Estimating with Candy

It is the end of the year, and my students are really starting to slow down on their AR.  AR (Accelerated Reader) is a reading program. Students read a book and take a comprehension test over the book. I set an individual goal for the month and for the 9-weeks.  Since the end of the year is approaching, the students don't get as much time to complete their goals.  Our students are not allowed to check out books from the library after the 2nd week of May.  So, they really have to step up in order to reach their goal.  I needed to give my students some sort of motivation to reach their goal.  I  bought a glass jar and filled it with yummy jelly beans.  Every time they take and pass an AR test, they get to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar.  At the end of the month, I will give the student that had the closest guess the jar of jelly beans to keep.  I did this previously with M&Ms, and it really seemed to help motivate.  I figured I would try it again with jelly beans since Easter is right around the corner.  You can purchase the forms I created at my TeachersPayTeachers site.