispie treats (something no one is allergic to in my room) and told them I appreciated them "sticking" with testing.  We enjoyed those snacks the following Monday and tried to take an outdoor recess, but instead dealt with a sudden thunder storm.  We set a timer and played games inside the classroom instead. 

Tomorrow we start the second round of testing with science.  Two days of testing (hopefully we'll be done before lunch), then afternoon specials and some reading time.  Friday is field day in the afternoon and we'll be doing games in the morning.  Next week is Spring Break (HALLELUJAH) and our last round of standardized testing (math) will take place in May.

We'll be "adopted" by primary classes for the last round of testing. I can't wait to see what cute cards and treats my kiddos get from the little ones.  While I don't love testing, I can say that the sense of community and support my students feel is amazing.

I did see this cute idea on pinterest and if I can find 3 dozen oranges at Costco, this may happen:

How do you motivate your students for standardized testing?

For additional chuckles on how to deal with standardized testing, this {article} always provides a laugh!

ABCs, part two

The cuteness of my school continues.

As I previously shared, we are in the middle of an ABC themed count down until the end of the school year.

My students hare having a wonderful time with the spirit days.

Inside out day!  We wore our clothes inside out.

Joke day!  They shared all their silly jokes with one another.

Kickback day!  Also known as the teachers get to wear yoga pants and it's amazing.

Lollipop day.  They could bring in suckers and eat them during independent reading.

Mismatch day.  I had an important meeting after school that day (more on that later), so I needed to look presentable.  I did wear brown flats with a black sweater, which felt mismatched.  

Neon day.  Surprisingly this was mostly students participating.  As an adult, I do not own a lot of neon items.  I am also completely okay with this.

Octopus day.  They read fun facts about octopi.  That was really it.

Pajama day.  This day was glorious.

Quiet day.  Another glorious day that coincided with online standardized testing (Discovery Education, not SBAC.)

Red and read day.  Wear red, read a lot,

The next two weeks will bring the remaining letters of S-Z.

What fun traditions does your school have for the end of the year? 

A state of emergency

This past week, my fifth graders were supposed to take the SBAC test, which is an online version that replaces the traditional paper and pencil standardized test.

Since we were testing in the classroom, we spent weeks going over laptop procedures to get them ready. We talked about how to properly plug in the mice and headphones, how to carry the laptop, how to remove the laptop from the charging cart, how to tell if you need to plug the laptop in, how to set up the splitter and ethernet cords since we didn't want all the laptops pulling from the school's wifi.  My students were assigned cart-wrangling jobs and everyone knew their testing number, since it corresponded with the bag of mice, headphones, and laptops.  We went over the procedures for logging into laptops, logging into the test, all the web 2.0 tools (highlighting, clicking, hovering, typing, etc) that are imbedded in the test and necessary to pass.  We went over all these procedures more than once until every child knew what to expect.

I spent hours of instructional time practicing for THE TEST.

We read Testing Miss Malarkey and were adopted by another class, who provided us with cute treats the morning of the test.  

We had a pep assembly at the local high school to talk about test anxiety and get them ready.

I spent several hours after school covering all my anchor charts, since my room was the testing zone and had to be within protocol.  And as a friendly reminder, teachers aren't paid over time, so all this necessary prep was done on my time since I can't climb on desks while teaching--that's rather frowned upon.

 
We, almost painfully, problem solved every possible "what if" scenario...except for the big one.  

What if the test doesn't work?

We used splitters to problem solve for the wifi bandwidth.  The rest of the school was asked not to use the pod computers during testing time.  We did a practice run as teachers to create the testing window  and select all the various buttons we'd need to click in order to properly set up the test for the students.

We created a schedule, rearranged preps and lunches for the entire school.  We have three grades that need to test, but only three classes can be testing at a time (two on the laptops, one in the lab).  Some of our students need smaller groups or accomodations, but all that was worked into our perfect schedule.  There was time for make ups and no tests were scheduled for Mondays.

However, none of that matters.  Tuesday, the morning of the test, the SBAC server failed.

Not just for our school.  Not just for our district.  For the entire state.

Correction, for three states.

On a side note, system issues also briefly took out curriculum engine (where we have our online lesson plans) and interact (our email server).  Good times!

 

To say I'm disappointed with the SBAC corporation would be an understatement.  They had years to hype this test and get it ready.  We asked, time and again, for practice runs.  They failed to adequately deliver the standardized test.

The line from the media report is that they experienced technical difficulties due to a "spike in student participation."  

