3rd Quarter Exam Fun Reviews

My daughters begged me to make their 3rd quarter test review more fun. Read: less boring. I remembered what Ms. Fahlmann, the children's pre-school teacher, said about using computer aided instruction: make sure you teach the concepts first on paper before allowing them to use the computers for practice. Otherwise, the program becomes a game for them. I did just that.

I went to my favourite Internet4Classrooms. I found ready made review activities for Language, Math, Science and Reading. For Religion, it was great interactive fun on EWTN Kids. The website was appealing to use for my kids. The sequential reviewer prompted you to memorize and understand the key concepts first (which I did with Sachi and Mira), then choose the appropriate Flash presentation and allow them to 'play' with it for practice. The children and I reviewed on different parts of Church, parts of the Mass, and the review of prayers.

But the interesting part was customizing on Quia a reviewer for their Social Studies module on Early Influences and Traders in the Philippines (for my Grade 3 daughter). The drag-and-drop interfaces made constructing the reviewer easy. The 30-day trial account is free, so make good use of it!

I loved Mathmastery for the timed cyberchallenge So did my little girls. They have a multitude of activities to make practice tests, mastery, time pressure practice of tables et al appealing to either visual or analytical learners. They can print out the best of all their challenges and print out a certificate of mastery.

Was reviewing this way effective for the kids? It was! I was ecstatic that they got 94 and above for most of the subjects we reviewed using the computer. And the kids were happy and appreciative. The best affirmation I got is when they gently 'boasted' about how I reviewed them using the computer. Then they told me that their classmates wanted me to do reviewers for them too. Well, I don't mind sharing with their Moms how to do the practice e-tivities.