Welcome! You are the Candy Shop’s newest employees and today is your first day of training! Great employees must follow directions, solve problems, and complete orders quickly and correctly. Let’s Begin!

I think classroom transformations are my new favorite thing to implement in my classroom. When I say “you should have seen the look on students’ faces when they stepped inside the Candy Shop”… I mean I really wish you could have seen them! I made it a huge surprise all week and students couldn’t wait for what was in store.

I actually got the inspiration for this idea from one of my students. The class received a celebration for achieving a certain number of Tiger Paws, which is our whole school PBIS incentive. We set a goal of 45 Tiger Paws and students brainstormed ideas of what our celebration could be. Ideas formed included: extra recess, pizza party, and extra Chromebook time. One girl suggested a candy buffet and entire class was sold!

My teacher brain started rolling and that is how I formed the candy shop classroom transformation. We agreed to have our candy buffet on Friday so I had all week to plan and prepare. Luckily, I have wonderful parents who offered to donate a variety of candy for our candy buffet.

We were learning long division and, to be completely honest, students had been struggling with the concept. I thought this was a perfect opportunity for us to practice our long division skills as well as enjoy our classroom celebration.

My class have specials first thing in the morning so once they left I was able to transform my classroom. I wanted students to not see what was about to come. I covered the tables with red and white plaid table clothes and made a sign for my candy counter. I set out all of the materials needed and opened the candy to display on the candy counter.

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The baskets were purchased from Party City for less that $2 each!

I labeled the tables 1-6 and gave each student a clipboard, a cup to fill with candy, a Candy Shop Menu, and a math challenge recording worksheet. I knew this was going to blow their minds!

I picked the students up from specials, we took a restroom break, and then we headed toward the classroom. I stopped at the door and before students entered the room, I handed each a Candy Coupon. This would allow them to visit the Candy Counter once throughout the activity. They walked in and they were amazed at what they saw!

I welcomed the class to the Candy Shop and told them they are the Candy Shop’s newest employees. Today was their first day and they were ready to be trained. I explained that they will be completing several long division math challenges today and will have a few breaks throughout. When there is a candy break, they can use their Candy Coupon and visit the candy counter. Students could fill their cup when they visited the Candy Counter.

I had never seen students more excited for math…ever! Anticipation filled the air.

Students had 3 activities to complete.

The first activity was long division math challenges. Eight long division word problems were cut and placed inside an envelope. Students pulled out a slip of paper and solved the word problem using their Candy Shop Menu.

The second activity is students got to create 4 new candy items for the Candy Shop. They had to name the item, draw a picture, and solve a division problem on how much of each candy was sold. Students could think of candy not already on the menu or they could be creative and create their own one-of-a-kind candy.

The final activity was for my early finishers. Students took turns taking each others orders. They had to add the total price and see how much change they would have to give back.

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Throughout the activities, I provided Candy Breaks (brain breaks) where students could visit the candy counter. They got to choose when to visit the Candy Counter because they only were allowed to visit it once.

The activity was fun, enjoyable, and students got to eat candy! It was a win-win!

If you are interested in transforming your classroom into a Candy Shop and want a fun activity for Long Division, you can check out my Long Division Activities: Candy Shop in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Happy Learning!