Students logged in, during the testing window, to take the test...shocker.  This in no way should have been a surprise.

We lost the entire week. Testing is "scheduled to resume on Monday" but we'll see.

So the tough decision was made to rearrange some of the other testing...which means my students had twenty four hours notice that they'd be taking the science component of the old CRTs (paper pencil version of the standardized test) on Friday.  Both sections of the test.

This component of testing was originally scheduled for the middle of May.  

They weren't ready.  We weren't ready.  We have a guest chemist coming in next week to talk about mixtures and solutions.  We have a whole force and motion unit planned, since we put our instruction on hold to prepare for the SBAC.  We stopped teaching to prepare for a test that through no fault of our own, and despite our best efforts to prepare them, still didn't happen.

My students did amazing, despite the circumstances.  With grit and determination, they spent the entire day struggling through a test of concepts we hadn't taught.  Some were more prepared then others.  They did their best and I can't ask for more than that.

I'd like there to be some accountability from SBAC.  This situation was ridiculous and unfair to both students and teachers.  There are now discussions at a federal level about repercussions because what happens if Nevada doesn't test? Will we lose federal funding?  What if the test doesn't work on Monday, then what?

I, as an educator, uphold my end of the deal.  I show up to work each day with an optimistic attitude and a desire to inspire, teach, lead, and challenge students to help them become the leaders of tomorrow.  I juggle state mandates and curriculum with the very real emotional and social needs of thirty young individuals.  I provide rigorous, challenging, engaging lessons that lead to connections and real-world applications.  I work tirelessly to make sure my students' needs are met.  Sometimes, I brave this battle with heels.

I did my job. Test makers, do yours.

Five days

Spring (and its allergens) have officially hit Las Vegas.  It's pleasantly in the 80s and that magical time of year when I need neither the heat nor the air conditioning on inside.  I simply open the windows, run fans, and the temperature is fabulous.

We've taken the students outside to read a few times because it's so lovely outside.

This gorgeous weather makes for irksome behaviors and lots of parent teacher conferences.

While most of the country has already had spring break, we are sitting at five days out.  Five long days.

Here's the gist of what's causing their spring madness:

1) The fifth graders are getting the elementary version of island-fever.  

They've been to their middle school (which is across the street) and registered for next year's classes.  They've seen all the clubs and activities that are available to them as sixth graders.  Most are starting to experience puberty and all the roller coaster emotions (and smells) that accompany these natural changes.  They feel they've outgrown elementary school and are ready for the next step.  Some are excited while some are terrified.  I've set out my "how to deal with middle school bucket" and made myself available at recess to talk about middle school myths.

2) Testing season is soon.  

We have a large pep rally soon and the primary classes are adopting the intermediate ones to sponsor with messages and little treats.  I will be digging out this:

to read to them.  We'll be talking about testing strategies and crossing our fingers for perfect attendance.  This year we'll be taking the SBAC, which is all online...which presents a whole new set of problems.

3)  Their emotions.

 I find that i need to, on an almost daily basis, re-establish our classroom norms.  On any given day, I say any (and all) of these things:

No child, you can't stand up and run out of the classroom bawling hysterically.  If you don't feel well, ask for a nurse pass. I am not a mind reader.

No child, you can't choose to do none of your work and still expect a reward.  

No child, you can't roll your eyes at me and expect me not to call you on that. There will be a card change and a hallway conversation.

 No child, you can't pull your tooth out and bleed all over your test as a strategy to get out of taking it.  A clean, blood-free one will be waiting for you when you return from the nurse.
  
No child, you can't take a bathroom break right when the class returns from recess.  

No child, you can't try to sneak off for a ten minute bathroom break every time we are ready to take a timed math quiz.

No child, you can't try to use the bathroom three times in the afternoon because you don't want to read your book.  If you keep asking, you're going to the nurse because something may be medically wrong if you insist you must use the bathroom every twenty minutes.

No child, you and your best friend can't both go to the bathroom together. I'm female, I know you want to go outside and giggle.  One at a time, nice try.

4) The excitement.

We've got several guest speakers lined up.  Field day is this Friday.  We're watching The Lightning Thief in the morning (because we finished the novel) before doing this activity as a table team.  Math is hands-on and reading is integrating history (American Revolution).  They are simply so excited about every thing we are doing.  Every little thing.

You know when Oprah would give away free things and the audience goes absolutely wild?  That's what teaching fifth grade is like.  It's exhausting.

Five days.  I can do this!
 

CRT Data

Confession:

I rarely check my work email over the summer.

