(sung to the tune of On the Twelve Days of Christmas)
On the fourth day of kindergarten, my teacher gave to me
A number two pencil for a benchmark that really frightened me!
Now keep in mind that I am a week behind on all of my posts, so this was the fourth day of school and the first year that we had to give our sweet babies a benchmark in ELA and Math. It was so sad. The ELA was two parts, two days and the Math was one part and an individual part. Many people in the building did comment that they have never seen so many kindergarten students come in crying on the first full week of school before:( That is heartbreaking for me to hear. Of course we told them that this was just something to help us learn what we need to teach and do your best, it doesn't matter if you don't know the answer and all that, but it didn't help. The look of horror on their faces said it all:( This is due to the new APPR regulations that we are following at our school this year.
I would love to hear from other teachers who are going through similar experiences! Good luck to you if you are:)
September 24, 2012
Benchmarks in Kindergarten? Oh My!!
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We did placement tests on the 2nd full day of school for our kindlers this year! It was awful. We did math and reading and it was page after page of bubbling in answers. YEP! BUBBLING IN answers!!! I felt so sorry for those kids. I kept imagining them going home and their parents being so excited and asking them "what did you do at school today???" and the poor kid having to say "I took a long, hard test and I didn't know any answers." It's really sad that this is becoming the norm these days!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment! :( The second day? So sad and heartbreaking! what is our educational system coming to? Nothing quite says welcome to kindergarten like a test with bubble answers:)
ReplyDeleteWe were given the option not to give our kids the benchmark that came with our reading series this year. (It's time for a new adoption.) So, we only gave our placement test, which went over fairly well. However, years past when we gave the benchmark test, kids would cry during the test and hated coming to school.
ReplyDeleteWow- that is good for your students! We had to give a benchmark and next week the NWEA which is computerized:) :) as part of the new APPR!!! Many of my students do not have a computer at home. It should be fun!
ReplyDeleteHi! I nominated you for an award! Stop by my blog for information. :)
ReplyDelete~ Lisa
Teaching Kindergarten Kiddos
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