//Teacher Time//: Testing Treats

I'm baaaaack. 

After two weeks of essentially ignoring most of my emails (all except the work related ones, of course) and anything regarding blogging, I am back! For now. Hey, one post is better than none. It's a miracle. 

Those of you who have careers and children outside of blogging, how do you do it? Seriously? I find that I do so well for a few months than I need some time away because I get so stressed or overwhelmed. But, like most things in life, it is good to take a break. I have realized that I have missed writing and all that it encompasses. I have so much to catch up on that I probably won't ever get to it, but that's how the cookie crumbles (10 points for whoever knows that movie!) 

Now that the school is over in 4 days! (Yea, it's the busiest week of the year, I have a wedding, and we are moving. The stress hasn't diminished QUITE yet. But, as Pumba says, Hakuna Mutata. Holy Hannah, I am so ready for summer!), I thought I would finally tell you about what I did for end of the year testing. 

With 6th graders, I have found it is hard to motivate them pretty much anytime after March. They get a little taste of "senioritis", if you will. I wanted to do something special for my kiddos to motivate them on their testing this year and not become "clicker happy". We have brand new testing that we are doing, with the combination of new common core, so my students were definitely challenged and given brand new material. And if you have ever been around 11 and 12 year olds (let's be honest, if you have ever been around people) you will know that candy is a good motivator. I try not to use candy as the main motivator in my classroom because I don't want to teach my students that, but I do find that it is a GREAT incentive. And you know what? My students loved these (even if they pretended like they didn't. They're too cool, don't ya know? :) )

What's awesome about these paper phrases, is that you can use them for anything motivational--kids at home, throughout the school year or just for testing like I did. They don't necessarily need to be school related. Here's some of them that I chose. Enjoy :) 

Found this idea HERE and HERE.

Now, who thinks I can last through 6th grade graduation this week and the last week of school? 

Hold on tight, folks! 

Hope you all had a wonderful memorial day weekend!