It was a beautiful
spring morning. Allison Hollister finished eating her favorite breakfast, which
is French toast. She packed her lunch box, folder and books and put them in her
school bag. She then ran to the bus stop and met her best friend Carla Ravell.
“Hey Carla!” Allison yelled. Carla wished her back. They both started chatting
until Bus 3 pulled up. They got a seat together and continued talking about
school and friends. When they reached school, they walked into the classroom
and prepared themselves for the day. Their fourth grade teacher Miss Anderson entered
the room, greeted the kids and clapped her hands and said, “Class! I have an
announcement to make. This Friday, we will have a test.” Some kids groaned. “It
is SLAT – Student Level Assessment Test. I have a study guide to help you
prepare. Please go through it and see if there is anything you do not know. Be
well rested and do your best. Anybody have any questions?” A boy named Marcus
raised his hand. “Why are we doing this?” he asked. “Good question Marcus. We
do this to see where every fourth grade student stands in their knowledge
level. If students need any improvement in any subject, we would know. In
addition, the top performer will get a reward. Allison, please pass out the
study guides.” Allison passed the study guides out. The day went by quickly.
Allison kept thinking about the test all day long.
Allison is an
intelligent girl. She is smart, focused, grasps things easily and works hard to
improve in areas where she is weak. For example, she had trouble understanding
a topic on “magnetism and electricity” in science. She had a lot of questions,
but did not have enough time to get them answered in class. She went home and
asked her mom if she could take her to the library to get a book on
electricity. Her mom was more than happy to give her a ride. She read the book,
asked her mom for some answers and finally was very happy to have understood
the concept. Allison is very enthusiastic and tries to be the best in everything
she does.
That evening, Allison
sat down at her desk at home. She finished her homework and started looking at
the study guide for SLAT. She looked at the first problem. “Janice has 7
marbles. Hanna has 23. How many should Hanna give to Janice so they have equal
marbles?” She wrote down 8. The rest of the problems were easy. She then went
through the ELA and science sections. She found them easy too. She felt
confident that she could get through the test very easily. She studied hard
every evening of that week. It was finally the day before the test. Allison was
wrapping up her work, when her seventh grade sister Megan walked into her room.
“Hey, mom and I are going to the mall to see the movie Apollo 18. Wanna come?”
asked Megan. But Allison wanted to finish her dinner early and have a good
night sleep, so she could be well rested for the next day. She gently replied,
“Can we please go to the movie after my test tomorrow? I would like to sleep
early today.” Megan agreed.
The next day,
Allison woke up bright and early. She got ready and reached the school. The
test is scheduled for later in the afternoon. All the students, including the
smartest ones, were very nervous. At lunch, Allison talked to Carla about some
of the questions she saw in the study guide. Carla was confident that she could
do well too. It was finally time for the test. “And you may start now!”
exclaimed Miss Anderson. Everyone was working hard and aiming for a full score.
After 3 days, Miss Anderson handed back the test scores. Allison was the only
one who achieved 100%. Everyone in the class congratulated her for her outstanding
achievement. Allison was very happy that her hard work paid off.
That evening,
Allison, Megan and mom headed toward New Jersey Shore Mall where a lot of people
walked in and out carrying shopping bags. “Let’s stop for food. We can go to
the Big Cheese. I heard it is a great place. Dad’s coming too,” said mom. Just
then, Allison’s dad came rushing through. They finished eating and found a seat
at the theater. They had popcorn and lemonade and enjoyed the movie. When they
went home, Allison went into her room and laid down thinking about what other
challenges are in store for her. She then reminded herself of the great saying
“Practice makes it perfect!” It sure does!!
