About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Getting the Ball Rolling 5 Chapter 1: The Praxis Elementary Education: Cia Test (5017) 7 Analyzing the Format of the Test 8 The topics the test covers 8 The types of questions asked 11 How the Test Is Scored 13 Racking up raw points 13 Making sense of your score 13 Getting a Very Early Taste of 5017 14 Reading and Language Arts practice questions 15 Answers to practice Reading and Language Arts questions 16 Mathematics practice questions 18 Answers to Mathematics practice questions 20 Science practice questions 22 Answers to Science practice questions 23 Social Studies practice questions 24 Answers to Social Studies practice questions 25 Art, Music, and Physical Education practice questions 26 Answers to Art, Music, and Physical Education practice questions 27 Analyzing Your Practice Question Results 28 Identifying what you missed 29 Determining the why of what you missed 29 Chapter 2: The Praxis Elementary Education: Content Knowledge Test (5018) 31 Analyzing the Format of the Test 32 The topics the test covers 32 The types of questions asked 34 How the Test Is Scored 36 Earning your raw score 36 Making sense of your score 36 Getting Started on Taking the Test 37 Reading and Language Arts practice questions 38 Answers to practice Reading and Language Arts questions 39 Mathematics practice questions 41 Answers to Mathematics practice questions 42 Science practice questions 44 Answers to Science practice questions 45 Social Studies practice questions 46 Answers to Social Studies practice questions 47 Analyzing Your Practice Question Results 48 Identifying what you missed 48 Determining the why of what you missed 48 Chapter 3: Getting Ready for Test Day 51 Registering for the Test 51 Organizing Study Time Wisely 52 Forming a schedule 52 Compensating for lost study time 53 Studying with other people 53 Doing Some Fine-Tuning 54 Using bonus study materials and techniques 54 Familiarizing yourself with computer testing 54 Preparing the Night Before the Test 54 Using Test Time Wisely 55 Getting Extra Advice If You Have Taken the Test 56 Looking into Test Accommodations 57 Part 2: Subject Area Content Knowledge 59 Chapter 4: Reading and Language Arts Subject Content 61 Reading into the English Language 61 Print concepts 62 Phonological awareness 62 Phonics and word recognition 63 Fluency 64 The ABC''s of Writing 65 Using what you think, find, and imagine 65 Writing through the stages 69 Using and citing sources 70 Building strength through practice 71 Keeping up with rules and words 72 Understanding sentence structure 73 Noun-verb agreement 74 Using words correctly 75 Choosing the appropriate writing style 75 Using figurative language 77 Understanding morphology 77 Determining the meaning of words 78 Analyzing Literature and Informational Texts 78 Finding and connecting the dots 79 Looking at how and why the work was made 80 Thinking further about structure and logic 82 Reading deeply, reading strong 84 Speaking and Listening Styles 86 Talking and listening together 86 Being clear to your audience 87 Being a good listener 88 Using visuals 88 Chapter 5: Mathematics Content Knowledge 91 Numbers and Operations Content 92 Classifying numbers 92 Base 10 93 Operating with numbers 93 Properties of operations 95 Factors and multiples 97 Sequences 98 Fractions, decimals, and percents 99 Percent increase and decrease 102 Rounding and estimating 102 Absolute value 102 Knowing Algebra Content Down to the Letter 103 Terms and other expressions 103 Solving equations 103 Graphing solutions 105 Working with formulas 105 Sizing Up Geometry and Measurement Principles 106 The building blocks of geometry 106 Shapes 107 Composite shapes 109 Transforming shapes 110 Shape measurements 110 Forms of measurement 111 Points on the coordinate plane 113 Data, Statistics, and Probability 114 Collecting data 114 Finding measures of center 114 Representing data 115 Figuring out probability 115 Chapter 6: Concepts of Science 117 Life Science Principles 117 What things are made of 117 The facts of life 119 Short- and long-term changes 120 The food chain 120 Earth and Space Science 122 Earth''s layers 122 The movements of rock 123 The movement of water 125 Clouds and weather 126 Earth''s past 127 Venturing beyond Earth 128 Physical Science Facts 129 States of matter 129 Energy 130 Interactions between energy and matter 131 The laws of force and motion 133 Science Today 133 Scientific methods 134 Science and medicine 135 Chapter 7: Studying Social Studies Content Facts 137 A Big-Picture View of Social Studies 137 Geography 138 Categories of geography 139 Themes of geography 140 Maps, globes, and other tools of geography 141 Approaches to Teaching History 143 The expanding horizon approach, or widening horizon curriculum 143 Systematic inquiry 145 Government and Economics 145 Government 146 Economics 147 Anthropology and Sociology 148 Anthropology 149 Sociology 150 Chapter 8: Art, Music, and Physical Education Content 151 Seeing the Light of Art 151 The elements of art 151 The principles of design 153 Art history 154 Careers in art 155 Art and other academic subjects 155 Analyzing art 156 Marching to the Beat of Music 157 The elements of music 157 Music history 159 Careers in music 160 Music and other academic subjects 160 Analyzing music 160 Getting in Shape on Physical Education Principles 161 Movement concepts 161 Fitness and nutrition 163 Careers in physical education 164 Physical education and other academic subjects 164 Psychological and social aspects of physical education 165 Part 3: The Principles Of Curriculum, Instruction, And Assessment 167 Chapter 9: A General Overview of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 169 Forming a Curriculum 170 Getting familiar with curriculum guidelines 171 Realizing the limits of curriculum planning 172 Mastering content knowledge 172 Answering curriculum questions 172 Understanding the components of a curriculum 173 Grasping the Principles of Instruction 178 The elements of instruction 178 How students learn 180 The different types of learners 181 General models of instruction 183 Balance in instructional styles 186 Conducting Proper Assessments 187 Designing and using formative assessments 187 Creating, using, and interpreting summative assessments 190 Using appropriate assessments 193 Understanding the purpose of assessments 194 Identifying student misconceptions and correcting them 195 Having Subject Area Content Knowledge 196 Reading and language arts 197 Mathematics 197 Science 198 Social studies 198 Art, music, and physical education 199 Chapter 10: Reading and Language Arts Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 201 Creating a Reading and Language Arts Curriculum 202 Listening and speaking 202 Language study 203 Words as vehicles for ideas 205 Communicating through writing 206 Dealing with apprehension about teaching writing 207 Giving Reading and Language Arts Instruction 207 Phonemic awareness instruction 208 Phonics instruction 210 Vocabulary acquisition instruction 211 Reading with fluency 213 Comprehension of text instruction 214 Helping students learn to read literature and informational text 215 Developing students'' writing skills 216 Improving students'' understanding of the English language 217 Advancing students'' speaking and listening styles 217 Conducting Reading and Language Arts Assessment 217 Knowledge of curricula and standards 218 Knowledge of language mastery 218 Answering Reading and Language Arts Practice Questions 219 Assessment and diagnostic teaching of reading 219 Reading development 219 Writing in support of reading 219 Chapter 11: Mathematics Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 221 Calculating a Mathematics Curriculum 222 Providing Mathematics Instruction 222 Teaching the major categories of numbers and operations 223 Advancing students'' algebraic thinking 240 Helping students weigh in on geometric and measurement principles 243 Expanding students'' knowledge and skills concerning data, statistics, and probability 248 Performing Mathematics Assessments 250 Chapter 12: Science Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 251 Establishing a.