Colorado Department of Education
201 E., Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 866-6664

Preparing for the CSAP

Reading CSAP
* Teach and have students practice finding and underlining relevant information within questions and reading passages in pencil and erasing after completing response when needed.
* Review strategies to help students gain more information from what they read, such as identifying context to determine the key word in reading passages.
* Teach students how to count paragraphs.
* Encourage students to read into a tape recorder and play back.
* Practice ordering events in a story with students.
* Review alike/different and compare/contrast and have students apply to characters in fiction pieces.
* Teach students to identify and use factual information in reading materials to support ideas.
* Review various types of reference materials and have students practice selecting most appropriate materials for specific purposes.
* Review and practice using table of contents, index and glossary in reference books. 		Writing CSAP
* Have students practice identifying examples from reading passages that illustrate how an author relates information.
* Review and practice the difference between " explain" and summarize."
* Teach students to use graphic organizer program,s such as Inspiration , when responding to writing prompts. Once the student has used the program over time, practice using the structure without the program.
* Practice new vocabulary words with students on a regular basis and encourage him/her to use in speech and writing.
* Encourage students to elaborate on new word responses such as yes/no, true/false, and /or fact/fiction/opinion with rationale for answers.
* Provide samples of different writing formats, such as directions, a persuasive speech , and a figurative story. Have student identify similar and different elements in each and then practice writing a format in their own words.
* Encourage students to practice using figurative language during classroom discussion, conversation and writing.

Mathematics CSAP
* Instruct elementary and middle school students who use a calculator in daily instruction on alternative computational techniques, such as using manipulatives.
* Review numerals with students and make sure that they understand or can demonstrate the value of each.
* Provide students with an array of problems. Ask which operation he/she would use to solve the problem and to explain why.
* Review and practice techniques for estimating.
* Practice orally presenting word problems to students asking him/her to relate back relevant information to solve the problem.
* Request students to solve a problem then write out of verbalize steps he/she performed to solve the problem.
* Provide students with tools, such as cubes, cut out tangrams, etc. Provide problems for students to respond to using the tools.

Science CSAP
* Explain probable and reasonable cause and effect to students and provide hands on experiments for students to test assumptions.
* Request students to explain in writing or verbally why he/she has selected a response to a question.
* Provide students with a set of data. Practice having students make conclusions based upon the information provided.
* Read short passages explaining scientific investigation to students and practice having him/her identify relevant data.
* Provide students with written or oral explanations of scientific occurrences. Ask students to explain the reason why the specific outcome occurred.
* Practice reading and explaining meaning of information on graphs, charts and data tables.