Hi, it’s Jessi from Cooties and Cuties, and I am so
excited to share favorite test prep ideas with you!

Logistics:
A few weeks before
the carnival, I started creating games during my planning period. Almost everything I created was free and made
with resources I found within the school – butcher paper,
cardboard and tape. The only things I
purchased were 2 rolls of wrapping paper from the dollar store (so I could use
the cardboard roll inside), streamers, a few bags of Hershey Kisses for the
Kissing Booth and a roll of tickets.
My kids had no idea I
was planning a huge room transformation until I handed out carnival invitations
on Friday afternoon. These little
invitations built so much for the upcoming week and many parents emailed me to
tell me how excited their kids were to come to school on Monday – teacher win!

After reviewing the topic, students worked in teams on the matching
review packet. The questions were TOUGH.
Instead of stressing my students out before the test, I paired them with
a partner and emphasized teamwork and synergy.
Partners could earn a total of 5 tickets each day for accuracy,
perseverance, synergy, showing work and using their test-taking strategies. I assumed each team would earn 5 tickets and
then deducted tickets as needed.
While students worked, I roamed the room doing mini conferences with
students to re-teach tricky concepts.
This was such a valuable time to be able to meet the needs of all students,
and I highly recommend it!
The carnival was centered around math test prep, but I incorporated
literacy, too. I printed PARCC practice
tests, and gave students opportunities to earn extra tickets for the
carnival. I am not kidding when I say
I’ve never seen such a focused, engaged week of test prep in my life. Some of my students even begged to take their
packets to recess or finish them at home!
I kept track of the amount of tickets teams earned using the old horse
race carnival game. Each team was assigned a horse and they loved watching
their progress as their horses inched forward each day. The finish line represented a perfect score
for the entire carnival run, 5 tickets each day. Only one team actually made it to the finish
line, and it was a HUGE accomplishment.
This team was on their A game the entire time and earned a special
“catered” lunch with me in the classroom.
At the end of the math period, we
shared strategies and cleared up any remaining questions about the topic, and
then I chose two teams to sit at the World’s Strongest Students (VIP) table. The WSS table was a last-minute idea and one
of the most valuable pieces of the carnival.
Students got to sit in a special table under the “carnival tent” in the
middle of the room. I made the announcement a huge production, and the kids
reacted like they won the lottery when their names were announced!

The carnival games were only open
for the last 30 minutes of every other day, so 4 days total. This doesn’t seem like much, but it gave
students an opportunity to earn more tickets between carnival visits and pushed
them to work so incredibly hard in between carnival days. 2 hours of carnival games over the course of
8 days garnered 12 hours of the most intensely focused test prep I’ve ever seen
and made all of the time I spent preparing so completely worth it.


WHEW…that’s it. After 8
days of carnival-ing, my students were pumped up and ready to conquer the big
bad state test. And, best of all, they didn’t even realize
that I tricked them into completing some of the toughest packets they’d ever
seen because they were having so much fun!
Thanks so much for letting me crash the
blog today! You can find my Carnival Test
Prep and much more on
my TPT page.
What did you use for reading? I want to purchase your resource; but, need to figure out how to make this work for ELA. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I can ever go back to any other place, after an experience like this. This event venue Atlanta is appropriate in a space that lends so much gravitas to events. The design is sharp and environment is unbelievably good.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you use for the horse cut outs on the horse race?
ReplyDelete