Testing is Done! 5 Ideas to Plan for a Day of Fun (EP 33)

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Elementary Math Chat!

Today’s episode is the final episode in our test prep series that we began back in the first week of March, and we have certainly covered a lot when it comes to test prep. 

In episode 30, we talked about what to do in the weeks leading up to testing. In Episode 31, we talked about what to do the week before testing. In Episode 32, we talked about how to plan a Glow Day for your last review day. Today we’re going to talk about what to do on the day after testing.

That can be a challenging day to plan for because test prep is no joke. You are tired with a capital T! So, you should not feel guilty at all if you want to take a little break before heading into your end-of-the-year content, and that’s what today’s episode is all about.

I do want to mention that the ideas I’m sharing today are for when your class has finished taking every single test. So, ELA is done. Math and Science are done. Social Studies is done. You want to save these activities for when you are completely done with every single test.

You also want to keep in mind that you might have students who are taking makeup tests on this day. So, you don’t want to plan a movie day. You don’t want to plan a big reward day where they would miss out on something special. Save those days for the end of the year when everyone can participate.

So, what can the day after testing look like? In my lesson plans, I named the title of this lesson TCAP is done, so let’s have a day of fun! TCAP is the test we take in Tennessee. So, you can either use your state’s test name or just say testing is done. Let’s have a day of fun.

This probably doesn’t surprise you, but I created a choice board for this day. I love my choice boards, and there were five categories of activities that they could choose from. I’ll have a picture of this in the show notes if you want to see what it looks like, but it was just something really simple I created in Google Slides and that way I could share it with them so they had a copy of any of the links that they would need.

The first category on the choice board was draw, and here they could practice doing directed drawings. These are from a really kid-friendly YouTube channel called the Art For Kids Hub, and they have a lot of different videos that you can choose from. 

They absolutely love these, and so I gave them six different directed drawings that they could choose from; things like how to draw sloth, or how to draw ice cream, or how to draw Bruneau. That was a really popular one back then. They will enjoy any video that you choose, so I will have that link in the show notes if you want to take a look.

If you don’t want them on the computer during this drawing station, or maybe YouTube doesn’t work in your school, I know some districts will block that, you can just let them draw. A lot of my students had their own sketchbooks, and they would have loved this option too.

The second category on the choice board was color, and this was made up of both dot-to-dot pages and coloring pages. They could color the dot-to-dot pages when they were finished. So, that’s why I put them both in this color category.

I don’t know if you’ve seen these dot-to-dots, but they have hundreds of dots that when connected make these pretty detailed pictures. They take a lot of concentration too, but it almost feels like a brain break, so they are a popular choice on this day. 

I will link to a website that has plenty of free options, and it has different levels of difficulty that you can choose from. So, depending on if you are third grade, fourth grade, or fifth grade, you can pick accordingly.

Now for the coloring pages, we did give them certain ones to color, and I liked them because they had positive affirmations on them, like let your light shine or choose happy. So, they enjoyed coloring those. I know coloring is known to be one of those therapeutic activities for students. So, I felt like this was a good option for our day of fun.

If you don’t have any of these coloring pages, then let them just color. They can color a picture. They can draw and color a picture. They might have a sketchbook like some of my students had, so just let them color.

So, the first two categories brought out their artistic side. The third category brought out their playful side. This category was play, and for this one, I put out a whole bunch of end-of-the-year math games. 

If you don’t have any end-of-the-year games and you need them, I will put a couple sets in the show notes, and the best part is these are all really low prep games. You just have to print them, grab a few game pieces, and they’re ready to play. So, they’re perfect for this day of fun.

You can also allow your class to play regular board games. I’m sure you have a stack of these for indoor recess. I just didn’t do that because of all the pieces involved. It was always a struggle to get them to clean up when they played during indoor recess. So, I just didn’t want to bother with that. But this is a play category. So, if they want to play a board game, and you’re okay with that, then that is totally up to you.

The fourth category on the choice board was called watch, and here they would find a few different Bill Nye videos to choose from, and for once, there were not any strings attached. They didn’t have guided notes they had to complete. There wasn’t a worksheet they had to fill out. Just a video or two to enjoy.