I deleted the app from my phone and since I'm not in my new school's system yet, I don't see much of a point to log in daily only to delete spam and teacher coupons (looking at you Lakeshore). 

I saw my (former) principal post on Facebook that not only were CRT (Criterion Referenced Test) scores in, but she was excited about the results.  So naturally I asked to see the fifth grade data because well, I'm a numbers nerd!

I was at my new house painting so I figured I'd check the data in a few hours.  Well, my grade level beat me to the analysis part.  In a matter of minutes, I had six texts from my former grade level sharing their excitement about particular students.  

While I'm sure I'll get official reports with the break down of each class, I couldn't wait.  My insomnia got the best of me and sure enough, I was up at four am crunching numbers and making graphs.  I couldn't be more pleased with my class results and know that I didn't accomplish this feat alone.  It took our entire grade level working tirelessly, together, for ten months to achieve these results.  For those at my school who did not approve of our quasi-departmentalization experiment, I'd like to waive this data in their faces...but I won't...because I am a professional.  

I had the privilege of working alongside some of the most inspirational fellow teachers.  I will miss being able to pop into their rooms and the amazing collaborative mindset we all shared.  For various reasons, we are all starting at new schools and collectively represent third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and special education.

Math

(I didn't teach math besides our intervention block and number talks, so these scores are due in a large part to the amazing effort of my two neighboring teachers.  Well done ladies! I trusted that my students were in very capable hands each and every day.)

I'm a visual person, thus the graph.  Here is my class data for math:

1 student exceeded
22 students met standards
3 students were approaching
6 students were emerging


Science

We shared students for science and I taught the FOSS Landforms kit four times before getting my own class back for CRT prep.  When my homeroom wasn't with me, they were with my fellow teachers learning about environments, mixtures and solutions, force and motion, as well as variables.  We broke our year into four seven week rotations and started switching the third week of school.  We didn't switch right away because we wanted to set up science notebooks and go over the scientific method with our homeroom classes.  

Our rotations ended about two weeks before the science CRTs, so we used that time to incorporate Discovery Ed video streaming into our reviews.  We also practiced taking notes from multimedia presentations, a valuable skill they'll most definitely need in middle school.  However, we did this with the Magic School Bus videos and they did an amazing job.

Here is my class science data:

Numbers wise,
6 students exceeded standards
17 met standards
6 students were approaching standards
3 students were emerging on science standards

I'm quite pleased with my little scientists!


Reading

If you are new to my teaching blog, know this: I love reading.  I love discussing books with my students and watching them fall in love with literary worlds.  I love watching their excitement when they learn more about the world around them from informational text and seeing them become self-motivated to learn more by reading more is simply wonderful.  

I broke my reading data into two groups: my small groups and my whole class.

I had the higher half of the grade level for small groups, so naturally these numbers are expected to be more in the meeting category.  My job for small groups was to push these fluent readers to become more critical thinkers.  

Numbers wise,

23 students exceeded standards
28 students met standards
7 students were approaching
2 students were emerging

I'm quite pleased with my small groups!

For my whole class, which is inclusion, here are my results:

7 students exceeded standards
13 students met standards
4 students were approaching
8 students were emerging (of these 8, all were either students with IEPs or in the RTI process and still made growth over their previous scores)


I'm thrilled with my students' performances.  Did they all meet standards? No.  Did they all make growth? Yes.  

With my data analyzed, I can emotionally bid this past school year adieu.  I did my best.  I taught them strategies and how to think critically.  They learned and proved their knowledge on these tests.  It is time for a much needed, relaxing summer.

Choices

It's the end of the year. I'm moving both classrooms and into my first home.  The students are becoming increasingly squirrely with each passing day.  We have one more field trip and a lot of loose ends to tie up. There is simply too much to do and not enough minutes in the day. It's frustrating that I want to give my students emotional closure on their novels and give them time to finish their books, but I'm at odds with others on this view point.  I want to keep teaching as long as possible, but that's not being supported.

Our last day is Wednesday, June 4th.  In my mind, that means I can realistically teach up until Friday, May 30th. I can finish novels with students, retest on assessments, and allow them to do some project based learning about their novels.  With everything wrapped up by the 30th, that would allow me the weekend to grade their final projects and have scores in by Monday the 2nd.  We'd use the last week of school to present our novel projects, sign  yearbooks, attend our awards assembly, and reflect upon our learning for the year.  

However, this is not what I'm expected to do.  Every assessment is supposed to be done, and graded, by the 28th.  The 28th is a full week ahead of when report cards go home.

