Month: April 2014

Parents, there are lots of things you can do on or immediately before test day to improve your child’s chances of testing success. What’s more, these strategies will help your child prepare himself of herself for school tests, too, and promote general study skills that can last a lifetime.

Provide a good breakfast on test day. Instead of sugar cereal, which provides immediate but not long – term energy, have your child eat a breakfast with protein or complex carbohydrate, such as egg, whole grain cereal or toast, or a banana- yogurt shake.

Promote a good night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep before the test is essential. Try not to over stress the importance of the test. This may cause your child to lose sleep because of anxiety. Doing some exercise after school and having quiet evening routine, will help your child sleep well the night before the test.

Assure your child that he or she is not expected to know all the answers on the test. Explain to your child the test may measure things that he/she has not yet learned in school. Help your child to understand that you expect him/her to put forth a good effort and that this is enough. Also avoid threats or bribes; these put undue pressure on children and interfere with their best performance.

Keep the mood light and offer encouragement. To provide a break on test days, do something fun and special after school. Take a walk around the neighborhood, play a game, read a favorite book, or prepare a special snack together. These activities keep your child’s mood light even if the testing sessions have been difficult and show how much you appreciate your child’s effort.

Dear Parents, here is a little info. on Terra Nova.

What is this? – Terra Nova is a series of StandardizedAchievement Tests designed to assess student achievement in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, vocabulary, spelling, spatial concepts, spatial memory and cognitive skills.

The tests will take place in the classroom. A few tests will be completed each morning over the 5 days we have to administer them. We aim to begin the tests promptly at 8:30am. This will last approximately one hour and a half, with breaks at intervals. We will then have a long snack and recess.

Date –Terra Nova will be held from May 5^th to 9^th.

Extra!  In preparation for our upcoming test, please try to find any opportunity to revise the practice

             papers that are sent home.

What do you need to know?

The most important thing to remember is that these tests do not provide an absolute measure of your child’s understanding but are merely a statistical snapshot of your child’s performance on a particular day. There are many other ways to assess your child’s learning in the classroom and this combined with test scores should give you an overall picture.

Reasons for testing:

• To identify and examine areas of strength and weakness in the performance of students.
• To provide a basis for reports to parents and students.
• To inform teachers of the needs of their students. This helps in working toward increasing student achievement and closing achievement gaps.

 In class I encouraged the children to try their very best on these tests, but to take away any stress and upset we have practiced the test format and skills as much as possible to give the children confidence in the area of test taking. We also impressed upon the children that there will questions they will not able to answer and this is expected. The tests have to cover huge spectrum and occasionally there will be some more difficult questions. I explained to them that we will be as prepared as we can by completing class work and by doing daily practice tests until the actual test commences May 5^th.

I would be happy to discuss any concerns or questions you have, so please feel free to contact me or come in and talk with me.

 Thank you for your support!