Since today is my first day blogging (doing my happy dance) I wanted to share one of my favorite classroom transformations last school year.  Our end of year review was amped up thanks to a grant I received called "May the Force Be With Us".  Many of my scholars LOVED Star Wars, not to mention my inner child heart skips a beat thinking about it too, so I wanted to create a fun environment to get us ready for our end of year testing.

Over a few weeks our room turned into parts of this classic franchise and we added a few new things to the mix.  We used a giant Jenga set that I color coded (similar to Hope King's at Elementary Shenanigans) that aligned to different questions, but we named this game "Jedi Jenga".  Students used their pool noodles lightsabers to fight one another off as they moved game pieces that matched the color question they answered.  This game was played during passage review, math skills, and science studies.

Next we played human Hungry, Hungry Hippo that we renamed Hungry, Hungry Jedi.  Scholars had to get plastic balls energy pellets to answer math questions.  Again, problems were color coded to their math problems so they had to be more selective as the process went on.  They also realized they only wanted to get a couple at the time so they had more opportunities to play.  It was so much fun!!! Not to mention my kids rocked their testing.

Now I wonder, what type of room transformations have you done?  How have you spiced up testing reviews?  I'll share more soon.

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christyhnj

Hey everyone. So I'm super excited for my first blog post and I was inspired by an IG post by @adventuresin5th about starting The Essential 55 by Ron Clark (#heismyhero). I'm sure many of you have read this amazing book, but if not . . . GRAB IT NOW! The change that took place in my room was so spectacular guys.

Now I started this later in the year, but I've got big plans for how I'm going to implement it this year. It will basically start DAY 1 and will continue covering 11 rules each day the first week of school. At the end of the week I will put up my poster (that I got at RCA . . . butterflies are forming just reminiscing about it) for the class to see for the rest of year. That last day my scholars will have all 55 typed up as a contract. They will review these with their families and both the scholar and their family must sign and return it the following week. My plan is to video the review of The Essential 55 and post it to our class website. By doing this I can use it as a reference when needed and our families can hear EXACTLY what I have delivered to our class.

The big key to making this successful is to be consistent and make NO exceptions. I am a very loving teacher, but I lay down the law up front and I do not sway from what my expectations are for my scholars. Our learning environment is fun, but we have to have structure to function. Now I want to hear from you. What "wonders" have you experienced by implementing this book in your room? How did you get started?

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christyhnj