Prepare your students for state testing with these tips and ideas! Learn a variety of test taking strategies, ways to motivate your students before testing, and get some ideas on how to engage them during test prep!

These free focus mats have been created to help you get your students ready for standardized testing or other stressful days in your classroom.

There are many different standardized testing options for homeschoolers. Standardized testing for homeschoolers can be done in a variety of ways. We are going to investigate some of these companies, the tests they offer and the requirements it takes to assess.

Whether it's the SATs, the Regents, the ACTs, any of the many state exams (here in Massachusetts we have the MCAS) or our teacher exams staying confident before and throughout the test is so important. In this post is a free PDF printout with tips for staying confident while taking tests.

Testing season is upon us. Yuck. We all have experience with standardized tests, for some of us starting all the way back in elementary school. I will admit it…at times when I was tired of …

You want your students to be prepared and to be successful, whether its on the SAT, ACT, AP exam, PARCC, or other state or local standardized tests. Use these 9 effective way to get your students ready for the big test.

Are you looking for some ideas to motivate your students on testing day? Here you will find links to some great motivational ideas for test day.

FREE test motivation printables for elementary students to encourage kids on standardized state testing! Cheer on kids as they test!

Testing season is just around the corner at my school, and I know many others are in the thick of it as we speak! Testing season is hard. It's hard on the kids, first and foremost, but it's hard on the teachers too. Often times music teachers deal with modified schedules, weeks of missed classes, mandates to have quieter classes, and other constraints on our teaching. Not to mention dealing with kids who are just out of sorts and plain old cranky. The most important component of successfully teaching music during testing season for me is reading the mood of the class when they show up at my door. Some classes show up antsy from hours of pent-up energy. Others show up completely drained. Some are frustrated or even in tears because of a difficult test. Others, honestly, show up completely "normal". I try to have a few options prepared for the beginning of class so that, depending on the overall mood of the class, I can respond appropriately to draw students in (and hopefully improve their moods in the process!). For the class that is drained: I try to have some calm music ready for a class that shows up exhausted. These kids need time to regroup and recharge without being asked to think or do anything that requires their energy. Usually I will announce SQUILT to start (Super Quiet Un-Interrupted Listening Time), and if I think the group can handle it I usually let them choose to either stay in their seats or spread out on the floor. Any slow, peaceful piece will work for this- classical or new age instrumental styles are perfect. Try Bach's Air on the G string: After a few minutes of SQUILT, I have them move with the music. For the Bach example above, I had them mirror me as I showed the melodic contour with my arms, then had them make up their own movements when the melody repeated. For this type of activity, having them all mirror the teacher first helps give them some ideas of what they could do. Have them all face the same way so nobody is looking at each other. Closing their eyes in another option but it can throw some kids off when they can't see. (Pssst, the great thing about the video above is that it shows the melodic contour along with the sheet music, so I like to show the video after the movement activity and have a short discussion at the end!) For the class that is antsy: I keep a playlist on iTunes full of a wide variety of music specifically for this purpose. I have the students spread out and then I tell them to move in ways that match the music- the most creative and appropriate (matching the music) dancer wins! Then I start playing something from the list, and I change the song every 20-30 seconds. I have everything from The Nutcracker to dubstep, the theme from Jaws, and Native American flute music. It's great because it helps get out some of that pent-up energy while getting them to use their creative thinking skills (the complete opposite of what their brains were probably doing during the test!). If the class is engaged enough to feel comfortable dancing in smaller groups, it's even more fun to split the class in half like a dance battle! Every time the music switches, one side starts dancing and the other side sits down. Make sure you don't have too many self-conscious kids if you do it that way though! For the class that is frustrated: If the students are in a bad mood, it's time to get their minds off of the test and onto something FUN! Try rhythm chairs. Have the class stand in 2 lines (to make 2 teams), with 4 chairs in a row at the front of each line. Tell the class that a chair is a beat and a person is a note, then write a 4-beat pattern on the board. The teams race to get the correct number of people in each chair. So if you have ta-ta-titi-ta (1,2,3&4), they should have 2 people in the third chair and 3 people in each of the other chairs. Try throwing a whole note up there and see how long it takes them to figure out that someone needs to lie down across all the chairs! Or put it in 3/4 (you'll want to make the time signature clear) and let them figure out that they need to remove a chair (or else it looks like a rest beat). So much fun and it's a great way to get in some more rhythm practice too! Because it is a team activity, it's a great way to get everyone to experience success. If you're worried about students being on the losing team and getting discouraged, just have one team and make it race against the clock! Those are some examples of things that have worked well for me, but the main idea is to be sensitive and responsive to the mood of the class. Of course as teachers we always try to do that to a certain extent, but I think it is infinitely more important during testing season! If you have other ideas that have worked well for you, I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Today's standardized tests are far more demanding than those we took as children. Prepare your students for success with meaningful and engaging work!

Humorous cartoons pertaining to education and teaching.

Today's standardized tests are far more demanding than those we took as children. Prepare your students for success with meaningful and engaging work!

Check out these ATI TEAS Flashcards for all TEAS 7 sections. TEAS tests flashcards are a great way to review for the TEAS test online.

Today's standardized tests are far more demanding than those we took as children. Prepare your students for success with meaningful and engaging work!

U know Hayley Williams from Paramore (idk if you listen to that type of music but basically they sang Aint It Fun and Still Into You), she said that this blog was her favorite website ever. !!!!!!

Are you looking for some ideas to motivate your students on testing day? Here you will find links to some great motivational ideas for test day.

Need standardized testing for homeschooling or looking for home school standard test prep for your state? We have a comprehensive guide to homeschool testing, assessment, and evaluation for homeschoolers, including choosing standardized exams for your state. We've even covered valid homeschool test alternatives to measure learning and reporting requirements for home educators (that have nothing to do with timed testing!).

Mathlympics & Litlympics! An Exciting Way to Review for Standardized Tests Looking for a fun way to review for standardized tests? This idea can spread across all grades and subject areas, but I will explain explicitly how to do this with second graders. This strategy is FUN, exciting and my kiddos were BEGGING me for […]

Today's standardized tests are far more demanding than those we took as children. Prepare your students for success with meaningful and engaging work!