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St. Mary’s School
When
testing begins, waves of sickness descend upon us
By Kathy Ayette
Ever have that nagging feeling that you have forgotten something…
something kind of important…something with a deadline? All week I
have had that very feeling. I thought perhaps this was the week
to write this column, but no I didn’t have it written down in my lesson
plan book, so that definitely couldn’t be it. Today as I sat down to do
lesson plans, I took out my calendar to check the upcoming events for
next week, and there in big letters across this week were the words
“Write column”. Sigh! Unfortunately I need to finish this
tonight and my trusty proofreader a.k.a. our secretary has gone home
for the night. This column will have an extra feature, a built in
game. Yes, as you read see how many typos you can find!
I do have an excuse for my forgetfulness. For the last two weeks
my students have had standardized testing. The first and second
graders took the IOWA test last week and this week the second graders
took the CogAt test. The older students took their tests online
and the results are already in. The kindergarten through second
grade took their tests “old school” and we are waiting for a few
children to make up some parts of the tests so we can send the tests in
for grading. I believe there is some cosmic rule stating that no
matter how healthy a group of children is, no matter how low the
absentee rate has been, the minute we begin the IOWA and CogAt testing
great waves of sickness descend upon the school. I kid you
not. On the first day of IOWA testing, three of my nine second
graders were sick.
The eighth graders sponsored a book fair this week. It opened
Monday, March 11, and continued through Sunday, March 17, which was
also the date of the eighth graders’ annual St. Patrick’s Day
Breakfast. The breakfast featured Chris Cakes. The menu
consisted of all-you-can-eat pancakes, Winner’s sausage, and
beverages. The outstanding feature of this breakfast was that the
pancakes were not placed on a plate, but rather flipped through the air
so you could catch them. However there were eighth graders
available to catch the pancakes for the faint of heart. I have
actually discovered the secret to catching the pancakes…just stand
still. Chris has a pretty good aim. The proceeds from the
book fair and the breakfast will go toward the eighth grade’s class
trip. This year they will travel to Baltimore, Maryland with a
side trip to the White House.
March 5 was Mardi Gras. My class made the traditional Mardi Gras
masks covered with enough glitter and feathers to double as parade
floats. In fact, even though as I write we are ready to start the
second week of Lent, I still have glitter and the occasional feather
floating about. Staff and students wore Mardi Gras beads and
enjoyed a treat of King Cake, which is basically a giant sweet roll
with a thick layer of icing sprinkled with several pounds of yellow,
purple, and green sugar. At the end of the day, we “buried” the
Alleluia. Each class had made an Alleluia banner that was carried
in a procession to the church basement. The banners were “buried”
in the basement as a sign of setting aside the joyful in order to enter
a serious and somber time of repentance. After Lent the Alleluia
banners will be “resurrected” and hung over the classroom doors to
greet the students when they return from Easter break.
We are attending the Stations, or Way of the Cross, on Fridays during
Lent. The Stations are a special prayer service during which we
remember Christ’s passion and death. The service is led by the
eighth graders. The Stations begin at 1:30 p.m. and last for about
twenty minutes. You are more than welcome to join us at St.
Mary’s Church in remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Well I have just read over this column and I think I have caught all my
mistakes. I just used spell check and caught a few more. So
let’s see what you can find. Pencils ready…set…GO!
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