Wednesday, June 10, 2015

A New Subject?

During an "End of Year" classroom writing activity, my students brainstormed a list of school subjects.  "Math", "Reading", "Writing", "PE", "Art" were all listed.  There were a few more answers I was expecting when I called on another student.  A fairly bright girl responded, "Testing".
Isn't it a sad state of affairs when a 7 year old thinks that testing is a subject in school.  And I didn't correct her because the reality is we've spent more time testing this year than we have on a lot of other subjects.
Hump day is just about over.
Spending the last 1.5 days of the school year just surviving.  So that's all I've got tonight. :)

19 comments:

  1. Well, yes. That IS a sad statement.

    Tick, tick, tick... I hope the time passes quickly for you! (love your visual for this post) :D

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    1. It's dragging. But that's just because we're babysitting at this point - trying to keep them busy while closing the school down.
      0.5 days left!!! Weeeeeeeeeee!

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  2. YEA.

    Well, I suppose if testing WAS a subject, a formal subject, it actually mightn't be a bad thing at all. I know here in high school the last year is devoted to drills and predictions for the exams.

    Anyhowzies, a big pick you up and spin you round hug. A drive to Big Sur/Reno/Napa in the offing for the first week ?. I read Napa and those valleys above SF are truly lovely this time of year.
    Are you breaking earlier this year ?. Seemed july ishy last year.

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    1. AND DONE! :) Woot woot!
      Just trying to pass the time with a group of kids for even half a day is exhausting between a dance party and an autograph book party. The last 40 minutes were spent watching a movie so I could finish cleaning/closing out the classroom.
      No, no traveling this first (or 2nd week) beyond my drive to work to write curriculum. I do have a trip to Vancouver/Victoria planned for early next month which I AM looking forward to.
      The break for the last few years has been the 2nd Friday in June. My previous school went until the 4th Friday in June and that was painful. The longer breaks through the year were nice, but by the end of the year they weren't worth it. So it'll be nice to get this district work out of the way while still in June knowing that my entire July will be free.

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    2. I was rushing on the last reply and forgot to add...Yes! Napa is a beautiful area, although with the drought, I don't know what's going on up there grape wise these days. I had plans to go to the cherry orchards this weekend and there aren't any cherries! Not enough to sell anyways. :(
      Big Sur, and anywhere along the central coast really, is probably my favorite part of CA. It's a much more interesting coastline than we have down here, I'd say similar to yours with the cliffs and ruggedness. Very very pretty.

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  3. This is going to be short as I tried to publish a comment last night and for some reason on your blog I couldn't.

    I like the idea of Napa and those areas more for teh landscape of the vines than what they produce. And I'd have been always like that even when I drank wine. There, the coast, or the national parks along the Nevada border. I'm afraid I think of Bakersfield as I'd think of Spokane.

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  4. Well, are you out of bed yet ? :-)

    Of course it's tomorrow I should ask ?.

    Ever read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

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    1. I'm so transparent aren't I?!? ;) I will have you know that I was out of bed today at a decent hour. Yesterday was LATE. Today however about 3, I crashed and actually got into my bed and slept for 4 hours. It's silly how tiring the end of the year is. Tomorrow I'll be up at the regular time since I'm working. :(
      I have not read that book although I remember when the movie came out and it had great reviews. It's available at the library in both book and audiobook. Do you think it would be good to listen to as I walk or better as read?

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  5. I did comment !. I wonder is there something sending it into the blogger spam.
    My system seems to be updating to Win 10 at the moment so that might be it.

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  6. Blast it anyway. It may be that I'm using WordPress link to load.
    V

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  7. Wow that was easy form the tablet. You'll just have to read through the typos. Says you what's new, better the tablet typos that an illiterate who cannot spell. :-\

    Yeah, (chuckle) it wouldn't have been to empathetic to know you'd sleep late.

    On the book, I'd not read it, only seen the film over the weekend. But it seemed one of those that made one wish you read in the original language of the writer. Leo the stig Larson books.

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    1. I teach 2nd grade so I can decipher most typos! ;)
      It might not be meant to be listened too now that I think about it. It would be depend on the narrator. If it's done in a fake German accent it would just be too much. I've added the book to my holds anyhow.
      You should have seen the look on all of us today at the meeting - the look of 30 teachers who were on their first day of vacation working at 8:00am. It's not a good look. :)

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    2. I expect it's translated rather well. But you know when you encounter a good book in translation you half wish you could read the O for there's always the thought at the back of the mind (not really a destructive one), more a musing really that there's wordplay at work you're missing..

      Bah, as long as the people aren't coming in reeking of beer a bit of the pulled through the hedge backwards doesn't really matter. It's not as if you're all nuns is it.

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    3. Oh no, the sorry state wasn't because of all the fun we had had. It was because we're all tired and grumpy from just finishing the year and having just a weekend in between to start working. :).
      I find lit I've read by Spanish language authors (Ruiz Zafon, Garcia Marquez) makes me want to read the original text. The nuances in language are surely missed when translated, even when it's done well. All the sayings and idioms that don't have literal translations are surely lost in the English version.

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  8. Yes, very sad. Thankfully we don't take the BIG tests in 2nd anymore.

    My last day was FRIDAY!! And Sunday I drove to the airport many times to go to their respective homes/vacations and now I have a few rare days of being HOME ALL ALONE!!
    Happy Summer!

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    1. No, we don't either, but that hasn't stopped our district from testing 2nd to "prepare for them for 3rd grade". If I hear that anymore my head might actually explode.
      After working all week this week and a few days next week I am looking forward to Monday and Thursday next with NOTHING to do.
      Enjoy your break! Off to NYC this year?

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