Testing over several days

[Critterfixer]

If you administer the standardized test over several days, what do you do with the rest of your day? Do you just take off, go to the park, go hiking? Or do you do a full day of school with it? Just hit core subjects? Just do content stuff? Fun stuff only?

 

I'm to give the IOWA test over several days with my third graders, and if I go with their schedule I'll be doing about an hour's worth of testing per day. I think my boys are going to be fine with that, but I may be shot for the rest of the day! But having never done this before I'd sort of like to know what others do with the remainder of the day during testing week before I make my plans. Or do you just play it by ear--tough day with the test=icecream and chocolate? Lots and lots and lots of chocolate for mom?

[AK_Mom4]

Dd11 will have testing next week. After the testing each morning, she will still have music practice each day (2 instruments) and some history reading/DVDs to get through. Her brain is usually vegetable mush after the tests anyway, so I try to plan non academic stuff those three days.

[Arcadia]

Older boy will be doing state testing over two mornings at the testing center. After testing, we would go for lunch then the bookstore or library to unwind. We would still do an hour or two of the core subjects. This kid prefers structure though so fun stuff only would cause a meltdown instead.

[athena1277]

I do testing over a 2 day period. In the past I have split dd's regular schoolwork into 2 half days. This year we went on and did a full day on each testing day.

[GoVanGogh]

I follow the suggested schedule in the ITBS paperwork, which has you spread the testing out over a week. I plan about an hour or two of light/fun school to round out each day. And lots of chocolate and trips out for ice cream. The tests are seriously hard on us. (Learning differences and all.)

[TracyP]

We just had a light week during testing week. Basically our mornings ran pretty normal: piano practice, chores, morning meeting, but no independent work, which usually comes next. We did some testing at that time, but most after lunch when we usually do our more intensive 1-1 work. This worked well for us because that is "quiet time" for the little kids, so the test takers could focus a bit better.

[boscopup]

In a b&m school, they typically will goof around the rest of the day. At least, they did when I was in school.

[Candid]

We do testing with a group and do testing over three days which means 1 1/2 - 2 hours per day. This year we did our Tapestry of Grace work but not other course work. In previous years we usually took the week off.

[Kelly1730]

We will break it up into 2 days and consider that our language arts and math for the day. We will continue our history/science and any read alouds we are working on.

[jengjohnson]

I'm spreading ours out over a week so we can continue to cover the 3 r's and not feel worn out. This is the first year I've done it this way. If I notice that it's too much, I'll adjust, but that's our plan.

[Critterfixer]

Well, Day one is going pretty well. Yesterday we did a section, then watched a movie. Today we finished our testing, did Latin and Reading this morning, and we'll do math, our literature book and spelling this afternoon. No complaints so far.