The big Test
Sammy's first grade class takes their big test.
Disclaimer: Supernatural and all its characters belong to Kripke and the CW.
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Six year old Sammy Winchester sat at the kitchen table staring into his bowl of Lucky Charms. The “Big Test” started today and he was nervous. What if he couldn’t read the words? What if he didn’t know the answers? What if he made a mistake? All these questions and more swirled around in Sam’s mind making his stomach hurt. Sammy pushed the bowl away. He wasn’t hungry anymore.
John stood at the counter scouring the paper for another hunt. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his youngest push his still full bowl of cereal across the table. Setting the paper down he walked over to the table and sat down next to the little boy. “You alright Sammy? You didn’t eat much.” John asked as he placed the back of his hand on his son’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever. Do you feel sick?”
Sammy stared wide eyed at his daddy. He knew that if he told his daddy that it felt like an elephant was jumping around in his tummy, his daddy would keep him home. But Mrs. Waters, his teacher, was counting on him and so was his class. He couldn’t let them down. Giving his dad a small smile he whispered, “I’m okay, daddy.”
Dean had stopped scarfing down his breakfast when he heard his dad questioning his brother. Glancing over at his little brother Dean was surprised to see his normally hyper brother quietly sitting staring at the table. He racked his brain attempting to come up with a reason for the sudden change in his little brother. It only took a few seconds to come up with the answer. “Sammy are you worried about the test today?” he quizzed knowing he was right when Sammy stuck his thumb in his mouth. Sammy only did that when he was nervous or scared.
John picked Sammy up and set him on his lap. He gently removed Sam’s thumb from his mouth. “Is that what this is about kiddo?” Seeing his youngest nod his head John gratefully released the breath he’d been holding. This he could deal with. “Sammy, you don’t have to worry about the test. You’re going to do a great job just like you always do. There’s nothing to worry about okay, sport?”
Sammy listened to his daddy try to reassure him. Unfortunately John’s words had the opposite effect. Instead of comforting his son he accidentally put more pressure on his already over-loaded son. “He expects me to do a great job, too!” Sammy thought. Plastering a fake smile on his face Sammy gave his daddy the answer he wanted, “Okay, daddy.” Moments later they were in the car headed for school and the test.
Mrs. Waters had allowed her first graders to play at centers after breakfast to try and get rid of all the excess energy before starting the test. But Sammy didn’t play. He was too busy trying to remember all the reading rules he had learned. The elephant in his tummy was joined by the rest of the herd by the time Mrs. Waters took the class to the bathroom. Once back in the room she reminded the children of the test taking rules and then passed out the folders, pencils, and the all important test booklets. Opening the books to page two she read the directions to the children and told them to begin.
Sammy stared down at the first part of the test. There were pictures with four word choices. It looked easy enough. Hearing his teacher say start, Sammy picked up his pencil and began reading the words and filling in the circles beside the word that named the picture. He was going along fine until he got to the first picture on the second page. It had a picture of one of those things people used at the grocery store. Sammy read the four words: cart, wagon, buggy, basket. “Hmmm” Sammy thought, “Daddy and Uncle Bobby call it a buggy, but Pastor Jim always says it’s a cart. Which one do I pick?” Sam thought it over for several minutes before marking “buggy” ‘cause his daddy knew everything. The next few pictures were easily answered and then he hit another hard one. There was a picture of a horse in a barn. But none of the words said barn. Sammy reread the words hoping he would recognize one of them this time: house, bridle, stable, boat. “I know! A bridle! Pastor Jim said his horse had a new bridle.” Sam thought as he quickly colored in the circle. Sammy made it to the last question and froze. He had no clue what to pick. The picture showed a large white rock and the words said kaolin, dirt, mountain, moon. After rereading the words several times, he timidly raised his hand and waited for his teacher. When she came over he whispered, “Mrs. Waters if I miss one, do I have to stay in first grade?” Once she had assured him that he wouldn’t have to stay back, Sammy marked the word mountain because that was the closest word to rock he could find.
During the short break between parts Sammy actually began to relax a little. It hadn’t been as bad as he thought. Maybe the math would be easy, too. Hearing Mrs. Waters call in end to the break, Sammy’s nerves began to return. Sitting back down at his desk Sammy hoped he could make it through the rest of the test without throwing up.
