Student News: May 20, 2005


by the Scholars of Room 208


This week we finished the NWEAs. The NWEAs are a computer test we take in the fall and spring to see how our skills have improved. The subjects are Reading, Math, and Writing.

In Reading, we [had] 42 questions to answer. In Math, we [had] 52 questions. We also [had] 52 questions in Writing. After we were done we read a book. Some of the questions were hard and some were easy. If we got one wrong it gives us an easier question. If we got a question right it would give us a harder question. If we [slow down on the test] even 5 minutes, it would raise our score. We are glad that the NWEAs are over.

Next, in Phys. Ed., the fourths had to run a mile and the thirds had to run a half mile. The fourths were really tired after they ran because they had to run farther than the thirds and because they had to keep a pace and try to do that pace the whole time. The thirds were tired too, but not as tired as the fourths. We are doing this because the teachers need to see how we have improved throughout the years. We all had fun doing this activity and are looking forward to doing it again.

Another exciting thing we did this week is we went on a field trip to a museum called Willowbrook. Willowbrook is a small village of the past. We went to the School House, the Printing Shop, and the old Carousel. The old Carousel is a real carousel that is hand carved and painted horses. We asked the lady to turn it on. It went so fast. It took 12 seconds to go around. It was bigger than any carousel we ever saw. We also went inside the ticket booth. It had real tickets inside. In the School House, we had to call the teacher "Mam". She showed us how they got disciplined. Some people got tapped on the hand with the willow stick for telling a lie at recess. Another punishment was sitting in the corner with a dunce hat on for throwing tadpoles at the girls. None of the these problems really happened so don't be worried about your child. That's what we did at Willowbrook.

Another awesome thing we did was we [went to the] Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The part of the museum that we went into was the Egyptian part. We saw a real Sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is something that you put the mummy's body in. We saw two real mummies and a mummy's head. We also saw some statues of Pharaohs. Some of the statues had no cobras on their crowns because the next Pharaoh did not want the mummified Pharaoh to have that power. We had a great time and learned a lot at that museum.

Finally this week, we also went to the New England Aquarium. We saw a lot of sea creatures. We especially liked the small penguins. There was a spiral ramp that had a very tall tank in the center of it. At the top there was a viewing of the sea animals. There was a huge sea turtle about 4 feet long. There was also a Hammerhead shark. It was in the same tank as all the fish and the turtle. There were divers in the tank cleaning [it]. At the end, we saw a sea lion show. The sea lions' names were Jeffery and Balloo. They weighed between 300 and 825 pounds. There was a really cool petting pool. In the petting pool there was a starfish, a horseshoe crab, snails, sea urchins, and a hermit crab. We had a lot of fun at the aquarium.

Posted: Sat - May 21, 2005 at 05:34 AM
         

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