[LIT] test-prep

[May Dartez]

I am on spring break right now, but when we return to school on Monday, 
I will have one week to
finish preparing my sixth-graders for our state test.

In Georgia, our kids are required to know an absolutely ridiculous 
amount of grammar terms and skills:

simple/complete subject/predicate
every part of speech, including SIX types of pronouns: indefinite, 
demonstrative, interrogative, subject, object, etc. )
compound/complex/simple sentences
punctuation
dependent/independent clauses
tone/mood
research skills (key words, which website will contain which 
information, reading a bibliography, table of contents, index, etc.)
verb tenses
transition words
topic/closing sentences
unifying idea of a paragraph
predicate nouns
predicate adjectives
direct object
indirect object
object of preposition
fragments
run-ons

etc. etc.

My kids have done a great job this year with all of this stuff, but 
there is SO MUCH of it. I need to review all of this stuff in 3-4 
90-minute class periods and don't want to completely bore the kids to 
death. Also, they are so squirmy and don't do well with a lot of direct 
instruction.

Any ideas for preparing my kids for the state tests without just making 
them completely shut down (especially my one group of strugglers are 
getting very frustrated with all the grammar) would be so greatly 
appreciated. I want my kids to be prepared, but I don't want us to have 
a miserable week next week.

May