testing & tumbleweeds
March 4, 2013
As I mentioned last week, TAKS testing started today which meant that the library was empty and quiet as soon as the bell rang. Seriously, like a ghost town. The library was designated as the place to go for students who were late so Erin and another teacher were on hand for the few stragglers who arrived after the bell rang. For each student they needed to read the test instructions to them, take their phones and any electronics, provide them with a pencil, then walk them over to a different room for testing.
Because the library was so empty it was an ideal day to put up the display I had been working on. I created most of the materials at home so all that was left to do was print. The library has a poster printer but Erin hasn’t quite mastered how to use it so it took a few tries and some finagling before we could get the posters printed. Unlike when I made the February display, I made sure everything was printed and ready to go before I took down the old display and started hanging stuff up. I’ve seen other library displays use wrapping paper as a backdrop, which is a wonderful idea and gives you the freedom to make the bulletin board look really different each month. So I made sure to buy some!
You guys, putting wrapping paper on a bulletin board that is way taller than you and there are no kids around to wrangle into helping is really hard! Note to self: One roll of wrapping paper is the perfect amount to cover the board — no room for mistakes!
Erin really liked the display and I was happy with the way it turned out. I wish I was around more during the week to see how the kids react. I’ll keep an eye out to see if the display books circulate and switch them up a bit.
Testing took longer than everyone expected and they had to push back the lunch break. There were still a handful of kids testing in one of the rooms off the library so the whole library had to close during lunch. Erin was a little peeved about this since no one had told her and she had already handed out lunch passes. The kids wanting to get in were very disappointed.
