Motivate Students to do their Best with a NACHO party!

Cure TESTING absences and lack of student effort with a NACHO PARTY!

YESS!! It's a WEEK of computerized testing for my students and I when we get back on Monday.

Not quite as thrilled that it's that time of year?
Well, have no fear...
the NACHO party will surely steer ...
your minds into a place filled with CHEER!

Who doesn't love Mexican food?  What's more, who doesn't perform better when there's some tangible object you're trying to achieve?  These are all reasons why the NACHO party after testing is over is such a TREAT!

Let's get it straight, I definitely stress how important it is for everyone to do their best job and take their time during the test to show what they know after learning so much throughout the year.  However, some years (especially while working in Title 1 schools), my students wouldn't show up to school on testing day.  I can tell you, they don't always rise to the occasion when they're pulled out of the room separately on make-up day and then, they without fault MIRACULOUSLY appear an hour later when the rest of your class took double or triple that amount of time!!  

For 100% attendance and best effort during testing week, my students gain entrance to our class NACHO party!  

What if I miss a day, or mess around instead?  

I remind them, "I guess it's NOTCH-YOUR party!" 

(P.S. I make exceptions for the unexcusable THROWING UP/FEVER sick absences)

Typically, I like to host the NACHO party on the same day as FIELD DAY, as that's the school-wide reward for doing well on a year filled with such a focus on academic learning.  A week or so before the event, I send flyers home to remind families of the food item they will be sending in for the day of the party.

The teachers bring in crock pots & serving spoons to warm the canned nacho cheese & refried beans.  We just zap the cooked taco meat in the microwave.  It smells so good warming up during the morning, we can barely wait until lunch time to begin the festivities!  If you want to host a similar event, download the editable flyer here (you'll need PowerPoint to edit).

This year I'm thrilled to have a family whose parents both work at a Mexican restaurant down the street, so our party is going to be EPIC!  We're even having horchata --- YUM!
UPDATE: This year's nacho party was a blast, they worked so hard on testing all this week & they "tore up" the nacho cheese as one of the girls in my class put it! :)

p.s. Head over to Teaching with Team W as they are hosting a giveaway in honor of reaching 100 followers!  Congrats ladies!! :)