Easing Testing Anxiety with a Read Aloud

For many of us in education, it's closing in on that time of year. You know the time I'm talking about... testing season. Just hearing the phrase uttered causes a feeling of anxiety to wash over me. So much pressure is placed upon teachers. Even more upsetting, though, is the pressure and anxiety that many of our students experience when the time to take standardized tests draws near. Too often, our students feel powerless when it comes to standardized tests.

Therefore, when I spotted a book called The Anti-Test Anxiety Society as I was scrolling through Instagram one weekend, I had to check it out! It is written by Julia Cook, author of A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue and My Mouth is a Volcano. Before becoming an author, she was a school counselor and teacher. She lives in a small Nebraska town not far from my hometown, and she spoke to students at my elementary school several years ago. She was a phenomenal speaker! Anyway, when my book arrived, I read it immediately.

If you have students who feel stress about taking tests, check out this blog post! It features a picture book that lists 12 powerful tips!

BOOK SUMMARY

The main character, BB, hates taking tests. For her, TEST stands for "Terrible Every Single Time". One day, her teachers stops her as she is walking out the door, and asks her about a recent test. BB admits that she hates taking tests and that they make her nervous. Her teacher tells her that first, she needs to start using the GET TO part of her brain instead of the HAVE TO part of her brain. Then she goes on to explain the dynamic dozen, 12 simple things she can do to lessen her test anxiety. For example, the first is "Tell yourself you CAN do well and that TEST stands for "Think Every Situation Through".

Do you have students who feel stress about taking tests? Read The Anti-Test Anxiety Society by Julia Cook to them. It highlights 12 powerful test-taking strategies!

I love how this book empowers students and encourages them to employ a growth mindset. If you think your students might benefit from this read-aloud, you should definitely check it out!

READING GAMES THAT CAN BE USED AS TEST PREP ACTIVITIES

I recently set out to create a fun reading activity that would allow students to review multiple reading skills at once. Students read a fiction or nonfiction passage, and then roll a die to determine which of the six multiple choice questions they will answer. When each student has finished answering all six questions, he or she totals her score. The person with the lowest score wins.

It is my hope that students who complete these reading games will have fun and will feel more confident (and less anxious) about their ability to do well on the reading section of standardized tests. Click on any of the images below to head to my TpT store to check them out!