WKCE Testing

Today begins one of the longest weeks of school ~ state testing week!  Today students in fourth grade began the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam or as otherwise known, the WKCE.  Students will be tested in reading, math, writing, science, and social studies.  Each portion is made up of multiple choice and short answer questions.  Each portion is also timed.  One of the hardest things for me as a teacher is the fact that I am unable to help my students while they take their test.  I am there to monitor their work and progress, but I am not able to read things to them or answer questions they have.  It is a such an uncomfortable feeling considering my job every other day of the week is to help them do their very best and support their learning!  What I can do is prepare them as best as I can prior to the tests starting...with that said....

For the past two weeks we have been preparing for the WKCE tests during reading workshop.  Students have reviewed different ways to prepare for the test, most importantly learning that to be good test takers we have to be readers first!  We learned that the strategies we use as readers can help us be successful when taking tests.

We also discussed how test makers use "test clues" and "test talk" when creating tests.  This surprised many of us!  We learned that if we recognize these we can be more successful as test takers.  Examples of "test clues" include underlined words, bold or italicized text, boxed words, large font, and words in parentheses.  "Test talk" examples include using the word "passage" instead of story or poem, "stanza" instead of paragraph in a poem, "mainly about" to mean main idea, or "theme" to mean big idea or message to name a few. 

Another large piece to our learning was how to correctly fill in multiple choice questions and answer short-answer questions.  We reviewed ways to eliminate answers that do not make sense and use details or examples from passages to support our answers.  Finally we went over different strategies for calmly and confidently taking our tests.  These included taking deep breaths, pacing oneself, remaining positive, trying our hardest and making best guesses on difficult questions, and reviewing all answers when finished.

The fourth graders worked through practice tests in reading, math, science, and social studies to review the types of questions and formats they would be seeing over the next week.  They will also complete a practice timed test in writing to "feel" what it is like to complete this type of test.  After all of this, I feel confident they will do their very best on these tests!  I am so proud of their hard work and know they are going to do a great job!

This great work began with students completing the first two parts of the Reading portion.  The rest of the week includes finishing the reading test, math parts one through three, science, social studies, and a half-hour timed writing test.

You can do it Fabulous 4th Graders!!!