Tomorrow, my kiddos will be taking the Reading OAA! It's crazy how I can simultaneously feel excited, nervous, relieved, and exhausted during testing week! It's quite a rush of emotions. :) Honestly, at the moment, I'm feeling flat out drained. Drained, but optimistic! We had a normal day until around 2:30 when our school aired a special edition of video announcements. We created a testing parody of "All the Single Ladies"... and yes... I decided to partake in the hilarity. If you want to see our inspiration, simply type "All the Harmon Students" into YouTube. That should give you a good idea of what I looked like shaking my groove thing with some of my teacher friends. :) My kiddos thoroughly enjoyed it. Actually, the kiddos' Fraction Spongebobs also made cameo appearances in the music video... and that made my little test-takers super excited too! You can probably imagine. Cue the "Ohhhh, that's mine!" After our viewing, we rounded our kids up for a pep rally that involved lots of dancing and singing. Our principal gave a motivational speech, and then the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders paraded through the main hallways past the K-2 students and gave out high-fives. Of course, my students told me that now they feel like celebrities and that they can't wait to take the OAA now. Mission complete!
I stayed after school until 6:00 to get everything in order for tomorrow morning. After taking posters down and covering bulletin boards in my overly print-rich classroom and sharpening so many extra pencils that my hands are speckled with blisters, I plan on relaxing the rest of the evening. Before I do, you have to check out Smencils. (Google it!) Our PTO bought each student a peppermint scented pencil to take the test. Why peppermint? Because peppermint stimulates brain functions...specifically memory retrieval! Yay! I love happy brains!
Help yourself to a testing sign to use on your doors during state tests, diagnostic tests, or whatever!
Thanks for the testing sign! We had our reading OAA today and we're doing math on Thursday!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you and your kiddos :)
Emily
Playground Duty
I couldn't open the sign, I love it and could have used it last week--we did our Stanford test.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily! Good luck to you and your kiddos too! Booky4First, you need to click on the link that says "Freebie Alert" to download the file. If you tried that, and it's still not working, let me know. :) If you leave your email address, I'd be happy to email it to you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the testing sign!
ReplyDeleteThat video was a riot! What a fun way to motivate the kids!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck tomorrow!!! We finished our state test last week. All the tests left the building today. All the teachers were doing a happy dance as they went out the door! Thank you for the sign...I'll use it next year!:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sign. We take the OAA next week when we get back from Spring Break. We are also having a pep rally for our kiddos. I wonder if other states get as "involved" in the testing process as Ohio?
ReplyDeleteRachel
Go Fourth! With Owens
Cute and positive sign. I will share these with my administration and testing coordinator.
ReplyDeleteFirst Grade Factory
Good luck on testing!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeletewww.littlemisskindergarten.blogspot.com
Thank you for the sign! It is great! We start our state testing next week and I needed one.
ReplyDeleteJana
Thinking Out Loud