5 for Ya'

Happy Friday to all and to all a good night.
1. I'm in loooove!
Okay okay not love...but we do have this thing going on. I had some awful allergy post-nasal drip (eww, I know!) This has been the only thing that has helped.

2. I'm famous
Okay okay...you got me again. I'm not famous. I work in a small community and the local paper got wind of my DonorsChoose projects. A few months ago I had a project fulfilled for some MP3 players (to use during listening to stories during D5) I have a current one going on too!
Here's a snippet from the digital issue.

3. Red Wigglers!
A rep from the water and conservation offices at the county I teach in contacted local schools and offered to teach a lesson entitled "Worms Eat My Garbage". We learned all about worms (red wigglers specifically) and compost. The presenter was great, came with a handout to do with the kids, talked scientifically but in an age appropriate manner, and left us a worm habitat. (Updates on what I'll end up doing with that, lol)

4. Standardized Testing
I don't even want to get into all the computer problems my state (and others) have had with computerized testing. I'm knee deep in DIBELs. Blech.

I'm tired of hearing about teaching strategies and ideas 'to pass the test' 'to prepare for the test'...what about preparing for life? (I'm not totally anti-testing...and I think some things that have been presented in order to do well on the test were good ideas...some of them...but I don't think that should be our end goal...a test...given over x amount of days that can assess a child's entire educational experience.

Amen

5. I had a lot of questions about HotDots last week. This is a quickie video of an overview:

Head on over to Doodle Bugs to check out the Five for Friday action!