Buckle up...it's ISAT TIME!!!

Well, after my plethora of ISAT nightmares and my lack of sleep all last week, the ISATs are finally here.  Over the weekend I managed to calm myself down and resign myself to the fact that I have literally done all I can do.  The rest is up to the kids, the test itself, and just chance in general.  Today was our first big day of testing.  I got to school early this morning to preview the test instructions, pass out smarties and the good luck notes from the kids' parents (a really cool tradition my school has), cue up my Mozart Effect CD (hey, we need all the help we can get!!), and make sure all the materials were in order.  Once I was sure I had everything I needed and it was all organized, I managed to breath easy and relax.

A lot of my kiddos were pretty nervous coming in, but most seemed calm overall.  I let them work on morning work for extra time (our tests didn't start until 10:30) and went from kid to kid to give each one a little one-on-one time.  I wish I had time for that everyday!  Anyways, before I knew it, it was time for THE TEST.   I have to admit, it was kind of weird to be reading the instruction sheet for the ISAT.  I mean, I've given plenty of tests both this year and in student teaching, but I actually remember TAKING the ISAT tests as a kid.  How weird was it to be on the other side!!

Anyways, 1 down, 6 to go.  Yikes!  It is super nice though to not have grading to do all week :)  Although I still didn't grade last week's papers...but I feel like I can procrastinate them a little.  I'm using the extra time to reorganize my classroom library and plan a (wait for it...) social studies unit.  I figured I better squeeze in a little science and social studies now that the dreaded tests are going to be behind us.  We're going to be doing a (brief) interact unit on the colonies where partners research a colony and make a travel brochure to convince new colonists to settle there.  At this rate we will barely hit the revolutionary war by the end of the year!  Yikes.  But hey, I'm trying.  :)

I will update later this week on how the BIG TESTS are going.  Send lots of smart vibes our way!!