The BIG Test Prep Blitz Reval! {PART TWO}

Hi, friends!  If you caught PART ONE of the Test Prep Blitz earlier in the week, then you know we’ve been really busy getting ready for the OAA!  The rest of the week was just as busy and just as FUN!  We reviewed comparing and contrasting with a hula hoop Venn diagram.  My students took turns telling me where each card was supposed to go, and they got to honk horns to indicate which sport(s) the card pertained to.  While we built the Venn diagram together, they filled in a Venn diagram on their clipboards.

Here’s a close-up of the horns.  I found them at Target in the party aisle for $2.00!

We played Vocabulary STAR, and as always, this was a big hit with the kiddos!  I love using this game for vocabulary review, and it’s nice because it gets my students out of their seats for a bit too!

Since we were doing a lot of really active games and lessons this week,  I decided to capitalize on the fact that my carpet was cleaned and my chairs were moved away from my small group table.  Since they were already lined up against one of my walls, I decided to make this “the bench”.  If students got too wound up during a game and disrupted the class, they were asked to sit on the bench.  I only had to move two or three kids, and they weren’t out of the games for long before they were back into the action!

I created a game that I added to my updated Football Frenzy pack this week to review any skill.  It uses a football field mat and colorful cups.  I glued green and gold  football helmets to the bottom of each cup.  The students could then review skills with a partner or teams (groups of four).  They flipped a plastic coin to see who would get “possession of the ball” first, and then they took turns asking each other questions from skill cards.  The cards were self-checking, so the game could be done without my constant supervision.  If they answered correctly, they got to put one “player” (cup) on the field.  The objective was to be the first team with all eleven players on the field.  🙂  This was a big hit.

I pulled a couple kids back to the “work zone”  at a time to play Synonym Bingo.  We used craft pompoms for game markers.  You can download the game cards HERE for free!  🙂

We did a test strategy read around the room activity.  The kiddos walked around the room to find strategies that matched up with the definitions in their testing play books.

They also participated in a homophone draft.  I actually gave this to another teacher to facilitate during our rotations on Friday, but I heard all about how much the kiddos enjoyed it.  I asked Miss D. to hold a whisper phone up to her ear and say a homophone before writing it onto a dry-erase board.  Then, I wanted all of the kids in her group to hold a phone up to their ear and repeat the word before writing the homophone pair on their boards. (Our principal bought whisper phones for our classrooms this year, but if you don’t have very many, you could make them out of PVC pipe or you could just have the kids make “phones” with their hands instead.)  

I gave her a clipboard with homophone pairs listed to make it a little easier to generate words, and then the kiddos filled out a “contract”.  I looked online to see the language of an NFL contract, and then I tweaked it to make it relevant to our test.  The kiddos had to choose the correct homophones to circle in order to sign the contract.  The kids were coming to my group waving the contract in front of my face like it was the most exciting thing in the world.  Unfortunately, my center was not so exciting.  🙂  I gave all of the fun stuff to support staff! Ha!

I didn’t get very many shots of centers because I was so busy pulling kids aside during that time, but here’s a few shots of just a sampling of activities. 🙂

When we were working on paper/pencil stuff, I tried to keep the kiddos engaged by passing a plush football around the room as students shared out answers, justifications, and ideas.

We sang a few motivational songs from YouTube, and I used two of Hope’s motivational songs from her Rock the Classroom pack.  I scored a few cool points with the 1D and Justin Bieber fans in my room, that’s for sure!

We started to make a little football buddy craftivity (from A Cupcake for the Teacher ) at the end of the day on Friday for a motivational piece, but we ran out of time.  We will have to finish it on Monday, BUT I loved reading the student responses.  They made me smile!

It was also great to see my students taking the OAA promise seriously!  They showed up every day wearing their reminder bracelets, and they really tried hard to focus!  They are really motivated to  achieve, and I can’t ask for more than that!  I wish I had snapped a few pictures of our Blitz Day jerseys and sportswear, because it was just TOO CUTE, but that was something that slipped through the cracks as the kiddos rotated through centers with different teachers.  I totally forgot!  Here’s a picture of their cute little bracelets though!

It’s been really amazing to see how creating an engaging theme totally transformed the way we prepared for this test.  I’ve been teaching third grade for five years now, and my students have never been so attentive or excited about testing. They are looking at the test as a way to show what they know… a chance to challenge themselves to do better than they ever imagined… and they are GAME! Although I was more concerned about cleaning up some skill work before the OAA, this blitz turned out to be a great community builder.  My students are more cohesive and supportive than they were just a week or two ago.  It’s amazing how much can change in such a short time.  🙂  They have totally viewed this as a TEAM effort even though they will be taking the test individually.  They even asked if we could come up with a team name.  Although lots of creative ideas were thrown out there like the “Sizzling Bacons”, the “Beast Brains”, the “Flying Hamsters”, the “Nickerson Knights”, and the “Class Champs”, they ultimately voted to be called the “OAA Rockers”.  I promised them that we could design a logo on Monday morning after morning work, so that should be interesting!

Another surprise happened after we returned from lunch yesterday.  I found a large card sitting on my desk that was signed by all of my homeroom students.  Since it was pouring outside and they had indoor recess, they decided to make a card thanking me for the OAA Blitz.  It was filled to the brim with signatures and personal messages, and as a result, it filled my heart to the brim.  It’s encouraging to know that what we do really, truly impacts our students.  I am so lucky to be their “coach”.  🙂  Happy Weekend, sweet friends!