Test Prep

Scholastic's No Pain, No Gain article offers good advice on how to prepare students for standardized tests. Find Reading and Math strategies, teaching tips, and ideas to reduce test-taking anxiety.

Check into The National Center for Education Statistics website to find National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) sample items by subject area. Click on a subject area, then click on the link for "sample items" found under "How the Assessment Works."

Internet4Teachers' Assessment page provides links for Pre-K to Grade 12. Organized by grade level, easy to use, and many resources for each grade level.

Glencoe Middle-school Mathematics Online Study Tools is organized by state. Click on your state, choose a textbook/subject area and course, and click on a quiz or test in the pop-up menu.

Houghton-Mifflin's Education Place presents kid-friendly test-taking practice for Math Grades 1-6. For Language Arts, Education Place also has Power Proof-Reading for Grades 2-8 and Grammar Blast for Grades 2-5

Use Time for Kids online for Reading Comprehension practice. Links to current or past issues for your grade level are just under the main title of the Time for Kids Teacher Page. Use the teacher guide to find follow-up activities for each issue. Look for the weekly quiz link for each issue. The quiz is ready to print, and can be "personalized" by changing the last two questions. Time for kids also offers these test prep materials

Test Prep with TFK 2005

Another Test Prep with TFK 2005

**Please note that although these two pages look similar when you open them, they have different materials linked to each page.

The National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy provides links to state assessment sites. Find your state's asssement site and search for "released items" from previous tests to provide additional practice for your students.

Photograph Credits: Elementary School Children Writing in Classroom. ARC Identifier 594263. National Archives & Records Administration. http://arcweb.archives.gov

Poetry 180: A Poem a Day

Mark Svenvold's poem Relearning Winter begins

Hello Winter, hello flanneled
blanket of clouds...

Relearning Winter is the 93rd poem of 180 poems meant to be read aloud to high school students--one for each day of the school year. The collection was compiled for the Library of Congress by Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Mr. Collins tells us "How to Read a Poem" and demonstrates his suggestions by reading "My Son, the Man."

Poetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools