Practice for end-of-year math testing using task cards is a great way for your students to review all the math topics while having a little fun. One of the great things about task cards is that there are so many different ways that you can use them in your classroom. Use them in a scavenger hunt, with Scoot, as math centers or a game of Around the Room. You can even use them for early finishers, sub plans, morning work, or bell questions.
Task cards are also a great way for students to get up and move around the room. They can move from desk to desk with Scoot, or around the room for mather centers, scavenger hunts, or around the room. They are also wonderful for collaborative work where students can work in teams or groups.
Here are some helpful hints when choosing task cards to practice for end of year math testing:
1. Laminate the Task Cards for Practice for End of Year Math Testing Using Task Cards
Laminate your task cards so you can use them throughout the year as spiraling activities or review. You can even purchase the grade level below to assess your students at the beginning of the school year. For example, if you’re a 5th-grade teacher, purchase the 4th-grade task cards for a fun review at the beginning of the year. Laminating is also helpful for keeping the task cards in great condition for multiple years so you can use them with more than one class.
2. Use the Math Standard for Each Task Card
This makes it super easy to review. Let’s say you have your students complete the task cards right before the exam and you notice that a lot of students missed question 11. If you look at the bottom of the task card, you can see the math standard for that question. Then you know you’ll need to review that standard before the exam.
In the same respect, if most of your students answered a question correctly, then you know you won’t need to spend as much time reviewing that particular topic at the end of the school year.
3. Task cards should cover ALL the math topics Practice for End of Year Math Testing Using Task Cards
Choose task cards that cover ALL the math topics to make sure your students are fully prepared. We sometimes have a tendency to review the topics we enjoy teaching while neglecting the ones we don’t enjoy. I definitely have some favorite math topics (fractions, equations, and integers) and some less favorite topics (probability and geometry) so it was always a challenge to review the topics I didn’t enjoy teaching in the first place.
Having task cards that have all the questions is a great way to make sure you effectively covered all the topics throughout the school year.
4. Make sure the recording sheet and answer key is provided.
Having the answer key is a huge time saver and an absolute must-have for me. My time is precious and life is so busy so having the answer keys provided is a huge time saver for me. With task cards, it’s super easy to grade when students put their answers on a recording sheet so you can quickly grade all the task cards at once.
As an added bonus, I often used the answer keys for students to self-grade. After they would complete the task cards, I’d have them compare their answers to the answer key to see what questions they missed. This is a great way for them to learn from their mistakes.
5. Use the task cards throughout the year in multiple ways for Practice for End of Year Math Testing Using Task Cards
Use the task cards all year long as morning work, spiral review, or math centers so students don’t feel overwhelmed with ALL the questions at once. Working on all the task cards in one sitting can be overwhelming at first so breaking it up into smaller groups at a time makes it more manageable.
I like to break them up by standard. For example, one day you could review all the task cards with Measurement and Data, and the next day you could review all the task cards with Geometry. You could also have them review a set of task cards after you teach each topic throughout the year.
6. Although printable task cards are best used in the classroom, having a digital option can be helpful for absent students.
Having both digital and printable options included is helpful for students both in-class and learning from home. All of my task cards have a digital component included so it’s easy for students to also complete the task cards on their computers if they need to.
Having a digital version is also a great way to save paper, toner, and storage containers since everything is stored online. Many state testing is moving to computers so this also gives students additional practice with test-taking.
In addition to having worksheets or practice tests, I also had my students work on their math facts throughout the year. I am a huge fan of using grill and drill in my math classes. When students know their basic math facts, it definitely makes test-taking so much easier for them.
Here are some 4th-grade math, 5th-grade math, and 6th-grade math task cards that might be helpful for your students for end-of-year review and testing.