Sammy listened intently as his teacher started reading the questions on the test. It started off easy but quickly got harder. One question had him almost tearing his hair out. They were supposed to count the flowers but they were all over the page. He couldn’t put a pencil mark on them as he counted because the test was scored by a machine and any stray marks would make the machine mark the answer wrong. He tried to find some pattern to use to count so he’d know which flowers he had counted and which he hadn’t. But there wasn’t one. After three attempts, he finally got an answer that was in the book. He quickly marked that choice. Finally they made it to the last question. He listened as the teacher as she read that Timmy had bought a bag of marbles and a few extra. Hearing her say that the bags each had ten he glanced at the picture and saw one bag and three extra marbles. Sammy immediately marked the answer thirteen. Remembering Mrs. Waters telling them to always check their answers, Sammy put his finger and started counting the marbles in the picture. He counted the eight marbles in the bag and the three extra and got eleven. Sighing he erased his answer and changed it to eleven. “Good thing I remembered to check my answer.” he thought as he closed his booklet and handed it in.
The children remained at their seats and quietly colored until the announcement was made that testing was over. The class broke into cheers! That was the longest two hours they’d ever sat through. Mrs. Waters ushered the class outside to play for a few minutes before lunch. This time Sammy was more than ready to play.
A couple of months later Sammy and Dean came home with testing results. Sammy had done a wonderful job in math and on reading the stories he had scored in the 99 percentile. His only low score was on the vocabulary section of the test. On that part which was picking a word that named a picture his score was extremely low having missed several questions such as cart, stable, and kaolin. John briefly looked at the sheets. Enveloping both boys in a hug he praised them both for their hard work. Telling the boys they had earned a treat he herded them out the door throwing the sheets in the trash can on the way out. He didn’t need any paper to tell him how smart his boys were.
AN- Can you tell I’m not a big fan of testing? The question Sammy asked the teacher is one I’ve had many children ask me. I’ve also had many bright children worry themselves sick over the test. And two hours is about how long it takes each day to complete one part.
For anyone not sure kaolin is the fancy name for chalk. It’s a big business where I live. You can’t drive anywhere around here without ending up with white chalk dust all over your vehicle. This time of year is worse ‘cause now we have pollen and chalk dust all over everything.
Disclaimer: Supernatural and all its characters belong to Kripke and the CW.
SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN
Six year old Sammy Winchester sat at the kitchen table staring into his bowl of Lucky Charms. The “Big Test” started today and he was nervous. What if he couldn’t read the words? What if he didn’t know the answers? What if he made a mistake? All these questions and more swirled around in Sam’s mind making his stomach hurt. Sammy pushed the bowl away. He wasn’t hungry anymore.
John stood at the counter scouring the paper for another hunt. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his youngest push his still full bowl of cereal across the table. Setting the paper down he walked over to the table and sat down next to the little boy. “You alright Sammy? You didn’t eat much.” John asked as he placed the back of his hand on his son’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever. Do you feel sick?”
Sammy stared wide eyed at his daddy. He knew that if he told his daddy that it felt like an elephant was jumping around in his tummy, his daddy would keep him home. But Mrs. Waters, his teacher, was counting on him and so was his class. He couldn’t let them down. Giving his dad a small smile he whispered, “I’m okay, daddy.”
Dean had stopped scarfing down his breakfast when he heard his dad questioning his brother. Glancing over at his little brother Dean was surprised to see his normally hyper brother quietly sitting staring at the table. He racked his brain attempting to come up with a reason for the sudden change in his little brother. It only took a few seconds to come up with the answer. “Sammy are you worried about the test today?” he quizzed knowing he was right when Sammy stuck his thumb in his mouth. Sammy only did that when he was nervous or scared.
John picked Sammy up and set him on his lap. He gently removed Sam’s thumb from his mouth. “Is that what this is about kiddo?” Seeing his youngest nod his head John gratefully released the breath he’d been holding. This he could deal with. “Sammy, you don’t have to worry about the test. You’re going to do a great job just like you always do. There’s nothing to worry about okay, sport?”
Sammy listened to his daddy try to reassure him. Unfortunately John’s words had the opposite effect. Instead of comforting his son he accidentally put more pressure on his already over-loaded son. “He expects me to do a great job, too!” Sammy thought. Plastering a fake smile on his face Sammy gave his daddy the answer he wanted, “Okay, daddy.” Moments later they were in the car headed for school and the test.
