ITBS testing and more

Today when we all walked in class, we knew it ITBS testing. But we all knew it was ok because we saw that we would face Mr.Exner's homeroom class in Jeopardy afterward. It was so fun. First we took three parts of the ITBS test; none of it was hard. Next we found out that we get to go outside when we got done with testing. Mrs.Evans let me use her digital camera to take pictures of the day. After we got done with recess, we went back inside to go play Mr.Exner's homeroom. We started the game off with a social studies question. It all ended up with our class winning and their class losing for the second time. Next we went to lunch and ate. Then we went to go play outside I took some pictures of some people that wanted me to. Then we went back to Mr.Exner's class to finish the the game. When we finally got finished we all got ready to go to computer lab to do a project for Mr.Exner. I had to go take the Acedemic test (which wasn't very long). When I got finished I went down to the computer lab, and we took a survey on what would be good for your science project. I get to do something with rocket science. Then Emily and I went to Mrs.Wagner's room to take a buzzer test. It was really hard. When we were done, we were all so relieved that it was over. I guess that is all how it went down. Thanks a lot for the good day. (Noah, Collin, and Emily made the Academic Bowl Team!!!
Reporter Collin

Christopher's Essay

The Jail Cell
By Christopher


Being the middle child is awful! You are lucky if you are a youngest or oldest child. I am living in a jail cell! Someone get me out of here!!
I don’t ever get to go out with my parents! Whenever they are going somewhere, like when my dad goes to Hastings, or when my mom is going to the grocery store, they never let me go. I always hear, “Come on David, lets go to Hastings and get some pizza.” Or my mom will say, “ Come on Zoe, lets go to the grocery store! If you do, I’ll take you wherever you want to go!” I never hear, “Come on Christopher, lets go somewhere fun.”
I do a ton of chores! My brother only has to take out the trash and clean our bathroom, and my sister has to clean the living room, but my mom does that for her! So basically my sister and my brother get to sit on their lazy behinds, while I get ordered around! All I hear is, “Christopher, do the dishes, or wipe down that table, or do the laundry!” I wish for once in my life, I would get to see the couch potatoes cleaning the house while I sit on my behind and watch T.V.
My brother always gets things before me. He even got a queen sized bed, and I’m still stuck with our bunk bed the we have had since we were five and six. My parents said that I was going to get my brother’s Wildcat when he doesn’t want it any more. Gee, I wonder how long that will take!

Kailey's Essay

Youngest Child
By Kailey

Being the youngest child is extremely difficult, when you have an older brother. Dallas, my older brother, is way stronger than me. I have a rough life living with him.
I hate it when Dallas tells me how hard middle school is going to be, or how mean the teachers are except for Mr. Knight, his science teacher. I may have to get a tooth pulled, so he tells me how painful that is. I especially hate it when he twists my arm and pulls it back. I always yell, “Stop it, Stop it!” until he stops. He scares me a lot.
Dallas is way smarter than me. He is in 8th grade. He got chosen to go to China with People to People. You have to be really smart to go with that group. He is a straight A student. I wish I were smarter than him, but I am not.
Dallas is 4 years older than me. Next year he will get to drive. That is really scary. He hogs the T.V. too much. He plays Halo and Ace Combat all the time. Same with my dad. When I walk into the room and see them playing video games, I think, “Oh no, T.V. hogs are in the house.” Dallas starts high school next year. I can’t wait until he goes to college.

Alyssa's Essay

My Life as the Youngest
by Alyssa


Being the youngest is very difficult. You get bossed around by your older siblings. It is always about my sister. I can barely ever talk about things going on in my life.
My sister makes me do everything for her. I mean everything! How do you think I feel? I have to do all of my chores and whatever she wants me to do, or she will yell and scream at me! Sometimes I wish I was the mom, so I could give her so many chores she could never go off and have any fun!
Being the youngest, you get yelled at by your older siblings or whoever. Most of the attention goes to your older siblings. It is kind of unfair. My sister always says, “Get out of my room! You are so annoying!”
I barely ever get my own clothes. Most of my clothes are my sister’s hand-me-downs. Some of the clothes I want, others I don’t. Some of the clothes are cute, others aren’t. It just irritates me so bad! I think I could just blow!

Our Essays

In writing, we have been working on writing 4 paragraph essays. We used the book My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother as a spark for this activity. Students wrote about their position in their family. We carried this piece of writing through the whole writing process: brainstorming, rough draft, revision, editing, publication. Many of the essays were very good. We will be posting some for you to read. Please send us a comment if you read them. We'd love to know what you think.
Enjoy
Mrs. Evans

Writer's Chair

Students enjoy sharing their writing from our writer's chair. The microphone helps us hear. Many thanks go to Kendall and her family for loaning it to us for the year!
Students have learned how to give helpful feedback to each other by giving specific comments like:
I really liked...
A word that popped...
I was confused by...
I'm wondering...
Can you tell me more about...

Ms. Sampsen's snake bite

Ms. Sampsen was bitten by a Copperhead on Sunday night. She is improving and hopefully will get to go home on Saturday. She said it was very painful-her advice is to wear boots when walking in wooded areas. Snake bitea are actually pretty rare in our area; however, Copperhead snakes are the most common type of snake bites. Although these bites are very painful, they are not usually deadly. Their venom can cause serious damage to humans. If you get bit it is highly advised that you get immediate medical attention.
Ms. Sampsen really enjoyed reading her cards.