Testing, Bossy R and a Giveaway :)

Sunday...I have a case of the Sunday night blues.  I love my Littles, but goodness gracious I am not ready to relinquish my weekend just yet!  I am ready for summer vacation, but I have lots more school year left.  We don't get out until June 19th!  I keep reading other blogs and some are SO close to summer.

Like, they can smell the coconut suntan lotion and taste the frozen drink by the pool close!

I am jealous.

But, I must admit that I love not starting school until the very end of August or sometimes the first of September!  I have to keep chanting this to myself.

This week starts "The Test" in my district.  So much stress for my school.  I teach in a highly diverse, high need school.  We have gotten over 30 ELL refugees since December. They aren't required to take the test, but next year they will.  I mean they will have had a full year of school to catch up, learn the language, navigate the nuances of the written language, answer in complete thought and score well....right?   I understand that testing is needed, I just don't believe that high stakes tests produce the better students.  One of my friends works at another school in a neighboring district.  She works with small reading groups all day.  At her school, reading groups are not allowed to read books during those groups.  She can ONLY use "Test-like passages." You read that right O N L Y !!!

Seriously!

My heart hurts for those students. 

But, here is the kicker: They score well on "The Test."  They win awards.  They are also highly diverse and high need.

Can they read?  Sure!  Can they answer questions?  You bet!  Do they enjoy reading?  NO!  Do they choose to read?  Nope!

I want my students to fall in love with books and reading.  I want them to discover worlds beyond and live vicariously through beloved characters.  I want them to appreciate the written word.  I want them to understand and acknowledge its power.  That's one reason I chose to be a teacher!

In my little classroom this week, we are continuing our investigation of Bossy R.  I finally finished my Bossy R Packet for TPT.  It contains 7 activities and printables to support your Bossy R instruction.  Check it out HERE.

As always, I will give this packet away to the first 3 people to comment on this post!  Don't forget your email address :)

Happy Teaching!