Testing Miss Malarkey

The new school year brings standardized testing to every school and Miss Malarkey's is no exception. Teachers, students, and even parents are preparing for THE TEST-The Instructional Performance Through Understanding (IPTU) test-and the school is in an uproar. Even though the grown-ups tell the children not to worry, they're acting kind of strange. The gym teacher is teaching stress-reducing yoga instead of sports in gym class. Parents are giving pop quizzes on bedtime stories at night. The cafeteria is serving "brain food" for lunch. The kids are beginning to think that maybe the test is more important than they're being led to believe. Kids and adults alike will laugh aloud as Finchler and O'Malley poke fun at the commotion surrounding standardized testing, a staple of every school's year.

Award-winning duo Judy Finchler and Kevin O'Malley are back with another book in the best-selling Miss Malarkey series that makes reading fun! Principal Wiggins has promised to dye his hair purple and sleep on the school roof if the students read 1,000 books this year, and Miss Malarkey is determined to find the right book for every student, including this story's reluctant-reader narrator. Winning her students over book by book, Miss Malarkey will have students loving to read in no time. As the best-selling series continues in paperback, no teacher, librarian, or parent should leave this book behind! Principal Wiggins promises to dye his hair purple and sleep on the school roof if the students read 1,000 books this year. Miss Malarkey is determined to find the right book for each student so they'll participate in the school program, and learn to love reading. She's got a tough audience - video game fanatics, artists, sports lovers - nonreaders all. But she won't give up until Principal Wiggins can flip his purple wig. With all the new pressures being put on teachers these days, the one thing everyone agrees about is the need for all children to learn to love reading. Now, the best-selling Miss Malarkey series uses all the programs and initiatives developed to help children read as fodder for the humor mill, keeping everyone laughing about this important topic. No teacher, librarian or parent should leave this book behind!

Started by Dr. Seuss, finished by Jack Prelutsky, and illustrated by Lane Smith, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! is a joyous ode to individuality starring unsinkable teacher Miss Bonkers and the quirky Diffendoofer School (which must prove it has taught its students how to think--or have them sent to dreary Flobbertown). Included is an introduction by Dr. Seuss's longtime editor explaining how the book came to be and reproductions of Dr. Seuss's original pencil sketches and hand-printed notes for the book—a true find for all Seuss collectors! Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith pay homage to the Good Doctor in their own distinctive ways, the result of which is the union of three one-of-a-kind voices in a brand-new, completely original book that is greater than the sum of its parts. For all of us who will never forget our school days and that special teacher, here is a book to give and to get.

For use in schools and libraries only. A first-grade boy is shocked, then pleased, when he discovers that his teacher has a life away from school.

A teacher imagines the chaos that takes place when she stays home one day because she is sick.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Mrs. Hartwell is preparing her class to take the Big Test. Knowing they have studied and are well-prepared, she helps the students practice how to sit quietly, fill in the bubbles, and follow the directions. She even instructs them on proper morning-of-the-test nutrition. As her students grow increasingly anxious about the Big Test, Mrs. Hartwell realizes she has to teach the most valuable test-taking skill of all: learning to relax!

Although the teachers, the principal, and parents say The Test is not important, their actions tell another story.

When the lady from the principal's office brings a test for the first grade class, the children have trouble with the test and feel bad. Fortunately, their teacher explains that a test doesn't reflect important things like creativity, kindness, and friendship.