ROCK the Test!

It's that time of year again! Time for State Standardized Testing! Can I get a hooray? Anyone? :)

This year my school has adopted a "Rock the Test" mantra to help our students do their best! Check out the amazingly bright orange t-shirt I get to "rock" during testing. I think I will be visible from the International Space Station in this little number.

To get my kids pumped, I made a little bulletin board in my classroom. It's nothing too fancy, but it helped get their little brains thinking about the test before we left for Spring Break. I especially love the inflatable guitar. It makes me want to sing.

I keep all of my testing supplies in a binder (like I do everything in my life), and I keep the binder in a handy little tub (I can store all of my other goodies in there too). In the binder I store things like the testing schedule (because we are in middle school, we have a different schedule on the days we are testing), my seating chart, e-mails that I receive from administration about the test, my testing manual, etc. It's nice to keep everything all together so I can just grab my binder and go!

I also punch out all of the math manipulatives, sharpen all of the pencils (check em out-they change color when you touch them! Can anyone say, "Heat transfer science connection?")

...And count all of the erasers ahead of time. I have a ziploc baggie for every kiddo, and in their baggie I place everything that they need. I even label their baggies with the number that corresponds with their test booklet. Yes, I'm over organized, but when it comes to testing, I'd rather be over-neurotic than sorry!

My classroom is arranged in rows for testing too (ahh...old picture from the oreo lab!)

To add some "fun," I usually give my kiddos peppermints before I give them their test... BUT...Jordan over at Life is Better Messy Anyway inspired me to make some extra special little treats for my kiddos! Check out her adorable printables-you can even print them right from her fabulous blog! :)

(The Milky Ways will go with the "Reach for the Milky Way on the Test" cutouts.) :)

Well...here goes nothing! We start testing today! 

What do you do to pump your kids up for state testing?