Saturday, May 16, 2009

Carnival

If you have a child in public school, you know about the E.O.G.'s. You also know that for the past few weeks they have ONLY been learning how to pass the the test and nothing else. I have even heard from my sister-in-law that they are already telling the second graders about it and giving them stress over it. All of this makes me love Mount even more. Want to know what Wyatt is worried about? What items they will be eating for breakfast every morning. Yep, they have poptarts, juice boxes and other assorted snack foods before the test every day next week. He also knows that when they are through each day they will be outside, or watching movies and doing fun stuff. His teacher has also told them that there will be no more homework for the remainder of the year. Middle school has taken a different approach. Friday they had a huge E.O.G. carnival. Complete with many blow up things to slide and play on, and games and concessions. The kids got to play all day. There were snow cones and cotton candy and drawings for gift cards. The entire football field was loaded with fun. Needless to say my boys are not even worried about it. Am I? I hope that Wyatt doesn't rush through the reading part because he is bored of it. Because this year IS different. For the first time at Mount, if you do not score a level 3 or 4 you will have to retest. We have never had this before. Cross your fingers. Bring on the E.O.G. testing. P.S. What ever happened to the C.A.T.? Are homeschoolers the only ones who take that now?

7 comments:

CrystalW said...

Brittney failed the reading EOG one year. I think it was 3rd grade. She had to retake it. If she would have failed again, she would have gone to Summer school. A note was sent home that there would be no Summer due to budget cuts, so I am not sure what would happen if a student fails twice. The carnival sounds like fun! Autumn is already stressing out about EOGs. They start on Tuesday.

Shannon said...

We start on Monday. Tell her to relax. Ours retest the week after that, sixth graders retest next year instead of taking the extra classes like drama and art, etc., they learn how to pass it and then retest on the EOG for the first 4 1/2 weeks of school. One of Levi's buddies had to do it at the beginning of the year.

Nancy M. said...

I remember the CAT tests. They sure didn't stress us like they do the kids now! I remember when my son was in public school in NC they took the the EOGs too. Down here they call it something different. I do know some homeschooler's in NC who use the CAT test. In SC, you don't have to test. I hope your kids do well on the tests! I like the carnival idea, sounds fun!

Fantastagirl said...

I'm learning something new.

Our school system has a different approach. at my kids grade levels, they don't flip out over the tests. The kids aren't under major stress. The school sends a note reminding the parents which day we are to bring in snack, and to make sure the kids get enough sleep.

They don't stress out the kids... they have the tests for the first hour or two of every day, and have regular classes for the rest of the day. They don't assign homework that week, but that is the only changes. The school has found that the more relaxed the teachers are - the better the students do.

Montee said...

Here in Texas, it's the TAKS test.Everyone stresses out over it. Teachers teach around this testing almost the entire school year. It's ridiculous. Then our district implemented more testing that the district makes up. Teachers do not know what will be on the test, so some of the questions that are asked are on subjects that haven't been covered yet. This test is counted as a grade. I will be glad when my youngest graduates next year.

Cliff said...

Here in Nebraska grandpas aren't sure what they do. I do know that Thurday is the last day of school for the two that live here on the farm. A first grader and a fourth. The first baseball game is tonight.

Shannon said...

Wow Cliff y'all play baseball really late in the season. The boys have been playing here for a few months. Our last day of school is in June. Used to get out in May.