Mrs. Waters had allowed her first graders to play at centers after breakfast to try and get rid of all the excess energy before starting the test. But Sammy didn’t play. He was too busy trying to remember all the reading rules he had learned. The elephant in his tummy was joined by the rest of the herd by the time Mrs. Waters took the class to the bathroom. Once back in the room she reminded the children of the test taking rules and then passed out the folders, pencils, and the all important test booklets. Opening the books to page two she read the directions to the children and told them to begin.
Sammy stared down at the first part of the test. There were pictures with four word choices. It looked easy enough. Hearing his teacher say start, Sammy picked up his pencil and began reading the words and filling in the circles beside the word that named the picture. He was going along fine until he got to the first picture on the second page. It had a picture of one of those things people used at the grocery store. Sammy read the four words: cart, wagon, buggy, basket. “Hmmm” Sammy thought, “Daddy and Uncle Bobby call it a buggy, but Pastor Jim always says it’s a cart. Which one do I pick?” Sam thought it over for several minutes before marking “buggy” ‘cause his daddy knew everything. The next few pictures were easily answered and then he hit another hard one. There was a picture of a horse in a barn. But none of the words said barn. Sammy reread the words hoping he would recognize one of them this time: house, bridle, stable, boat. “I know! A bridle! Pastor Jim said his horse had a new bridle.” Sam thought as he quickly colored in the circle. Sammy made it to the last question and froze. He had no clue what to pick. The picture showed a large white rock and the words said kaolin, dirt, mountain, moon. After rereading the words several times, he timidly raised his hand and waited for his teacher. When she came over he whispered, “Mrs. Waters if I miss one, do I have to stay in first grade?” Once she had assured him that he wouldn’t have to stay back, Sammy marked the word mountain because that was the closest word to rock he could find.
During the short break between parts Sammy actually began to relax a little. It hadn’t been as bad as he thought. Maybe the math would be easy, too. Hearing Mrs. Waters call in end to the break, Sammy’s nerves began to return. Sitting back down at his desk Sammy hoped he could make it through the rest of the test without throwing up.
Sammy listened intently as his teacher started reading the questions on the test. It started off easy but quickly got harder. One question had him almost tearing his hair out. They were supposed to count the flowers but they were all over the page. He couldn’t put a pencil mark on them as he counted because the test was scored by a machine and any stray marks would make the machine mark the answer wrong. He tried to find some pattern to use to count so he’d know which flowers he had counted and which he hadn’t. But there wasn’t one. After three attempts, he finally got an answer that was in the book. He quickly marked that choice. Finally they made it to the last question. He listened as the teacher as she read that Timmy had bought a bag of marbles and a few extra. Hearing her say that the bags each had ten he glanced at the picture and saw one bag and three extra marbles. Sammy immediately marked the answer thirteen. Remembering Mrs. Waters telling them to always check their answers, Sammy put his finger and started counting the marbles in the picture. He counted the eight marbles in the bag and the three extra and got eleven. Sighing he erased his answer and changed it to eleven. “Good thing I remembered to check my answer.” he thought as he closed his booklet and handed it in.
The children remained at their seats and quietly colored until the announcement was made that testing was over. The class broke into cheers! That was the longest two hours they’d ever sat through. Mrs. Waters ushered the class outside to play for a few minutes before lunch. This time Sammy was more than ready to play.
A couple of months later Sammy and Dean came home with testing results. Sammy had done a wonderful job in math and on reading the stories he had scored in the 99 percentile. His only low score was on the vocabulary section of the test. On that part which was picking a word that named a picture his score was extremely low having missed several questions such as cart, stable, and kaolin. John briefly looked at the sheets. Enveloping both boys in a hug he praised them both for their hard work. Telling the boys they had earned a treat he herded them out the door throwing the sheets in the trash can on the way out. He didn’t need any paper to tell him how smart his boys were.
AN- Can you tell I’m not a big fan of testing? The question Sammy asked the teacher is one I’ve had many children ask me. I’ve also had many bright children worry themselves sick over the test. And two hours is about how long it takes each day to complete one part.
For anyone not sure kaolin is the fancy name for chalk. It’s a big business where I live. You can’t drive anywhere around here without ending up with white chalk dust all over your vehicle. This time of year is worse ‘cause now we have pollen and chalk dust all over everything.