And I can't wait. All the test prep will be OVER until August and we can all breathe again.  We're finishing up a lot of our test prep materials and the kids are celebrating everyday- no more reading mini-benchmarks!  6 more math mini-benchmarks!  Finished the last page in the Fast Track to FCAT Book!  I'm trying to present it to the kids like, look how prepared you are now!  You've practiced every single skill that you're going to be tested on!  You're so ready for this!  You can do it!  The more I repeat it, the more I believe it myself.  ;-)

Our testing is in the second and third weeks of March.  For afterwards, I'm planning an awesome 8-week unit on ancient civilizations (the kids' first in-depth social studies instruction of the year) to do during our reading block to reinforce research and reference skills.  It's the same unit that I put on the Social Studies page on the website last spring, although of course I'll be adding new things and taking out less effective pieces.  And, we're going to do interest-based reading groups in which students can choose the books they want to read and create authentic projects based on them.  The last 2-3 months of the school year are always the most fun, and the time that reminds me of why I went into teaching in the first place.

So, good things are ahead!  For those of you heading into the final weeks before standardized testing... you're almost there!  Remind your kids about that and it will encourage you every time. Oh, and check out the Standardized Testing page for ideas on how to make the testing week less stressful (the kids' favorite is when we have potluck breakfast together in the mornings). 

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