Kindergarten Testing

The past two weeks of kindergarten were filled with testing. I don't know who the brainiac was who decided to do the PALS (Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening) testing back to back with the nine weeks testing. The students and I were very weary of it all by the end. Both tests require an enormous amount of individual testing time. And just what do we do with the 16 other students while working with one? Lots of seat work for starters. We also teamed up with the other K teachers. One teacher would put in a movie and the other teachers would pull students out to test.

There were some funny moments during it all. One of the questions on the nine weeks test is who is the leader of our country. Some students said George Washington. Most replied with George W. Bush. One little boy excitedly exclaimed, "Obock Arama!" I simply told him, "No, he's not." We also asked them what were the 5 senses. Jay said, "Looking . . . hearing . . . touching . . . . . . Those are mine!" Jay made me laugh again when we talked about the seasons. I had four pictures of the different seasons and they had to point to the one depicting fall. He quickly chose the right one. Then he pointed at the winter picture and said, "That tree doesn't have any leaves." When I asked him what season that was he said, "Tornado season!!"

Tomorrow is a half day for the students but a very long day for me. We have parent-teacher conferences and my last one is at 6:00 PM. I need to get to bed! Don't forget to vote in my poll if you haven't already. Thanks!