It stinks that the test is so darn early in the year! I taught 5th grade SS for 7 years and did a lot of practicing DBQs and CRQs. My situation was a little odd being that the kids came to 5th grade never seeing either one of those things before!
Anyways, I taught the kids how to use a graphic organizer and incorporate the info from their DBQ packet into the graphic organizer. Then I taught them how to use that info to write an essay. We did one packet completely together, then one where they cut and pasted the answers to the CRQs with a partner and completed the graphic organizer somewhat independently, and the third was completely on their own.
We also did some practice multiple choice questions in the form of a game (a mix of jeopardy and millionaire). I used CRQs from previous tests as warm up problems at the beginning of each class. Basically, I tried to get the kids as much exposure to a variety of questions, documents, and topics as possible! I don't know if this is the best way to do it or not, but we always had 90% or better at level 3 and 4! PM me if you have any questions. Good luck!
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08-28-2009, 06:56 AM
