Happy May! Since our seasons are opposite The U.S., we are in the midst of Fall right now. I am a little sad to see everyone back home starting to get excited for Summer; I just love the Summer!
We had a crazy week at school this week; book week! Book week is an annual celebration they have at school to celebrate books. A lot of planning goes into it, but it gets the kids excited about books. My co-workers asked me if we had anything like book week in the states. The only thing that came to mind was Read Across America (Dr. Seuss’s birthday).
On Monday, we had an assembly where the Spanish department put on a play for us with all different literary characters such as Shakespeare. They did an excellent job but since they were performing all day, our schedules got all out of wack. The kids didn’t have Spanish that day so they stayed with us instead. We literally had no periods off. 9 periods with the kids, Dani and I were exhausted.
On Wednesday, the kids were asked to come to school dressed as their favorite character from a book. That was quite an interesting day. It really felt like Halloween. We had some awesome costumes like Waldo, Alice from Alice in Wonderland and the beast from Where the Wild Things Are. We also had some questionable costumes such as Spiderman, Ninja Turtles, Anakin Skywalker and of course Ana from Frozen. We had a parade around the school where we chanted “book week! Book week! Book week!” and “We love books! We love books!” It was all quite silly but the kids loved it.
^^ I wore a sticker that said "Hello, name name is Rainbow Fish"
That afternoon, we did a round robin in first grade where every class rotated to the different first grade classrooms. Each group of teachers read a different Mo Willems book. It was great to get to meet all of the other first graders. This also meant we did the same lesson five times that day.
On Friday, us teachers had to perform in an assembly. The first grade team decided to make a dance to The Jungle Book’s Bare Necessities. We each attempted to dress like the characters from the story. I was the bad tiger, Mowgli. Although I felt I looked a little more like Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh. With the little amount of time we had to practice, I’d say we pulled it off pretty well. Except for the fact that we showed up to the auditorium each of us assuming someone else sent the music to the microphone guy…
Dani was at a workshop on Friday so I was running the show by myself. I was so busy that I forgot to take my tiger makeup off for about half the day. People kept looking at me strangely in the hallway.
Book week was a success but now its time for us to attempt to get back on schedule. It’s hard for my kiddos to be off of their routines. (Remember I told you we have several special friends in my class). We also have a lot of content to cover in a very short amount of time.
This week will also be a bit crazy because we have a very important PYP visit. Every 5 years they come to visit our school to observe us and see how we're doing. Everyone is very on edge about it, it is really important that it goes well. They chose 5 of the 10 first grade teachers to be interviewed by the PYP people. Of course they chose me even though I haven't been teaching there for a whole year. They chose me because I'm a gringa and I represent a young generation of teachers or so they tell me. I am a little nervous. Wish us luck!
Laughable Moments:
While doing our Jungle Book Dance, Mobley’s scarf/loincloth fell off so he did the dance naked (not literally).
“_____, you shouldn’t lick your friends” was an actual conversation I had to have with a student. She was licking her friends because she was pretending she was a cat in her cat costume.
We had a book cover contest where the kids all created their own book covers. One of the winners was so shocked he won he started crying. It was like watching a Miss America pageant.
We asked the kids what their parents’ jobs are this week since we are learning about communities. The best answers we got were: radio seller, fighter and model (his mother is NOT a model).
One of the teachers was telling me that the first grade team works so well together. “You guys go together like an ass and underwear.” Apparently this is a Spanish expression…
Our football (soccer ball) is called Bobby. One of my students came to ask me if she could take “Booby” to recess with her.
^^ This dog friend ran with me for quite a long ways
^^ Laura and Tim telling Karen and Mom (I already knew because I'm the favorite) the sex of the baby!! ITS A GIRL!!
^^ Flo and I put 25 candles on Benja's birthday cheesecake
