Summer is Almost Here :)!

I'm on the three weekcount down until SUMMER!!! Ican't believemy fist year of teaching is wrapping up already- and I survived! Our big Texas state tests are completed so most of the students (and many of the teachers) pretty much think school is already over. I've been really surprised that all the schools around here are so focused on getting students to pass the TAKS that once testing is over in late April, all teaching basically stops and verylittle learning occurs. Its crazy that this is so engrained in the students and teachers and everyone is ok with losing over a month of learning every year. That'sover 13 months, or almost two entire school years, of wasted instructionaltime throughout their k-12 education. It's especially concerning since statistically the students in the Rio Grande Valley are already performing far behind students in higher income areas.On a separate note, I had a super awesome weekend at South Padre with my TFA friend who lives in Harlingen and another mutual friend from the area. I took a personal day Friday so we left for the island as soon as school got out on Thursday. We made a pact that there would be absolutely no work when we were there because we all needed aserious break from the state testing stress. It was so relaxing to sleep in, nap on the beach, do some beach runs, and have some much needed girl time :)

That's all for now. I'll post again in a couple weeks when the

school year wraps up. I can't wait to head back to Oregon to catch up with a lot of ya'll over the summer :) Love ya!

P.S. The pics are of one of my students who won "Math Vegas" in my class, a note from an 8th grader who passed the TAKS, a recent toga birthday party I went to (we were tired of having one person with their

eyes closed in every take, so we decided we would all just close our eyes so it looked planned ;)), and my weekend at South Padre Island.