S.T.A.A.R. Testing or The stars at night, are big and bright...

(clap, clap, clap, clap)

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

After a long day at the baseball park, the kids convinced us that a picnic on the patio and some night swimming was in order. While the kids played in the pool, I stretched out in the cool grass and tried my best to capture how bright and beautiful Venus was in the westward sky tonight. Of course the photo doesn't begin to do it justice. It was amazing! We are definitely adding a good telescope to our ever-growing wish list for our new classroom. While I'm adding to the list, I'll go ahead and pencil in a new zoom lens for the camera. I am forever shooting stars and never getting the images I really want...so frustrating. You'll just have to take my word for it, it was AWESOME!

After getting the kids to bed, I grabbed a blanket and headed back outside to claim a spot for the Lyrid Meteor Shower. I really wanted the kids to catch some of the action, but it was getting late and they were quickly losing interest. I couldn't even get Coach excited about it. He saw two shooting stars and called it a night. Not me, I curled up in the lounge chair and stayed outside until I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer. It was so cool! At times, the sky was so busy that I couldn't decide which way to look! I didn't even try to get any photos. I miss a lot of good stuff when I'm behind the camera. Tonight I just wanted to relax and take it all in.

Next week, we'll be concentrating on a different type of star. The kids will be taking the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, otherwise known as the dreaded STAAR test. Don't even get me started on the many reasons that I think this test is ridiculous. I'm not completely against standardized testing, but I am totally opposed to throwing the fundamentals out the window in order to spend the entire school year teaching to one particular test. I have preached on this subject ad nauseam and I'm just over it. I have promised my kids that this time next year we will indeed be taking a star test, only ours will involve actual stars, maybe a cool field trip to the planetarium and some late night sky gazing.