Future MacGyvers?

Today was a benchmark day at school. That means the kids had to take a really long test so that we can find out if they are ready to take the really long state test in about 6 weeks. Yes, it's a test to see if they are ready for the test. It's crazy long (3 uninterrupted hours) (for 8-9 year olds) and leads to a lot of silent time sitting at a desk with virtually no means of entertainment.

I had to laugh and found myself with sticky notes jotting down all the things the kids found to do at their desks silently with only a pencil, tissue, and possible a gum wrapper. Oh, and one of them managed to find a paper clip within arms reach and that really increased the creativity. They had the option when they were done with the test of put your head down or sit there. Only 3 put their heads on the desk. The rest managed to:

turn gum wrapper into origami flag that was attached to the paper clip

wrap tissue around the pencil and create several new dress fashions, or maybe it was a tornado

hold pencil between upper lip and nose and try to get other kids to react to the pencil mustache

practice force/motion of blowing a pencil just to the edge of the desk, but not far enough to fall off

create entire episode of ninja fighting with just fingers

design centimeter grid on top of desk with the eraser end of a pencil

balance tissues on the pointy pencil end while pencil is balanced vertically on the eraser end

something resembling the baby Peek-a Boo game with tissue and maybe a booger (or shredded eraser)

There was more, but I couldn't get it all down. Really, who says standardized tests remove the creativity from the classroom?