All of us here at The Hall Monitor would like to say Happy Holidays to all of the students, teachers, parents and readers everywhere who regularly visit and contribute to this blog.

Students, enjoy the well-deserved time off, but not too much. When you come back in January you will have a bevy of state assessments and Regents tests waiting for you.

A week after classes resume on Jan. 5, schools will begin administering English exams for students in grades three through five. Exams for students in grades six through eight begin on Jan. 20, the day after the Martin Luther King. Jr. holiday.

During the last week of January, high schoolers (and some eighth-graders) will take Regents exams in math, English, living environment, foreign languages, earth science, U.S. History and Government, Global History and Geography, chemistry and physics. Remember, these tests are even more high-stakes now that students have to pass five Regents exams in order to graduate.

As a Christmas gift, and to help you study, here’s a link to Regents exams going back as far as 1957: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/regentsexams.htm (be sure to disable pop-up blockers for the site). We don’t have tests going back that far for elementary and middle school students, but here’s a link to English and math exams for grades three through eight for 2006, 2007 and 2008: http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/eleminttests.html.

So have fun with all of your presents, enjoy the time with your family and pal around with friends. But be sure to spend some time hitting the books.