Standardized testing. UGH! We all cringe at the thought of it, but it’s an inevitable milestone in any public school’s year. Last year, I decided to spice things up a bit the week before testing with a PSSA Review Game Palooza!
I made it a competition between teams within each class. I let students pick their teams but warned them ahead of time that the competition would include a variety of abilities and talents, so they needed to choose wisely. Most of them did.
Scoot: This was Monday’s game. In this game, I used released items from the Pennsylvania Department of Ed to quiz the kids on quick multiple choice answer type questions. I put one question at each desk, face down, and numbered them 1-30. Each student stood at a desk with an answer sheet numbered 1-30. When I said start, students flipped over the question at their desk and had one minute to answer. At the one minute mark, I said “scoot!” and students moved to their right, one desk. They immediately began working on that desk’s question for one minute. The “game” continued until students rotated through all 30 questions. Then, I went over the answers while students graded their answer sheets. Each team added up their scores and found the average. That amount was added to their team’s score for the week.
Attack (aka grudgeball): In Attack, each team starts the game with 10 strikes. For this game, students were asked a series of questions. If a team got their question correct, they were awarded 3 strikes (Xs) to erase from other teams. If they got a question correct on a steal, they could remove 2 strikes. And, finally, if they got the question correct on a last chance steal, they could remove 1 strike. I added a twist that teams could shoot a basketball to try to earn extra strikes each turn. Team
s could also choose to add strikes to themselves (2 max per turn up to 10 total) instead of taking them away from others. This game get really competitive, and the kids love it! The winning team got their remaining strikes added to their score for the week.
Basketball: This is self-explanatory. The basketball game was all writing related. If students answered questions correctly about writing, they earned 2 points, and they were able to shoot from a 3 point line to earn points for their team. If a team got a question right on a steal, they earned 1 point, and then they were able to shoot for 2 points, and finally the last chance steal got them a chance to shoot for one point. Students love to play basketball, so this one is always a hit!
The Amazing Race: This game lasts 2 days and is so much fun, but it does take quite a bit of prep. I used more of the released items for this game but was able to build in more of the reading passages and two-part questions. I set up 10 stations. Each station had a folder with a passage and 3-4 related questions (still multiple choice). Also at each station was a “minute to win it” type game. Teams had 5 minutes to correctly answer the questions and complete the challenge activity in order to earn a maximum of 5 points 
per station. I used the following challenges, but many others could be used as well:
- Station One: Move the M&Ms
- Students used only a straw and their mouth to move 10 M&Ms from one bowl to another.
- Station Two: Stack of Cups
- Students had to build a tower with 15 solo cups, one-handed, and then take the town down one-handed as well.
- Station Three: Cookie Face
- Students placed a cookie on their forehead and had to move the cookie to their mouth using only their facial muscles. No hands.
- Station Four: Stack of Nuts
- Using only a pencil, students had to stack 10 metal nuts on top of each other in a stack.
- Station Five: Ping Pong Box
- Students stood behind a line and tried to bounce 5 ping-pong balls into a tissue box.
- Station Six: Bow and Arrow
- Students used a Nerf bow and arrow to shoot arrows through 3 holes in a target board.
- Station Seven: Bottle Flipper
- Students flipped half-full bottles of water on desks until all 5 were standing upright. (Yes, I gave into the craze!)
- Station Eight: Basketball
- Students had to make baskets from the 3 point, 2 point, and 1 point line without missing.
- Station 9: Yahtzee
- Just like the game. Students had to roll all 5 dice on the same number.
- Station 10: Dice Balancing Tower
- Using a tongue depressor, students stack 6 dice up on the end of the depressor, balancing them.
For each station, teams earned points based on how
many times their answers needed to be 
checked to be correct (1 time = 3 points, 2 times = 2 points, and 3 times = 1 point), and they received 2 bonus points for completing the challenge. The challenge could only be attempted after the team answered the questions correctly.
The team with the most points at the end of the week in each class got doughnuts as a reward. This is such a fun week of review! I enjoy and the kids enjoy it, so it’s something that will be staying in my plan book the week before standardized testing each year!
Knechtion in the Classroom 