Math Resources and Ideas for Upper Elementary Teachers

You are here: Home / Archives for Test Prep

4th Grade Test Prep: How to Prepare Students for Success

by

State testing can bring a mix of emotions to both students and teachers. It’s normal to feel stressed, anxious, and worried about these high-stakes tests. On top of that, planning for test prep can bring its own set of challenges. You want to review ALL THE THINGS in a fun and meaningful way…but how? Let’s just say it takes some TEAM-work!

All-Inclusive Test Prep Kit

This 4th grade math test prep kit includes ready-to-teach lessons and activities to use the week before testing. 

It covers almost all 4th grade math standards with an emphasis on the more challenging skills that students need to review.

Whole Group Review Lessons

There are 4 interactive PowerPoint lessons to use for whole group instruction. These review lessons focus on heavily tested skills like multi-step word problems, line plots, and fractions. Students can use dry erase boards or math notebooks to follow along.

Take a look at the video previews below for a sample of each lesson!

Day 1 Skills:

1. Add and Subtract Mixed Numbers

2. Line Plots

3. Fractions and Decimals

Day 2 Skills:

1. 2D Figures

2. Measuring Angles

3. Units of Measure

Day 3 Skills:

1. Multi-step Word Problems

2. Place Value Relationships

3. Patterns

Day 4 Skills:

1. Factors and Multiples

2. Prime and Composite Numbers

3. Fraction Comparison and Equivalence

TEAM-Work Stations

test prep activity board

After each mini-lesson, students break into TEAM-work stations that include a combination of independent and partner activities. 

Their goal is to earn as many checkmarks as possible by completing the assigned tasks.

An editable spreadsheet is provided to help group students. The letters E, A, and M are moveable, so you can rotate the letters each day and easily move students to a new station.

What Do TEAM-Work Stations Look Like?

⭐Teacher Check Station:
Your job is to check in with students and help as needed. Your students will be working on challenging concepts, so they will need your help. Because of this, I do not recommend pulling small groups during this time.

test prep teacher check station

✎ When you witness students working hard and staying on task to complete assignments, check the box in their “Teacher Check” column.

 ✎ In addition, you can use this time to check their work for accuracy using the provided answer keys.

⭐Electronics Station: Self-Checking Boom Cards
This is an independent station. Students have 4 sets of Test Prep Boom Cards on the topics listed below.

Boom Cards for Test Prep

Boom Card Decks:
✎ Area and Perimeter

✎ Long Division

✎ Factors and Multiples

✎ Add and Subtract Fractions and Mixed Numbers

⭐At Your Seat Station: Printable Worksheets (all word problems)
This is another independent station. Students have 4 practice worksheets on the topics listed below.

at your seat test prep worksheets

Skills Include:
✎ Area and Perimeter

✎ 1 and 2-Digit Multiplication and 1-Digit Division

✎ Multiplicative Comparisons

✎ Interpret the Remainder

⭐Math with a Partner Station: Printable Worksheets 
This is a partner station. Students have 4 practice worksheets on the topics listed below.

partner math worksheets test prep

Skills Include:
✎ Add and Subtract Mixed Numbers

✎ Place Value Relationships

✎ Rounding Whole Numbers

✎ Multiply Fractions by Whole Numbers

Additional Test Prep Resources

free test prep posters
Grab the Free Posters Here!

Test-Taking Strategy Posters
Students can become overwhelmed if there are too many test-taking strategies to remember. Therefore, I have students focus on these 5 simple test-taking tips. These posters are included in the test prep kit…but click the button to grab them for free!

Tips For The Teacher

Tip #1: Set high expectations for your students, and make it clear that rushed and inaccurate work won’t earn them a check mark. I did not check the box if there were two or more errors on one activity. I instead circled the box and had students go back and correct their mistakes. Once the mistakes were fixed, they earned their check.

Tip #2: It’s important to set goals for students to work toward. For instance, if they complete 5 activities, they get a piece of candy. If they complete 10, they get a prize from the treasure chest. If they complete all 16, they get extra recess…whatever works for you! This will help motivate students to persevere when things get tough.