When I expressed how busy the fifth grade has been, my words were shrugged off.  In the past few weeks, we've had CRTs (standardized testing), the writing proficiency, field trips, Discovery Education testing, KIC (science inquiry project), Aimsweb end of the year benchmarks and I DRA'd seventy children.  Plain and simple, fifth grade had the most work to do.  Not complaining, just a statement of fact.  We've been quite busy. We were not given assistance like other grade levels because sadly, blatant favoritism exists.  I wish it didn't, but the favoritism is running rampant these days and I somehow found myself on the other side.  Perhaps it's because I'm leaving schools.  Perhaps it's because I speak my mind and stick up for myself.  I am not being treated fairly at my work and it's one of the contributing factors for my change in school location.  Regardless of how I'm being treated, I'm doing my best to focus on making the best instructional decisions for my students.  All my choices are made to best serve the interests of those thirty one rowdy fifth graders whom I teach and adore to the best of my abilities.

I wish there was more understanding.  I'm asking for time until the second (which is still days before report cards go home) not because I'm lazy.  It's not because I'm being a procrastinator.  It's because with everything going on, we didn't want to over test our students.  We, as a grade level, felt we would get accurate results by spreading out the assessments (as best we could) and not overwhelm them by testing all day, every day.  I'm asking for more time to allow students to finish their novels and give us the chance to meet about the endings.  I'm not okay with just taking away their books and saying we ran out of time.  That's not fair to my students.  I'm not okay with depriving them of an opportunity to share about their novels and reflect on their learning throughout the year.  I 'm not okay with skipping the "how we've grown as learners" end of year reflection.  

My choice is to keep teaching as long as possible, even if it means I give myself an extra long weekend of grading.  

My choice is to provide emotional, literary closure to my students.  

My choice is to allow them time to share about their favorite books and engage in conversations about reading.

My choice is, to the best of my ability, wrap up our year together with discussions and reflections to help them grow as readers and learners.

My choice is to provide them time to think, write, collaborate, and discuss how much they've grown this year.

My choice is to allow them to feel accomplished and share their learning with others.

My choices are not approved by certain staff members.

It's disappointing that I'm not supported by fellow educators when I'm trying to make the right choices for my students.  

 In the end, my students are the reason I'm a teacher. I'm standing by my choices.

CRT testing

Standardized testing is up on us.  In our district, spring break coincided with Easter so some of the fifth grade testing was done before spring break with the rest after.

Third grade went first and we had our math test on the Wednesday and Thursday before spring break.  The Friday before spring break was field day, so no testing was done.

We had a fifth grade pep assembly and they got these cute testing treats:

I don't know what happens at other schools, but we are very strict with our testing protocol.  My pink CRT bucket does not leave my sight after I sign it out in the am.  I lock it in the cabinet and then lock my door when I go to pick up my students and when we take our restroom break.  This year, our district was even stricter with test proctoring rules.  No technology could be on, which includes my teacher computer, iPads, and my cell phone.  I understand the rules and it saddens me that some teachers would cheat, giving the rest of us a bad name.  However, I also understand the incredibly high stakes of this test and when job security depends on the moods of eight year-olds, it seems like a catch-22 situation.  But again, I'm not the one making the rules...just the one meticulously following them.  Even though it means no email during the test.

We do class adoptions during testing season.  Primary classes adopt the testing grades and create good luck banners and treats to motivate our kiddos.  I wish we would have this adoption all year so that our classes could read to one another and share their writing, but I am not in charge of these things.

We did make good luck signs for the two third grade classes that we share a hallway with and they made super cute ones for us as well.  We also write good luck messages on our boards, since we take down all of our anchor charts and visual cues during testing.  

We were adopted by two first grade classes since their combined numbers are about equal to one fifth grade classroom.

Our first treat said we would rock the test and was baggies of rock shaped chocolates:

Our second treat was that we're on a roll with tootsie rolls.

I can't wait to see what the next four days of testing treats will be.  My students love the snack and the motivation signs are super cute.  I'm actually really excited about testing because I'm so proud of the hard work my grade level has done this year to prepare our students. 

 I only hope the standardized tests match what we taught in terms of standards.  We adopted the Common Core and have followed our state's roll-out plan meticulously, so we hope the test reflects the standards we were mandated to teach.  

(In all likelihood, this won't be the case.  I'm sure the test will be the old standards and our school will look poor in rankings because we did our job and taught them what they were supposed to learn...but alas, I'm not a policy maker and am not able to be in charge of everything...yet?)

