I am a first grade teacher. I will be candid: I am a bit reluctant when encouraged to teach first graders test prep. I think it is pretty early in their educational lives to stress them and cause anxiety without a reasonable reason. Once I said this, I must admit, that there are things a first grade teacher can do to prepare students for the future that do not involve emotional constraints.
I use my school fonts software for this activity. I design a simple matching activity for this purpose. Students have to pair up words that we have learned during the week with a picture.
The strategy I concentrate on is "listening". It is important that students learn to listen to the teacher without any disturbances or noises. I will not start reading the directions unless the whole class is silent and focus on the task. Later on, even if we are not doing "test prep", I reinforce the idea that listening is crucial to obtain a good score.
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