Thursday, May 13, 2010

Time flies the last few weeks of school!

It seems like just yesterday we returned for the final six weeks! And now we are in the final countdown until the last day of school! Let's recap the past week..

On Friday, we headed to the BBQ Festival Carnival as a reward for hard work on the CATS test! The kids rode and rode and rode rides until, well, they were sick to their stomach! Check out the pictures below...

The whole gang!

On Wednesday, WE DID NOT TAKE A SINGLE TEST...at least not a state assessment! However, the students did take multiplication quiz 11. It is truly amazing to see how well everyone is doing on the multiplication quizzes! Now I have to hope they continue to remember their facts for the rest of their lives!!! Desmond continues his reign as King and Tayonna continues her reign as Queen this week!!!

We spent Thursday at the Botanical Garden and the Science Museum. The kids learned about plants and birds in the great outdoors! Then they learned how to use a microscope and studied different slides. Check out the pictures below...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Bling and Things...

As we created our May calendar this morning, we realized we only have 16 school days left this year. I cannot quite tell you where time has gone, but it has been a good year! Here are a few updates and upcomings...

On Monday, we completed the CATS portion of testing. BIG CHEER!!! I am very pleased with the overall effort of the students. For their hard work, Mr. Gaddis is treating us to a couple hours at the BBQ Festival Carnival...here we come Superman, Gravitron, and Swings!
However, we are preparing for the Iowa Norm Referenced Comprehension test next Monday and Tuesday. It is formatted as a timed multiple choice test in the areas of reading, math, and language arts. It is new this year, so we are not really sure what to expect. But you can guarantee that we will rock it!!!

Additionally, we will take the MAP test on Thursday, Friday, and May 17th in the areas of math, reading, and language arts. It is a computer based and levelized test.

Why so many tests?!?!?! Kentucky is phasing out the CATS test, and replacing it with a norm referenced test (Iowa test). The MAP data shows a great picture of the growth each individual student gains throughout a given school year.
Otherwise, we have several routines we will continue through the remainder of the school year! One of the routines is our weekly multiplication quizzes. We continued reviewing our multiplication facts last week. We played Internet games, card war, and survivor! On Monday, we took quiz 10, and I am proud of the continued improvement!
We even have a NEW Queen of Bling!!! Tayonna and Hannah earned Queen of Bling, and Melvin earned King of Bling! Kolton, Jordan, Brooklyn, Desmond, Ashlee, Z'Naja, and Brandon continue to do well on the quizzes!!!