6 Tips for a Successful Math Review

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Using Math Stations for Spiral Review

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Transformation Tuesday: Rock Star Reviews- Four Corners

The last Rock Star Review that I want to share is a strategy that I have shared before. However, today, I want to share how the same strategy can be used to prepare students for a big assessment. The strategy is called Four Corners. (You can see the most recent post I wrote about it here.)

Here's how it works:

1. Choose a multiple choice problem to present to the class based on a concept with which the students have struggled. I typically choose problems from recent formative assessments where a low percentage of the students responded correctly. The best questions to use are the ones where the distractors represent common computational or conceptual errors. 

2. Divide students into four equal-sized groups. (Need a quick tool, try the desk tags to the right. Group students by number. Grab a copy of them here.)

3. Once students arrive at their designated corner, present the question and answer choices. Then assign each group to an answer choice. 

4. Groups then complete the following: 

a. Answer the question and agree on the correct response.  

b. If their assigned answer choice is the correct answer: 
- Determine places where other students may take the wrong path while solving the problem. 
- Decide how to coach other students to avoid these mistakes. 
- Prepare at least two incorrect paths and coaching tips for each.

c. If their assigned answer choice is not the correct answer: 
- Determine why the answer choice is incorrect.
- Decide how a student could be guided back to the correct solution path. 
- Prepare at least one coaching tip for each. 

5. Have groups share their findings with the class as a whole. Allow students to ask and answer questions as needed. 

6. Validate the correct answer and add any additional information or tips the students may need to be more successful with the assessment item in the future. 

As a variation, you can accomplish the same goal using "characters" to represent the answer choices. This is always kind of fun because students will call the characters by name instead of the using the multiple choice letters. (Note: Make the activity even more engaging by using the names of teachers from your team.) See the example below. 

Free Resource Alert: The visual I used above is available here. To use it with your students, insert the picture into a PowerPoint slide. Then insert a text box with the responses you want to highlight in the white spaces.  

Transformation Tuesday: Rock Star Reviews- The Amazing Review

Today's Rock Star Review is my absolute favorite and the ultimate station rotation! (Check out my Getting Started with Math Stations series here.) This review strategy is called The Amazing Review: The 5th Grade Edition. It's an 18-station review of the 5th grade content and skills patterned after the idea behind CBS's Amazing Race. The pictures below illustrate the information that I shared with the two-student teams before the start of the review. Enjoy!

The roadblocks were computer activities from IXL Math. Students left their trail, completed the activity from IXL Math, and received a stamp when the point total had been obtained. 

The detour activity was to walk the massive coordinate plane that I constructed in the hallway. One team member read the directions and the other person walked the path. If the team ended on the right spot, they earned a stamp!

The travelors' log included all station directions, as well as, a few practice assessment items that corresponded with each skill. This allowed the students to connect the station activity to the assessment questions. 

The menu activity included additional review activities that were not included in the stations. Not all of the students had the opportunity to complete the menu. It was designed for the fast finishers. 

Sound Off!- How do you review for big assessments? 

Transformation Tuesday: Rock Star Reviews- STAAR 2000: The SuperKid Edition

Last week I started a series about reviewing for upcoming assessments, especially the big state ones. The first review that I shared was one of my favorites, called STAAR 2000. Missed the post? See it here. 

While I frequently use the STAAR 2000 review as a standalone review for the Texas state assessment, called the STAAR test, I recently added an individual accountability piece to encourage a group of students with whom I had worked with during the previous school year. These students had been performing pretty well because they had already been with me for an entire school year. Since our theme for the year was related to being SuperKids, I thought I would add an additional challenge to the class review with individual rewards. See the picture below. 

Here's how it works: 

1. Create the incentive chart. Use the one above as a guide or create your own. (Notice that I only included 15 boxes. This was around the number of days we had to prepare for the state test.)
2. Choose review questions. I typically assign 5 - 6 questions each day covering a wide-array of skills. 
3. Give students 15-20 minutes of class time to complete the work. (I use the time at the very beginning of the day before announcements and pledges.)
4. Review the answers. (I require students to show their work and use the RACE or JUSTIFY model to analyze each problem.) 
5. Students that answer all of the questions correctly color one square on their board. 
6. Prizes are awarded immediately.  

Not only were the students motivated to earn the prizes, especially the week of no homework, this system encouraged the students to try their best on every problem instead of being lax on one or two. It was a great addition to the class STAAR 2000 program!

Are you a Texas 5th grade teacher? 

If so, check out my TEKSas STAAR Masters series! Both packs are available now at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. 

Sound Off!- How do you review for big assessments? 

Transformation Tuesday: Rock Star Reviews- STAAR 2000

During this time of year, many of us are faced with the challenges of preparing for a state assessment to evaluate your students' understanding of grade level content and skills. Determining the best way to review, especially in the midst of teaching the remainder of your required curriculum can create a lot of stress for students and teachers alike. In order to hopefully alleviate some of that stress, during the month of March, I will be sharing Rock Star Reviews, ideas for reviewing your grade level content and skills.  

Today's strategy is one that I learned about at a summer math conference. It's called STAAR 2000. STAAR is the name of Texas's state assessment and 2000 is the number of questions I expect my students to answer correctly. I've used this strategy with both middle school and elementary school students. 

To set up the strategy, I create a visual like the one below. I draw a large thermometer on chart paper and calibrate it in fifties or hundreds. On the other side of the thermometer, I set goals for the students. Each reward is listed next to the number of questions the class needs to answer correctly to get the reward. I display this chart paper on a bulletin board and the students watch the total grow each day. 

Basically, the strategy works like this: 

1. I decide on a review tool to use. For me, I like something that has 5 - 6 questions on a page that cover a broad-range of Texas-correlated objectives, like operations, measurement, and statistics. 

2. When the school day begins, students get 10 - 20 minutes to complete the questions. Even though there are only 5 - 6, most of the students generally need all 20 minutes. 

3. During our math block, we review the answers. I typically do this by having the students present their work and solution to the class on the document camera. Not only does this allow the students to show what they know, I can see very quickly what I need to continue to review. 

4. When we have finished reviewing all of the questions, I ask the students to total the number of questions they answered correctly and record the number correct at the top of the page. (Note: When we begin the review of the questions, I require that all pencils be put away and remain out of sight. We use colored pencils to grade.) 

5. I track and record individual student data and then total the number of correct responses, or points, for the class. 

6. When students earn the rewards, they receive them on the next day or so as to not lose momentum. 

Note: While I always base our original goal on the number of days we have available to review before test day, things happen. Sometimes we end up with days where we can't work on the review and get behind. Other times, the students are not answering the questions as well as expected. In either case, I have been known to readjust the point totals and the rewards because I want the students to earn the rewards. In fact, I always block off the day after the test well in advance for the movie and popcorn!

                                     Sound Off!- How do you review for big assessments?