Lead Poisoning

I hope you can't get leading poisoning from sharpening pencils. If so, I am in trouble. I think I sharpened every pencil twice this morning while proctoring during the second day of the state testing. I have heard our teachers complain about the poor quality of the pencils, but good grief! These were all Ticonderoga pencils which are supposed to be the BMW of pencils. To keep the distractions at a minimum, we used a little handheld sharpener to sharpen all the pencils so my fingers are covered with the lead from all those pencils.

My nose kept itching and after a few times rubbing it I started wondering if I had a lead moustache. I started getting tickled thinking about it, but knew I could laugh and/or look. It was tough trying not to think about that image, but since none of the kids were laughing at me I figured I was safe.

I have the weirdest sense of humor sometimes. O.K. Most of the times.

One Day Down... Two To Go

Day One of MCT testing is finished. I proctored in a fourth grade classroom. Sweet kids, but of course, I adore all of the kids at my son's school. I asked my son how he felt after the test was over and he said he felt like it wasn't too hard.

I have no idea how the test was since I wasn't taking it. The kids seemed to be taking their time. It was the reading portion of the test so taking your time and reading everything is a good thing.

I think day one went smoothly with the exception of having to wait for everyone to get their tests. The bell rings at 7:40 and we did not receive the "GO" until 9:00. Some of our kids had fallen asleep at their desks from waiting. I wish they would let us go ahead and start when we received the tests, but that is not how they do things at this school.

One day down... two to go.

That's What Moms Do

I made a run to the grocery store this afternoon for brain food. The healthiest of breakfast food, the most nutritious of lunch foods and the most vitamin packed snacks.

It isn't like I cram junk down my boy's throats every other day, but I am feeling incredible pressure this week with the MCT2 testing going on. I know that my boys need a good night's sleep and they need a really good food in their bodies to give them the energy and fuel for their brains so that they concentrate and stay focused for the unbelievable amount of time that the ding-dongs at the State Department want these kids to sit still for. I'm sorry. I know that that was an incredibly disrespectful thing to say, but seriously, it makes me all shades of angry when I think about it for very long.

My son's school bell rings at 7:40 and he eats lunch at 11:45. They are planning for them to either bring a sack lunch or buy one from the cafeteria because of the length of the test. They are anticipating students not to finish by the beginning of lunch which for our school is at about 10:30. Let's think about this: 8:00 - 10:30. Could you concentrate for 2 1/2 hours for three days at the age of 8, 9 and 10? Ridiculous!

I'm sorry. State Department of Education. Either they need to come and experience day to day life in the classroom or we need to clear the slate and start over again. Because I don't know what their perception is, but right now it is not anywhere close to reality.