Twin Day!

We are officially in SOL mode now! For those of you from Virginia or who have lived here for a while, you know that SOL has two meanings. As far as the elementary school kids are concerned, it stands for Standards of Learning and are the basis for our end-of-year tests. As far as middle/high school students and everyone else is concerned, it stands for S*** Out of Luck. With only 5 days until our first test, I'm pretty sure that perfectly describes how all of the teachers are feeling right now. We've taught our hearts out for 150+ days and now it's up to the kids to make us proud. Since we're pretty much out of teaching and reviewing time, a lot of our focus now is going toward motivating the kids. Last year, we held an entire Spirit Week with a different dress up day each day and culminating in a Pep Rally. This year, as we started planning, there were a few complaints from teachers that the spirit week got the kids TOO hyped and they lost all focus and chance for last-minute instruction. SO, to compromise, we were given 3 days to do themed-dress up days and a pep rally, as long as we spread them out. (I say "we" because, as our principal got into planning mode, she realized Danielle and I were more qualified for the job... since she'd seen us go ALL OUT for all of the other spirit days!... so she delegated the planning responsibility to us!)
So, the planning started and was a lot harder than we expected! Since the dress up days had to somehow related to testing or good scores, it took a while to get the ideas rolling. After some lengthy, late night text conversations between Danielle and I, we finally narrowed it down to our top 3 choices (with 2 extra top choices that we'll save for next year!!). Our first spirit day was Wednesday, May 4. It was Twin Day. The catch phrase was "Good test scores make us see DOUBLE." (Don't judge. We were in a time crunch!)
It was amazing how stoked and concerned the kids were about this day. I announced it Monday morning (poor choice!) and for the REST of the day, all I heard and saw were kids planning, scheming, exchanging phone numbers, etc. It continued the next day so I was stoked about what I would see Wednesday when they arrived.
I, obviously, planned to match Danielle and we brainstormed an outfit that was different enough from our everyday, yet consisted of items which we both owned... or so we thought. Then, during recess, one of my students came up to me and said she couldn't find anyone to be her twin, so I told her she could match us if she had the same clothing items. Well, turns out, Danielle had done some spring cleaning and gotten rid of all of her jean skirts, so couldn't match me. Since I had already planned to match my student, I couldn't very well change outfits and leave her hanging, so unfortunately, Danielle and I were not twins... which, threw EVERYONE for a major loop and I think some of our kids may have actually hyperventilated when they first saw us and their predictions were totally wrong. :) Thankfully, my student came decked out in exactly what I had told her to wear, so I did have a twin!
Despite all the planning and phone calls, I only had about 4 sets of students who were 'twins,' but those 8 kids who did participate were adorable, so it was totally fine. :)

These boys got it right! One of them was upset because the other didn't dress PERFECTLY.. he forgot to wear the right shoes! The other boy claims mom wouldn't let him! :)

The extent of Danielle and my twin-ness!

Lots of people were severely disappointed. We definitely made up for it on the other Spirit Days, though!

My twin and me!