More teacher tips are included to help your TEAM-work stations run smoothly!

You Can Do This!

I used these math test prep lessons and activities with my 4th graders for many years and can tell you firsthand how well they work to prepare students! Grab this 4th Grade Math Test Prep Kit now and let the fun begin!

For more information on this test prep kit, check out Episode 32 of Elementary Math Chat and watch my Instagram Reel below to see this kit in action!

I wish you all the best as you head into state testing. No matter the results, you are a ROCK STAR teacher!

Until next time,

Happy Teaching!

P.S. If you’re interested in even more test prep Boom Cards, my TEST PREP BUNDLE covers all 13 units of 4th grade math. You can also read this BLOG POST for more info!

How to Make the Most of Review Days with Boom Cards

by

I used to DREAD review days. The challenge of trying to keep an entire class engaged and on task left me overwhelmed and exhausted. While most of my 4th graders didn’t need to review, others required serious remediation. I tried playing review games (who doesn’t love a good game of Jeopardy?), but only a handful of students were engaged and very few benefited. In the end, I never felt satisfied and knew there had to be a better way of utilizing these days.

Small Group Review

One day it dawned on me. What I needed to do was shift my focus from whole group review to small group review. This way, I could meet with the students who truly needed remediation separately from those who did not. But how could I know with certainty which students to reteach and what skills to focus on? I needed data, and I needed it fast. Boom Cards™ immediately came to mind.

Going Digital

If you haven’t tried a set of Boom Cards, pencil them into your next unit lesson plan. These digital task cards are such a time-saver and are easy to implement in class. They provide immediate feedback for students and will give you valuable data, including which problems students answer incorrectly and how long it takes them to complete the assignment. Below is a picture of the data analysis Boom Learning does for you.

Boom Learning data

Boom Learning item analysis

On top of that, students LOVE them! They were a game-changer for me. Learn how to use Boom Cards in the classroom in my previous post!

Chapter Review Boom Cards

I created my first set of Chapter Review Boom Cards during Chapter 7 of Go Math: Add and Subtract Fractions. My students completed this review two days before the test. The data showed me exactly who was struggling and what concepts they were struggling with.

It was obvious they didn’t need more practice adding and subtracting fractions. Their struggle was with mixed numbers. Furthermore, the data showed me who did not require additional support from me. I was AH-MAZED! Planning for review days just got that much easier. I now knew exactly who to work with and what to work on.

I first met with students who needed remediation, and we only worked on mixed numbers. In addition, I provided enrichment activities for the others, including the next chapter’s pretest. How did I not think of this sooner? Immediately, I got to work on creating a set of Chapter 8 Review Boom Cards. Before I knew it, all 13 Chapter Reviews were finished!

Less is More

From here on out, I use the phrase “less is more” to plan out review days. I meet with fewer students and cover fewer topics but accomplish more. I could not achieve this without the data from my Chapter Review Boom Cards! Below is a preview of my review on Angles and Degrees, which aligns with Chapter 11 in Go Math.

 

All 13 Chapter Reviews contain 3-5 questions per lesson and use a variety of question types, such as drag-and-drop, multiple choice, multiple select, and fill-in-the-blank. Questions are organized from the first lesson to the last, making it easy to read and interpret data.

If you are short on time, assign them for homework! The immediate feedback will help you plan which skills to review in whole group and which to review in small groups. In addition, you can identify which lessons you need to focus on more throughout the unit.

Digital and Printable Versions

If you have limited access to technology, I also offer printable versions. Personally, I like to use both. For example, when looking through my data I’ll pull out task cards aligning with the questions most commonly missed. I can then use these cards to review with students and discuss why they missed the questions in the first place and/or what misconceptions they had. Why reinvent the wheel when it’s already been made?

If you struggle with review days, try my “less is more” approach. Use data from Boom Cards to prioritize and plan your small group activities. Click on the links below for more information regarding my 4th Grade Math Reviews!

Digital Boom Cards

Printable Task Cards

Until next time,

Happy Teaching!