Whiz Kids: Monmouth Junction Students Celebrate Study Island

At Monmouth Junction Elementary School, a celebration was held this week for the achievements of students who got lost on an island.  Study Island, that is.  The school held a week-long contest to support students as they prepare to take the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge test next week.  

Study Island involved students logging on to the web site and answering as many questions as they choose to get acclimated to the standardized tests.

"The kids know they have the spirit of the entire school behind them and they all know that we're in this together," said principal Maribeth Edmunds.  "The whole point of this is so they get used to looking at the question prompts and become comfortable with the test."

Decorations for a jubilant assembly on Tuesday and various gifts were provided by the Monmouth Junction P.T.O to the students from each class who answered the most questions.  A special luncheon is planned for students who scored 90 percent or higher.  

"We want the students to not only prepare for the test, but also to feel the energy and enthusiasm the whole school community has," Dr. Edmunds said.  "The more they see the questions the more internalized the process becomes and they grow more comfortable with the different types of questions.  This rally celebrates all the kids accomplishments because we want to celebrate everybody."

The daunting task of tallying the winners from each class fell on Instructional Support teacher Sharon Monasch, who calculated the highest totals from each class, individual students and as a group, the highest total from each grade level and the overall student champion of Study Island.

The 85 students in grades 3-5 answered a whopping 164,841 questions in one week.  Class champions were Akshay Shah, Rachel Tran, Kehisha Khurana, Nyjaah Woods, Jiya Kishore, Isha Shah, Ruqaiyah Bandukwala, Prasanth Minibalaji, Rohit Gadi, Riya Patel and Nishil Ghetia.  

Marcia Walker's fourth grade class took the overall class title with 36,835 questions answered.  Rachel, Prasanth, and Ruqaiyah answered the most questions for their grade levels.  

But there could only be one champion of Study Island, which was Ruqaiyah, who was crowned Queen of Study Island with 12,003 questions answered in one week.  She received her crown to loud appluase during the rally.

"I worked on it for about two or three hours every night and I learned a lot," Ruqaiyah said.  "I feel really good to be crowned queen because I get a lot of attention for working hard and doing my best."

Edmunds said through programs like Study Island, the students learn that it can be fun to be academically motivated and can achieve great things through hard work.

"I'm proud of the whole school because it's amazing the way you all came together to be such good friends and good students," she said during the rally.  "We want everyone to send out your best thoughts to all of our students because we're so proud of all of you."