Now, I did choose episodes that aligned with our recent science topics like energy and motion. And again, all of those videos were linked within their own copy of the Google Slides choice board.

Another watch option could be Mystery Science if your district has that. Their mini-episodes are great because they’re about five to six minutes each. So, you could send them a handful of the videos you haven’t watched in class, and I know they would enjoy those.

That leads us to our fifth and final category, and of course, we have to have a math category. This one was called solve. If I remember correctly, I think this one was the most popular choice of the day. This category was full of puzzles, and I had pentomino puzzles they could choose from. 

I had these puzzles in my early finisher bin, and they were always a popular choice. They kind of remind me of Tetris pieces, if you remember Tetris. So, I made them an option for everyone on this day.

What they enjoy most about these puzzles is the hands-on aspect to them. So, it almost feels like a game when you’re solving these puzzles.

I’m not exactly sure where these puzzles came from. I just borrowed them from a teammate, because she had a whole set of them for her boys, but I will link to a set on TPT that’s only $3.50. It comes with 20 puzzles, and that is plenty for your class.

You will also need the puzzle pieces. So, if you don’t have any of those, I’ll link to some that you can grab on Amazon. But, before you purchase anything, send a quick email to your staff, and I bet another teacher has some that you can borrow for the day. And that way, you don’t have to purchase any for yourself. 

If you do decide to purchase them, or maybe you can use your school money for these, it is a good investment because you can use them for early finisher activities.

Another type of puzzle in this category involves pattern blocks, and I’m sure you have a lot of those in your classroom. In these activities, they are given a pattern block design, but they have to use a certain amount of pattern blocks to match the design. For example, it might say look at picture 10 and build this design using 30 pattern blocks. So, it’s not as easy as it sounds. 

I think for this one, I laid out six different designs and then I just put a few tubs of pattern blocks with them and let them go to work.

Something else to consider with these pattern block puzzles is they would make a really fun station for Family Math Night if your school does that. So, you might want to check these out either for yourself on this day of fun, or for something like Family Math Night. I’ll have this one linked as well in the show notes, and they are from the seller Teaching in a Wonderland.

Those are the two puzzles I had in this category, but there are a lot of others that you can also include like logic puzzles and crossword puzzles. If you have Marcy cook tile puzzles, my students really enjoyed those, you can put those in there. And I would say you can even put riddles in this category. 

I think this is probably the easiest category to fill. So, definitely make sure you have a solve on your day of fun choice board.

So, that is what I did on the day after testing, and it truly was exactly what we all needed. A little bit of work, a little bit of play, and a lot of freedom to do exactly what we needed to do to rest up and recover from those weeks of state testing.

Let me do a quick recap of everything before we move on to today’s teaching tip of the week because I know I went through a lot in this episode.

The first category was draw, and here they could choose from different directed drawing activities.

The second category was color, and this one included both dot-to-dot and coloring pages.

The third category was play, and here they could choose from several different partner games.

The fourth category was watch, and this one provided them with links to a few Bill Nye videos.

The fifth category was solve, and here they could either solve a pentomino puzzle or a pattern block puzzle.

One of the best parts about this day was I was able to sit at my desk and finally get some work done for once. So, if your schedule allows for it, I would really try to plan a day like this. It will give your students a break, and more importantly, it will give you a much-needed break.

Speaking of giving you a break. That is the perfect segue into today’s teaching tip of the week!

You have enough things on your plate the way it is. So, my tip for you today is to pick a few students who are experts with technology to be part of your tech support crew.

This idea came to me because I was constantly having issues with Chromebooks, and I wasn’t the one using Chromebooks day in and day out. They were. I figured you know what, they probably know how to fix it better than I do. So, I let them do the work, and it really was a win-win situation because they loved to step in and help and I could continue what I was doing.

So, if someone’s screen gets turned upside down, or the words get switched to another language, or maybe they just need help finding an online assignment. Instead of you stepping in to help that student, let your tech support crew do the work for you.

Well, that does it! That wraps up our four-part series on Test Prep. I wish you all the best in your upcoming test prep season. Have an awesome week, and I will see you next Tuesday.