Happy Valentine’s Day

Today was the start of week 3 and I am starting to teach for the majority of the day. I really like it but I was thinking about my last two practicums and I was able to do more small group work. I have not done any small group work since I have been here and I really miss that. Everything has been whole group which is okay but I have 23 students in my class and that is a lot of 7 and 8 year olds to keep on task! They are constantly talking to one another and playing around with their pencil sharpeners and erasers. Today I was telling James to fix something on his work and I asked him where his rubber was and he said, “Oh, Mr. Double Head is right here!” haha his eraser has broken in half and he drew smiley faces on each half and now calls it Mr. Double Head! He is the cutest thing ever but it takes so much for him to focus on his work!

Today I did over 3 lessons by myself and it was so tiring! Mondays are the hardest because the students are with us the entire day, every other day they have other classes that they go to like Indonesian, Art, Computer, Music, etc. They only have PE on Fridays, but they have plenty of time to play at recess and lunch because they have their snack and lunch outside and as soon as they finish they can play outside. Hopefully I can post more pics soon to show you how much room they have to play outside. The campus is gorgeous and really spread out so they have lots of room to play cricket, tag, and whatever else.

When I got to school this morning I asked Connie if we were doing anything special for Valentine’s Day because she never said anything about it last week. She said, “is that today, I thought it was on the 15^th?” I have noticed we treat V-day more of a holiday than they do. Last year I made candy for my kindergarteners and it’s always a fun day for the kids to pass out the cards to their friends and classmates. I told her that I was thinking about doing a little lesson on it and the kids could write a valentine’s day card to their mom or dad or one of their friends in the class. She said that was a good idea so after I did the S&E (social studies) lesson, I talked with them about this special day! I was asking them what they think of when they hear Valentine’s Day and they were giving the typical answers about love poems, cards, chocolate, hearts, their mom and dad giving presents. Owain said that he knew a good poem that goes like this, “Roses are red/Violets are blue/Sugar is sweet/And so are you” So I wrote it on the board and some of them wrote that in their card to give their mom. Danny said that he had a good poem that goes like this, “Roses are red/Violets are red/Everything/is red/Just like hearts.” He was so serious when he said it and thought it was the best poem ever! So as I am walking around looking at everyone’s art work and letters I get to Danny and I ask him who he is giving his to. He says, “I want to give mine to you” It was so sweet! Most every word is spelled wrong but that makes it ever cuter. He wrote Owain’s poem on the inside and even though it was written on the board this is what he wrote, “Rosis are red vilets are blue shoogar is sweet lick you” No hallmark card can beat that one!

Isaiah 41:13