I already started the review. With our first extra day on exponents, I made a fake test for them that I had "taken" by compiling all the mistakes they made on their first test. I showed them how I grade tests and then asked them to grade "my" test without an answer key. I tried to make it a little bit fun in that I said I would award a prize to the student who's final grade was closest to the grade I would have given this test. Every single student graded the test to within two or three points of the grade I would have given it. They also found all the mistakes and discussed how frustrating it was when I didn't show my work or circle my answer. It actually turned into a pretty fun activity because they got to scold me and they were having great discussions about which errors constituted arithmetic errors (which is only -1/2 a point) and which errors constituted understanding errors (which is -1 point). So clearly they know the material well enough to recognize good work from bad work. I just need to get them to recognize their own good work and bad work. When I was wondering aloud about how the same student who got a 65% on his own test could have identified and corrected 100% of my mistakes the very next day, one of our Japanese teachers mentioned that it's easier to understand a language that you're studying than it is to speak it. So I need to give them more speaking practice? Maybe I've been focusing too much on error correction. I decided to make one of my teaching goals this year to help kids learn to recognize their own errors and I guess I went a little overboard. I have a nice, long drill and kill practice test lined up for them next.
Anyway, without further ado, here are my students' "exponent planet" brochures.
Front of brochure
Inside of brochure
Here's another one
Front
Inside (The pictures are adorable)
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