This morning I actually got to make breakfast for my son...and made his favorite, pancakes. I was going to try these(since I have seen a bazillion people pinning them on Pinterest.
But who a I kidding...I am just not that fancy (or patient!) So he got the boxed kind...no not the frozen ones, the boxed MIX kind. He enjoyed them, and I enjoyed our brief chat at the kitchen table as he wolfed them down ...counting the minuted until he could return tot he couch and his video came. At this point, I take those moments and hold them dear, no matter how brief because I know it won't be long and he will be heading off to college (okay, that's not for 6 years, but still....)
And then of course there is the laundry....I have put it off all week and I am out of gym clothes (yes, I am going to the gym today....can;t put that off any longer either, plus I need to work off those pancakes I ate this morning!!
And last but definitely not least, on my agenda today is to start writing some plans for test prep and review. Yes, we prep them all year long for THE TEST...but when we return next week to school we have exactly 20 schools days until State Testing begins. And we are not even finished with the last 2 Social Studies units. We are already reviewing ELA and getting ready to start our 5th grade research unit and project but 20 days is not a lot of time to get this all done. I am freaking out just a little. And I am not sure why, because A) state testing is going to happen whether I want t to or not (and whether my kiddos want it to or not) and 2)it happens every year, so why am I shocked, surprised, freaked out...?!?!?! and III)oh whatever...I just need to find an interesting an hopefully fun way to review with my kiddos because i am pretty certain they have forgotten the difference between an adverb and an adjective and what the causes of World War II were. Heck, most days, they forget to put their names on their papers, LOL!! And while you are scratching your heard and asking what about Science and Math don;t forget I team teach so I only do ELA- Reading and Social Studies.
So here is my real dilemma....do I kill a zillion trees (the Lorax is sitting on my shoulder as I type this) and print off the "Essential Facts for 5th Grade" for ELA and Social Studies and pretend my students are going to even look at them, or face the reality that those trees were sacrificed so they could shove them down in their bookbags and rifle through their desks looking for them when I ask them to pull them out to review?!?!?
Or do I take a new and unique approach to review this year, and if so, what is that new an unique approach. We have tons of technology in my classroom (brand new laptops, an iPad, Activotes)....somehow I need to tie in technology because they love it, they respond to it, and it just may cement some of these concepts int heir cute little 5th grade noggins!!!
HELP....suggestions appreciated. How do you review for the TEST...leave me a comment below.
Last school year I copied a (few) release passages from previous 4th grade MCAS tests. The kiddos had a specified amount of time to read the passages and answer the questions independently. Then, I passed out the MimeoVote controllers and we reviewed the answers together as a class. They got to see how well they did in comparison to the rest of the class, we earned a "class score" and it give the standardized testing review a fresh spin.
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