Boot Camp Classroom Transformation

Photo shows an arrangement of various camouflage items, boot camp dog tags, and mission folders. On top of the photo is a text overlay that says "Test Prep Bootcamp: A Classroom Transformation"

Testing season is the best time to put together all of the skills taught throughout the year to create meaningful review lessons and activities. For the past two years, I’ve hosted a boot camp classroom transformation the week right before state testing. Y’all, IT IS A HIT. The best part? You can prepare your room for state testing at the same time.

The image shows a transformed classroom, with camouflage buckets in the center of each group of desks and camouflage army helmets on each desk. Camouflage butcher paper is covering the bulletin boards and walls.

boot camp Supplies and materials

Classroom transformations are a great way to prepare the room for state testing, since we need to cover the walls anyway! For this boot camp classroom transformation, I cover the walls with “military-themed” paper— AKA butcher paper.

Nothing fancy.

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Supply Suggestions:

–Army Tablecloth

– Camouflage Hats

–Army Drawstring Bag (Pack of 12)

–Camouflage Net

Click here to see all my other favorites!

*Buckets are from Walmart & Dollar Tree

Image of the exterior of a classroom door prepared for a boot camp classroom transformation, with a camouflage pattern made out of paper and the words "Welcome Recruits to SAT Bootcamp". A camouflage net is draped across the top of the door frame.

I provide each student with a boot camp “Mission Folder” and badge for the week. They place any completed assignments inside their folder.

Photo shows an arrangement of various camouflage items used for the classroom transformation, including boot camp dog tags, camouflage helmet, bucket, water bottle, and mission folders. — Templates are from Katie Meyer on TPT.

Preparing the Missions

I create “missions” for each week. Each mission focuses on a specific skill or strategy that we have already learned throughout the school year.

Included in each mission is some kind of hands-on activity. For example, Mission One might be a text structure short while Mission Two might be answering sequencing task cards scattered across the room.

I divide each day of the week into four missions, so my final preparation is to divide the students into four groups.

In this photo a hand is holding a notebook with the FSA Bootcamp missions divided into three days.

How It Works

When looking at the rotations above, you can see that this boot camp classroom transformation is essentially literacy centers with a fun twist.

Each group has an assigned mission as a starting point. Once they have completed that mission and I’ve checked their work, they each earn a star for their individual badges and are able to move on to the next mission.

(The “star” is really just a star sticker, but oh man do they get excited about that sticker! Yes, even fourth graders get excited about stickers.)

You might also notice in the image above that day two was focused on whole-group missions. Some days might not consist of four missions or groups, but students can still be rewarded for whole-group mission completion.

Boot camp tags are hanging from two pushpins. Each tag is gray with a yellow star in the center, on top of which are the words "BOOT CAMP" with the student name underneath. Each tag is attached to yellow yarn.

You do NOT have to go out of your way to create something extremely over-the-top for each mission. Remember, you will be prepping a lot of activities ahead of time so you don’t want to overwhelm yourself. I just tried to add a little “flair” to each activity so that it was a bit more hands-on than a worksheet.

Students wearing camouflage helmets are participating in the boot camp classroom transformation. They are standing in front of four posters with different text structures listed at the top. There are smaller reading passage papers taped to each poster board.

For example, I used these text structure task cards from Rachel Lynett on TPT and created these charts with the text structures written on them. Instead of just having the students choose the multiple choice answer, they used tape to sort the passages based on their text structure.

A group of students participating in the boot camp classroom transformation.

Testing boot camp is definitely a fun and easy way to review with your students right before state testing!

If you’re looking for additional classroom transformation ideas, check out my posts all about writing construction week or text feature surgery. Your students will love them!