All you need to know about the IOWA Test!

Hello Parents!

On Wednesday and Thursday we will be taking the COGAT test. It is an IQ test, so there really isn't anything you can do at home to prepare, other than to get a good night sleep on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and feed your child a big, hearty breakfast those mornings.

Monday - Thursday of next week will be the IOWA test. It is very important to get a good night's sleep all of next week (starting Sunday!). This is a long week of testing and is mentally very tiring for the students. There will not be homework next week- we want the students to go home and play, relax and unwind each day. It is important for students to eat a big breakfast in the mornings. We will test each day starting at 8:00am- so please be on time! We will finish by lunch each day. If your child is sick and misses a day, the makeup test will be done next Friday.

Here is an overview of the language arts portion of the IOWA test. This is a review of what students have learned in K, 1, and 2. Each skill on the IOWA has been taught and reviewed in class. We are spending today and tomorrow reviewing the skills. It would be a good idea to look in the green folder at the papers coming home this week. This will give you a better idea of the skills we are practicing. You can always review these skills at home with your children. IXL has also been an excellent source of practice for many of the grammar skills covered.

The following sections are covered for language arts:

Vocab- If your child has done the vocab packets for HW (especially the one assigned this week), this section should be a piece of cake!

Beginning Sounds (We practiced this today)

Middle Vowel Sounds and spelling patterns- Long and short vowels

Silent Letters (Practiced this today)

Suffixes (Practiced today)

Compound Words

Reading: Picture Stories (drawing conclusions and inferences)

Filling in a sentence with the correct word (Sight words and vocab words)

Reading Comprehension

Finding Spelling Mistakes

Finding Capitalization Mistakes

Finding Punctuation Mistakes

Subject/Verb Agreement

Verb Tenses

And that's it!

Again, I am confident that each student knows all of these skills and will do great! If you'd like to review any of these skills over the next week, be on the lookout for papers coming home this week, and IXL is always a great option for grammar practice. Please don't feel like you have to review at home because we have spent a lot of time in class reviewing. This is for those of you who have asked what you can do this week to help prepare your child. The most important part is getting plenty of rest, coming to school on time and with a full stomach!