A few years ago when my daughter took her first “high stakes test”, I wrote “A Letter to My Daughter About Testing” and blogged about it here. Many of my ideas and feelings about testing shifted when I was the parent of the child testing and not the teacher.
It made me realize that we need to change the conversation we are having about testing, at least on the day of the test. It made me even more aware of the need to uplift students before the test.
I created a motivational craftivity called “I-Cans”. It is great to ease classroom testing stress and I blogged about it here.
Then I thought about all the teachers who might not have time to do the “I-Can” craftivity. I know somedays, I get so tired that the thought of scissors, glue, and a cute craftivity makes me want to hide under my desk and eat M&Ms. So I created a series of testing notes for students on the day of the big test. These are perfect for teachers (or parents) for that extra push right before testing!
The story of these testing notes is kind of like “If You Give A Moose a Muffin”. I started out making 1 cute note to go with gum, then I realized kids with braces can’t have gum. So I created a note to go with candy, then I realized that some schools might have a no candy rule. Then I created a note with fruit, but then I thought that fruit is pricey and can get messy. So I created a note to go with a cheese stick, then I worried about food in the classroom. So I created a note with a glow stick theme. It went on from there! What resulted was a a whole lot of options for testing notes. I wanted to offer these to as many people as possible so it is a FOREVER FREEBIE in my TPT store found here.
Here is a fun sampling of the testing notes:
Click on the cover to link to this FREEBIE in my TPT store!
Happy testing!
We are a group of friends who love teaching, creating, sharing, and most of all LEARNING! We are teachers of all grade levels K-5 and just want to share our experiences (good and bad) with you in hopes that it will be a positive influence in your future teaching moments!
