Testing...Results...Relief!

Ooops! This was my mid-week post that apparently I saved instead of publishing so...

This week we have been doing AIMSWEB testing on our kiddos. I always start this process with fear and trepidation...it makes me nervous!

What if the kids don't show enough growth?

What if they don't show any growth?

What if...

What if...

What if...

You can fill in the blanks, I'm sure.

I know my kiddos have made progress throughout the year - a lot really! The data proves it! It is quite fun to go back and look at the different growth reports that you can pull off of AIMSWEB. I'm so proud of my students! Even the ones that worry me a bit have shown so much growth that I can't complain. :-)

This is our first year using this testing program and this time we were required to do the R-CBM (if you're not familiar with it, I'd call it a fluency passage...timed 1 minute reads) on the computer. I wasn't sure I would like it---thought I'd prefer the old fashioned paper/pencil method. However, when I got started, I found that using the computer to administer the test is SOOOOOO much easier. I just had a paper copy for the kids to read from and kept track of errors and the stopping point on the computer.

Anyway, as I'm looking over the data I can take a sigh of relief...especially after this conversation during one of my reading groups today.

Me: "The first word is reheat. When we see the prefix re-, what does that mean?" (Keep in mind, we have covered this about 3 different times throughout the year and had just talked about it yesterday.)

Group of 3 students: BLANK STARES

Me: "If I say I need to reheat my dinner, what do I mean?"

Students: BLANK STARES, SHOULDER SHRUGS, NERVOUS GIGGLES

Me: "Really? We just talked about this... If I need to reheat something, I need to heat it AGAIN. The prefix re- means again."

Students: SMILE AND NOD

Me: "Say that with me. The prefix re- means again."

Students repeat after me three times...

Me: "Now what about the prefix un-? For example, in this word (pointing) unsafe."

Students: "Again!"

Me: HANGING MY HEAD AND CRYING...well, maybe not really, but I felt like it!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great rest of the week!

Crystal