E-L-A (English Language Arts for those of you who do not spend your day with children)

My third graders have slugged their way through the big test. My fourth graders have one more day. Our days are returning to normal. No one is having major emotional outbursts due to test stress anymore. We are having lessons that do not begin with me saying, "On the test....". I feel like I'm able to actually teach normal things again soon. I don't really mind test prep, in the general sense. Kids should be tested so we know what they know. But, there was a day when my major literacy instruction was the process of elimination. I don't know that the process of eliminating one out of four things will really produce children with a love of literature.

*Teaching related side note: At this moment, I have apple stickers and an old school pencil top erase in my pocket. I normally am packing some type of teaching related materials. But, rarely does it include anything apple related. I am firmly anti-apple.