It’s a miracle. We did all the kindergarten testing in 2-1/2 days. It’s amazing what happens when you have two full time teachers and one Aide with nothing else to do but test. I’m not sure how much the other two enjoyed the testing, but I thought it was wonderful. I always learn so much from these new little brains in our school. They are unhampered by expectations and appearances. They tell it like they see it and don’t hold back. As we grow older, we become bogged down by what we think we need to do and say to look smart or be ‘respectable.’ Kindergarten students really don’t care what anyone else thinks. I see them as the little boy in the Emperor’s New Clothes. Dude, you’re totally naked.

One of the things I learned during testing is the importance of having a ‘catch phrase’ or, ‘catch word.’ You know, something to say when you don’t know an answer, or when nothing else seems to really work. For my sister, the word is “rubber ducky.” I’m not sure what her husband was talking to her about on the phone the other day, but the one I could make out while straining to ease drop was rubber ducky. That has become our word. It works for most anything.

Last year, a sweet kindergartener used his catch word for 34 out of 35 questions on the math test. You may remember “robot boy.’ Yes, Robot fits for everything. This year, the word is Cake. I really like this one. I mean, seriously. If you have a problem, what would fix it better than cake? If you don’t know what to do…cake! I can’t think of many instances where ‘cake’ isn’t the right answer. Unless, of course, you are on the Atkins diet. Then cake might not really work for you. I guess you could say Beef, or meat slab….the main thing to do is to keep cake away from the hands and mind of someone on that diet. They can become violent. If you really get desperate, you can borrow my daughter’s catch word/phrase and just say CowSack. Not sure what it means, but it sure can stop someone mid stream and cause confusion. What more could a person want? Cause I said so.

Sick photo credit: http://www.theorange.co