The STAAR reading test is difficult for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. It is their first time taking a standardized test, so giving students strategies for answering STAAR reading questions is necessary for them to be successful.
Students can use the following strategies when answering questions on any reading assignment or assessment now or in the future. Particularly, the strategies will help students when answering STAAR reading questions.
It is necessary to use these strategies throughout the year rather than just introducing these strategies for answering STAAR reading questions right before the test.
As the test gets closer, review the strategies in your STAAR reading bootcamp. There are many STAAR reading resources you can use during this review.
Check out these strategies for answering STAAR Reading questions:
Preview the Passage
Before reading the selection, students should preview the passage. This includes reading the title and subheadings and looking at the pictures or other text features.
Then the student needs to determine the genre of the passage. It is important for them to know if they are about to read a fiction story, a nonfiction article, poem, or drama.
Reading the Selection
As students are reading the selection, they should be taking short notes. This can be done on the side of the paper or on a separate paper if testing online.
If a student struggles with writing, they could highlight or underline the important information in each paragraph.
Even good readers can read an entire page and not remember what they just read. Taking notes is a strategy that helps students remember the important details from the passage.
Questions
When students get to the questions, it is imperative for them to read them carefully. They must understand what is being asked before going back to the selection to find the correct answer.
Since a majority of questions are inferencing questions, students should still go back and find proof for their answers.
This strategy becomes even easier when students test online. The questions and passages appear next to each other, so all students have to do is scroll the passage while looking at the question.
Some teachers suggest reading the questions before the passage. I found that this strategy doesn’t work well for younger students. It takes up too much time. Also, students forget the questions when they are reading the selection.
Checking Answers
Perhaps the most important strategy is teaching students to go back and double check their answers.
Many mistakes can be made by bubbling or clicking the wrong answer.
Therefore, students need to reread the question and be sure they selected the correct answer on every single question.
During class, train students to check their answers, so they will do it on tests.
Dictionary
Students should use the dictionary to look up unknown words. Even though they think they know the meaning of a word, they should still look it up. An online dictionary is embedded on the online STAAR Reading test, so it makes it even easier to find the answer.
After finding the meanings (most will have multiple), plug the given meanings into the sentence. This makes it even easier to determine the correct meaning.
Additionally, students should use the dictionary to look up any unknown words in the question. For example, if the question asks about character traits, they can look up the words they do not know.
Specific Strategies
There are strategies to use for specific STAAR Reading questions. This resource will help you teach specific reading strategies: STAAR Reading Strategies
Additionally, using STAAR question stems in your daily classroom reading will help students practice answering all types of STAAR reading questions.
