Sometimes You Just Gotta Have Fun!!!!!

I sat through 2 meetings this week, a total of about 3 hours for planning test prep activities for our standardized testing that starts in the beginning of May (known as the BIG test to my kids). I think I may need to borrow some of my puppy's anti-anxiety medication by the time that day rolls around (totally kidding!). I am already literally having nightmares about it (the last one I was administering the test to Pre-K in an auditorium and couldn't get the parents to leave :). There is just sooooo much riding on those scores, especially this year where there will definitely be cuts. It doesn't help that I've never given the 1st Grade test before so it's hard to have any idea of even how to prepare them for it.

Well, I am quite the rebel when it comes to doing what's best for my kids. I sneak art in on a weekly basis (shocking, right?); we still sing songs and laugh regularly-not always the approved curriculum. I decided to just declare Friday 50's day in our class. My kids have no clue about time periods and history-I could have justified the learning potential if I had to. The boys and girls were allowed to dress up in poodle skirts and Danny Zucko hairstyles. I got some little hanging records at the party supply store to put in our doorway. We made root beer floats (which almost none of them had ever even heard of before) and learned dances like the Pony and the Twist. We did cover some new vocabulary-they didn't know what "records" were or a "jukebox", we talked about diners and drive-in movies-way before 3-D anything. It took up maybe an hour of our day total, but I think it was totally worth it. We had a really good time and it will something they will remember long after the standardized test scores have come and gone!