State Test Simile Poem

My students are

as confident as racehorses

in the starting gate.

Our teacher is

as nervous as a donut

in the teacher's lounge.

My students are

as sharp as a box of

#2 pencils.

Our teacher is

as hardworking as a house painter

with a one-inch brush.

On Wednesday afternoon,

we'll all be

as relieved as a gymnast

who sticks the landing.

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

BONUS: NEW SIMILE BOOK IS AS PERFECT AS THE PETALS ON A PETUNIA!

Muddy As A Duck Puddle and Other American Similes

by Laurie Lawlor

illustrated by Ethan Long

Holiday House, 2010

review copy provided by the publisher

This book has it all -- it's an ABC book of 26 uniquely American similes, and there's an explanation for each one in the back of the book, including the part of the country from which it hails!

Here are a few from the book that can be used to describe an elementary school before the state tests: Our testing coordinators are "Busy as a stump-tailed cow in fly-time" trying to find spaces and translators and cds for all of the ELLs in our building -- students who speak Twi, Farsi, Arabic, Spanish, Korean, Bengali, and Russian. Our teachers are as "Jittery as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." We really, really need to meet AYP this year. No matter the outcome of the tests, we all believe that our students are just as "Fine as frog hair." These state tests are but ONE isolated measure of our students' growth this year, and no matter what the tests say, we know to the core of our collective being that our students have grown in their learning, understanding and knowledge this year. (Plus, we're not finished teaching after this week, so the learning will continue!!)