It’s that time of the year- state testing! On Friday, as we were moving our desks into rows to prepare for our first test on Tuesday, we had a second grade class visit us with a cute little message:
My third graders loved this sweet gesture!!!!! We posted it on our door and it will serve as a nice reminder throughout the week.
MAP testing, State testing, AimsWeb….if you have some testing coming up, we have some confidence boosters for you!
Last year, as my daughter and her class were getting ready to start their testing, we created a Testing Survival Kit (printables below!!).
My daughter and I had so much fun crafting together and she had a blast bringing the Testing Survival Kit to school! Although we put this together for the state testing, you can give any of these items to your students prior to a test or sneak them into your own child’s lunch box as a little “good-luck” wish.
We broke down some the encouraging goodies for each day of testing:
First up….Smart Little Cookies!
We used a 1 7/8 inch scalloped paper punch to cut the “You’re one smart cookie!” messages, added a cookie to a small baggie, closed it with a piece of ribbon, and hot glued the message to the knot.
Day 2: Motivational Water Bottles
PLUS
=Cute Labels plus Water Bottles equals: “you can do it” water bottles!
This idea came from a fourth grade teacher at our school (and a great friend!) Becky, from Dots-n-Spots. Thanks for the cute idea, Becky!
Day 3: Brain Boosting Vitamins
Thanks to Pinterest, I found these adorable Hershey Kiss labels on
My daughter and I followed her great tutorial and added the candy to a Mason Jar. Finally, we attached a label and Dr. Hershey’s Brain Boosting Prescription!
Day 4: Smartie Pants
This idea has been done before, but it was so much fun to put them together with my own little test-taker! She was excited to {carefully} use the paper cutter to cut 2.5 x 3.5 inch pieces of cardstock and I hot glued the candy to the bottom.
Next, we cut the messages using a 2 x 2 inch round paper punch. When using punches to cut something you’ve printed, put the punch upside-down so you can see the image you are cutting.
We glued the messages to the cards and added a pair of pants for some extra cuteness. I have an old-school Sizzix machine (that’s where I got the overalls), however, you could simply cut a pair of pants out of scrapbook paper.
![DSC_1278[2]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QzLWvWtuTGM/UTJcii4AD6I/AAAAAAAAEOM/_S3yiLHIIic/DSC_1278%25255B2%25255D%25255B1%25255D%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 "DSC_1278[2]")
After the brain-boosting goodies were packed up and the hot glue gun was unplugged, I finally sat down for a sweet treat with my own smart little cookies!
Click here to download the printables for the Testing Survival Kit:
![DSCN1222[1]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-xPCuCw4HeIE/UTJcjS3wVCI/AAAAAAAAEOc/qE7y5CGITLk/DSCN1222%25255B1%25255D%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 "DSCN1222[1]")
Arriving at school with a big, huge smile on-ready to drop off the Testing Survival Kit!!
If you previously purchased our Smart Little Cookies file, please redownload the file. We completed revised it for our smart little cookies this year!
We had a blast writing a recipe that described the study habits of a “smart cookie.”
Lookie, Lookie, I’m a smart little cookie!
While my students were busy in the classroom, little did they know that their parents were working on their own “TOP SECRET” homework!
A few days ago, I assigned the parent homework and you would not believe how excited the students were to give their PARENTS homework!!!
Of course, the parents do enjoy this homework because it is actually just a little “confidence booster” for their smart little cookie! 
If you are interested in my Smart Little Cookies resource, please continue to read below.
You can visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking here: Procedural (How-To) Writing: Smart Little Cookies
Or, save 10% by purchasing this resource directly from my website by clicking on the button below.
Check out how Kerri and Lindsay from Teacher Bits and Bobs created her super cute bulletin board for her batch of smart little cookies:
What testing do you have coming up??? Enjoy your weekend!
6 Responses
Using allll of your ideas again this year! Testing starts on MONDAY! AHHHHHH!
Love the changes to the file! :)
I think these are really thoughtful and adorable, but I have to say that a very big part of me wonders what could happen if parents and teachers spend the same energy fighting against the tyranny of high stakes testing as they did preparing and supporting our children through them.
It still blows my mind that testing starts this early. Who seriously thinks we can teach a whole year's worth of material in 3/4 a year? Obviously not a math major.
These ideas are so fun and absolutely adorable. I LOVE the idea of having parents write a letter. What a great way to boost the kiddos up.
Mrs. D
TheThirdWheel
Cool ideas!
Good luck to your grade threes!
Barbara
Grade ONEderful
Ruby Slippers Blog Designs
Would you be able to email me the letter you sent to parents so they could write letter to their students before testing? My email is stephaniebutler002@gmail.com
Hi Stephanie,
The letter is actually part of the Smart Little Cookies file that we have on TpT.
Thanks! :) Melissa