NWEA & WBT Power Pix Freebie!

Happy Wednesday!

This week has been uber-productive! All school year, I was working like a mad woman creating files for my students to use. Some of them worked and I kept adding to them and some of them...didn't work, at all! But that's okay because now I'm revisiting them and adding finishing touches to the successful activities. All of these are definitely student-tested and approved!

One area I made a HUGE push in was NWEA MAP Testing support materials. Does your school participate? It's a computerized test (57 questions to be exact) and we have our students take it at the Beginning (September), Middle (January), and End (June). 

I have some mixed feelings on how the test measures content...more on that in a moment, but one thing I REALLY appreciate, is how we can measure growth from one test period to the next.

As a special educator, I have the extreme pleasure of administering this test individually! Who needs the computer? I've seen every question combination covering every Common Core Standard at least ten times. The test continues to adapt based on how your students answers the previous question. It's really an interesting test to observe! 

Content is measured in RIT bands and the national average for 1st graders is starting first grade around the 160's and ending in the late 170's. The actual test will be taking questions from RIT bands above, below, and everywhere in between.

To learn more about what skills lie in which RIT band, I highly recommend this website. Here's an example of their curriculum ladder:

Here's a closer look:

The first time I found these RIT bands listed with all the skills, I was so psyched! Here was a resource to target EXACTLY what my students needed! 

Then I watched these tests. Individually.

One hundred and forty-two times. 

(slight exaggeration)

What I notice instead was the way the LANGUAGE tripped up my students. They may have known the content, but just didn't listen carefully. The majority of my students also receive speech and language services focused on receptive and expressive skills and this played BIG time into their testing.

Throughout the year, I created "quick questions" cards based on what I noticed my students really need. I kept adding and adding questions. Did they help my students? Here are the results:

From Fall to Spring, my students made 158% growth in Math and 246% growth in Reading!

WOOHOO!

And this week, I finally put the finishing touches on the questions... the file had grown to 400 cards! 

I printed out the entire set using assorted colored cardstock (plus there's leveled divider cards, too) and then created several "portable" cards sets using book rings:

 NWEA is aligned with Common Core, so even if your school doesn't participate in MAP Testing, the cards still feature the exact skills your K-2nd students need!

The entire collection is on sale for 50% through the end of today! It's only $4.00 for 400 half-page cards!

I also finished the Power Pix cards for Reading...I wanted them to be the exact same size as the NWEA cards I was using (mix and match!). I printed them in color on white cardstock. They are exactly like WBT's, plus I added a couple extras. These cards are free at my store!

I'm also linking up with Kindergal's Linky:

I'm hoping to upload the Math Power Pix Freebie this week! They will also be the same size as the NWEA and Reading Power Pix cards, so they all can be used together!

Have a fabulous week!