Wednesday, Wiggle...

Happy Hump Day! Rather uneventful day today. Not a bad thing, though! The only "bad" thing that happened today was a backup at the cafeteria. The schedule needs to be tweaked, I think. That backup led to a bottleneck at the bathroom, of course. But, other than that, no problems to speak of. No shooting today, so that's a big plus!

I had to test a few more kids today with the lovely DIBELS test. There were a few silly answers. I was pleasantly surprised, though, when I tested A.W. So far, these past 12 days of school, he seemed to be in another world 99% of the time! I'm starting to think that perhaps he has a hearing problem. For example, when I call his table to line up, he NEVER moves. Even when I call his name individually, he usually doesn't even acknowledge that I'm speaking. I usually have to yell his name, and then he seems startled. Like I said, I'm starting to think maybe the poor baby can't hear me. It's hard to believe he can be that spacey all the time. However, by the same token, you'd think he'd notice all the other kids at his table have gotten up and walked away...hmmm... Anyway, when I tested him, it was one-on-one, at my desk, so we were in close proximity. He actually scored fairly well. I thought for sure he was going to do poorly on the test. He scored right about in the middle.

This crazy test groups the kids into 3 categories: Benchmark, Strategic and Intensive. The Benchmark scores are recorded in green, Strategic in yellow, and Intensive in red (like a traffic light) The goal is to have everyone in green, obviously. So far, my class has been almost evenly split among the 3 levels. Not as bad as it seems. Last year, almost half my class was yellow, and they didn't really move out of there during the year. There are 3 testing windows during the year. Beginning of the Year, Middle of the Year, and End of the Year testing is scheduled by the board. In between, we need to progress monitor those children in the Intensive group, and time permitting, also the Strategic group. They want this done at least once a week! Yeah, cuz I've got NOTHING else to do all week, right? These poor babies get tested to death! In kindergarten!! Oh well, on a lighter note, our Lead Literacy Teacher (who basically oversees all this testing) can't say Strategic, and calls that group "trategic." It makes me giggle every time.

Quote time:

To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is
educated.
---Edith Hamilton

I hope I give my students that thirst for knowledge, and the ability to think and explore on their own.