Well, here in Arizona the weather is beautiful and the sky is clear.  The only thing looming this time of year is testing.  Sigh…. Like everyone else, it STRESSES me out!  While I was blog-hopping a few years back, I saw some clever teacher-made cute candy treat buckets to motivate her kiddos. (If you are the blogger, please let me know! I tried to search for the original post, but couldn’t find it.)

Anyhoo, I tried it last year, and my kiddos liked being “caught” applying their test strategies. I hang the large signs up on my board, and tell the kiddos I will be watching to see who is really using their strategies, focusing, looking for evidence, and REALLY thinking- NOT fake thinking!!   If I “catch” someone I jot their name down and note what they were doing.  After the testing session is complete, the students who were “caught” get to pick a treat from the corresponding bucket.  Just a little extra bit of incentive.

Edited to add: I always make sure all of the students were rewarded for something for their efforts. I think when prepping students for big testing events, it is important to recognize their effort and stamina, especially for the littles.  Teaching these test-taking strategies, developing mindest, and improving test-taking stamina is a year-long process. Good luck!

If you would like the signs, click the image to download them FREE from my TPT store.