It's hard to pick a favorite classroom transformation, but my Escape to the Circus one HAS to be up there. Today we are going to walk through what a day in the life looks like when doing a classroom transformation. This classroom transformation focused on multiplication skills and was an engaging way for my students to practice their times tables skills at the end of the unit before the multiplication final test.
There was quite a bit of prep work done ahead of time because I created this transformation and all of the activities from scratch. I did not have ready-made materials. I had most of the decor already, because years ago I created a year-long circus theme for my classroom. I sewed the circus bunting and the circus tent for that year-long theme, but I have used them again and again for different room transformations. I did purchase a background to top it all off and clipped it over my whiteboards.
My class is a multi-grade classroom with 3 grades. I created this transformation to be fully differentiated with three different levels of play, so students worked on the standards for their grade levels, but all did the same activities...only the level of play was more or less challenging.
A Day in the Life of a Classroom Transformation
It was the day of our classroom transformation, a multiplication circus escape room, and I was so excited for my students to come through the door. I put some circus music on to set the tone. The classroom was decorated in red and white stripes, and the big top was all ready.
The students were immediately excited when the door opened and they realized today we were going to the circus. Once everyone found their seats and we were ready to begin, I set up the transformation by starting like a real circus with "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls..." and continuing to set up their imaginary trip through multiplication challenges to escape to the circus.
I passed out their circus brochures. These would hold the answers to each multiplication challenge. I explained to them that they would be completing puzzles or challenges, solving for a mystery word, and showing me before they could go on to the next challenge. There would be four challenges and students would work with a partner to complete each one. When all four challenges were complete, they would escape to the circus.
I gave each pair of students an envelope with challenge one inside. It was a puzzle that students would need to complete to find out the first secret word or phrase. Students needed to match the equations to the products to build their puzzle.
This was the most challenging of the activities. It definitely took the longest, but every single pair of students finished it. After students completed challenge one and got it checked by me, the ringmaster, I gave each student a ticket. They were collecting one ticket for each challenge they solved and a bonus ticket if they were the first team to complete all four challenges. The tickets would be used later to play carnival-style games.
After a pair of students completed challenge one, they received the second challenge. In this challenge, students had to examine multiplication equations that were already solved to determine if the answers were true or false. Then they looked at a set of ducks that had numbers and letters on them. The numbers matched the equation problem numbers. Once they decided which of the equations were true, they took those numbered ducks and lined them up to reveal the next code. Writing it down, they came to me (the ringmaster) to check it and receive a ticket and their next challenge.
Then it was time for challenge three. For challenge three, students received their envelope with directions. In this challenge, students had circus train cars that had equations on them. Once they solved the multiplication equation, they put the train cars in order from least to greatest products, and that revealed the code. Once again, students checked their secret word/phrase and received a ticket and challenge four when they were correct.
Last, students opened their envelopes for challenge 4, students were suppose to play a game of memory match with their partner. Once all the cards were matched, they needed to put the cards in order (by the number on each card) and place the match below. The cards below would spelled out the final clue word or phrase. Students checked this final challenge and received their last game ticket. The first pair of students received a bonus ticket.
As a side note to this challenge, we started running low on time, and when that happened, I had my students work on this challenge without playing memory match. Instead they simply solved and matched the cards to reveal the code.
As students began to finish their challenges, they could use their tickets to play carnival-style games that were set up around the classroom. Students were so excited. I had five different games that students could choose from:
Ring Toss: I had a ring toss game that was marked with different points. Students had to throw the rings, add their score and they won if they reached a certain number of points.
Basketball: I borrowed a small classroom basketball hoop set that could hook onto my whiteboard. Students threw shots and if they made a certain number of baskets, they won.
Bowling: Students could go bowling and had to knock down a certain number of pins to win.
Nerf Gun Shooting: Students had to use a Nerf gun to shoot a target. If they hit the target, they won.
Ping Pong Ball Toss: Students had ping pong balls that they tossed into cups. If they landed a certain amount, they won the game.
I had a table set up with snacks and prizes. As students played the games, they could visit the table for a prize if they won.
Ring Toss
When we completed all the challenges and games, our transformation ended. It was a huge success with lots of smiles, hard work, and celebrations. Each student received a circus peanut to try (most had never tried them). I will definitely be repeating this one again in the upcoming year.
Here are some other views of the decor.
If you are interested in trying this transformation out in your own classroom, I will link it here. Remember, you can do simple, medium, or challenging decor...the choice is up to you, there is no wrong or right way to decorate, but students will enjoy learning under the big top, however you choose to do it. Click on the picture below for more details.