Awww

So I'm cleaning out/up my classroom because standardized testing is literally right around the corner...it's tomorrow morning.  

So instead of covering up the posters with more paper, I just took them down.  Instead of recycling them, I sent them home with students after CRT boot camp.

I came home to find a message on my teacher facebook from one of my students.  Attached was a picture of her bedroom wall where she'd proudly hung up those anchor charts.  Yes, that was the decor she wanted in her room.

These are my students.

Plenty of Polygons

With our standardized testing right around the corner, we've been doing test prep.  Many of our students are struggling with the geometrical hierarchy of polygons, so we created some sorts and matching activities for them.

They had such a great time figuring out which polygon was being described and I loved that some of my high kids still learned new vocabulary terms (like kite).  Most students are pretty good with matching the polygon to the definition, but when it comes to the classification of quadrilaterals...they get a little stumped.

But these centers really helped them understand not only the individual polygons, but how they interact with each other within the geometrical hierarchy.

I've bundled these centers and they are now available here on TpT!

(On a completely adorable side note, several of them went off on a tangent about how this hierarchy was like the Greek mythology family trees we made in small groups.  Two groups got into it about who would be at the top of the tree: Zeus?  Jupiter? The Titans? Kronos?  They were rather reluctantly wheeled back into the math conversation.  At least they're making connections!)

Final meeting for Book Club

Last week was our final meeting for Battle of the Books.  Our school competitions are this coming week and the district finals are on the 25th of April.  I'm excited to take my winning team to face off against the other schools.

I haven't given them any instruction on the books and they held their own small groups.  I'm really proud of how much work they've put into this competition.

One of them even made treats, which was adorable:

Plus they're loving book jeopardy! 

I promised my students we'd play with our small group books during standardized testing time (since they'll need something fun after a long day of bubbling!).

I love watching how much they love reading.

Testing Strategies Recap

During our intervention block we've been working on testing strategies with a practice standardized test.

As a wrap up activity to a week of test prep, we made brochures:

Students got to be a little creative and design their own brochures to help with testing strategies.  They had so much fun with it!

Solids, Liquids & Gases Sort

Since my best selling TpT product of the year was my mixtures and solutions sort, I decided to make another science sort.  

This one requires students to sort task cards into solids, liquids and gases based on the description.  It's a great review for standardized testing!

Snag yours here!

Throwback

In my classroom, there's a plethora of Batman things. I won't apologize for them. I think it's important for my students to know that teachers are actual real people with interests.

Which is why I think it's adorable that my students had this good luck card made for them last year during standardized testing:

Yup.  Even the third graders know what type of things are acceptable in my classroom, TMNT pictures being one of them!

Well, that was out of the blue

I want to believe that I am a good teacher. I know I love my job (most days) and I know I love watching students learn (all days).  It's been a rough year and I haven't felt super supported at school.  I know we took a hit last year in terms of standardized assessments and test scores, but I truly didn't think mine were that bad.  In fact, they weren't bad at all.  My students made growth and did all of them reach their goals? No.  But did they all show improvement? Yes. 

I've been a little frustrated with hearing about how fifth grade's scores went down drastically (19%).  It wasn't my class.  It wasn't 2 of my fabulous neighbor's classes because they worked just as hard and provided some amazing learning opportunities for their students.  I learned so much from them last year and I continue to learn from them now.

Today, out of the blue I got an email from a researcher.  He has a PhD so I'm going to assume he knows what he's doing in terms of assessments.  Here was the gist of his email:

"In my analysis, your students did exceptionall well, including the ELL and special education students. I would like to talk about your experiences and see what resources you used."

Bam.  I want to gloat about this to those that have been a tad harsh this year, but instead I'll just share my excitement here.  I know I did my job as a teacher. I know they all learned and made growth.  More importantly, I know I got them excited about inquiry and learning.

He wants to specifically discuss Discovery Education and the resources I used since I'm a DENstar and he's looking at the Discovery Launch into Teaching assessments.

Honestly, I used Discovery's resources mostly for science which wasn't reflected on those assessments.  We did a lot of video streaming and discussion prior to the CRTs and my students did awesome on their science tests.  (In addition to reading and math!)

So I hope this means I can stop hearing about test scores and negativity.  Fifth grade may have gone down drastically, but that was not my data.  I will be accountable to my test scores and students' growth.  

Do I believe that one test determines what a student learned in one year? No, absolutely not. But it's what we have and what I have to use, so I will take an honest look at the data.  My data looks pretty solid and I'm proud of my students' growth.  Numbers don't lie.