Common Core Test Preview

You will definitely want to check out these Common Core practice tests.  They come from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, but they give a good hint about what is coming for all the tested states.

For now I want to point out a few things that your students will need to do well on these tests. They must be comfortable with technology, especially computers. Make sure that your students have basic keyboarding skills in place toward the end of their third grade year because they will need them for typing answers to constructed response questions.

Also, they will need to be able to use drag and click to order sentences. Many kids use drag and click for games and puzzles. It's a little different when you are reordering the sentences in a paragraph. If you have a Smart Board or a computer projector, you could guide your students through a practice test and show them how to do the drag and click portion. Better yet, take the kids to the computer lab and practice this together.

It looks like they will have the students using headphones to listen to reading passages and answer questions. This is something your students could practice in their listening centers as well as at the computer.