The Hills Are Alive...

With the "Sound of Music"!

My classroom is quickly becoming a full blown musical. My little guys have the shortest attention span of any class I have ever taught. That is due to a few things; most of my students being 5 years old and the fact that 95% of them don't understand any English. I try to remind myself of these key points daily when I'm ready to scream and rip my hair out because I'm so frustrated. So, I decided to change a few things up in my room to grab their attention! In the mornings they were taking 15-20 minutes to get their things unpacked while screaming and yelling the whole time. Since there are so many of them it would take me a solid five minutes to get them settled down. This is ridiculous! Now I'm starting to play a Greg and Steve song called "Good Morning" and they have the length of the song (about two and a half minutes) to get all of their things unpacked. I'm starting an individual sticker reward system on Monday--when a student receives twenty stickers they get a prize. Right now that will either be a book mark or a piece of candy. The first student to get their things ready for the day will receive a sticker. That goes for the afternoon too. When it's time to pack up and go home I play "The Freeze" by Greg and Steve. Every time the music stops they HAVE to freeze. They still only have the length of the song to get packed up. It's so fun to watch them dance around the room to get ready. Surprisingly the kids are more calm when they pack up this way too -- it's a win win situation! Here is a little video clip from this afternoon for your enjoyment :)

I also started singing lots of transition songs to get them moving on to the next subject. When it's time for calendar I sing "Are you ready, are you ready, first grade, first grade?" Then they respond "Yes we are, yes we are" and then I say "come sit down, come sit down". Sung to the tune of Frere Jacques. For Math I say "Give me an M (they repeat M), give me an A, etc." I still haven't come up with something for English and Science but that's one of my weekend projects. I have to be as high energy and enthusiastic as I can all day just to keep my students at bay. I know once they start learning more English things will get easier, but right now it's definitely a challenge.

My students took their first spelling test today. I knew more than 75% of them would flunk a traditional spelling test (where the students number their papers 1-10 and spell out all of their words). Instead I gave them a test I created. There were ten rows with three words in each row. I orally told them the words and then used them in sentences. The students then had to circle the correct word in the row. All of their words were part of the "an" family. Dan, man, pan, van, ran, etc. We have been going over these words for about thirty minutes a day all week. Which is why I was so sad when over ninety percent of my students failed the test. They are much lower academically than I was expecting. So now it's on to plan B. Monday I am going to start reviewing letter names and sounds with them and work our way up from there. My biggest goal is to have them reading by the end of the year and I'll do whatever it takes to get them there.

We had our first mass today and it was really cool to see. We will have an all school mass once a month. Today it was only 1st-6th grades but starting next month the kinder (preschool) and prepa (kindergarten) will also be joining us. The mass is held under our concha where the kids also eat their lunch. There are only a few chairs out there so students have to bring their chairs from the classroom. It was so cute to see my little first graders carrying chairs on their heads. It also made me really nervous because a few of them accidently banged their neighbor. Luckily we had no serious injuries. Here are a few pictures of them:

Kids getting ready to head outside

Katherine

Jose Francisco

Aren't they just adorable?!?!

Here is a little video of one of the songs we sung today at the mass. I love how lively masses are here.

I have a little girl in my class named Amanda who is constantly off task and not doing what she's suppose to. She has these super thick glasses that are never all the way on her face and she always looks very confused. Most days I just have to laugh at how out of the loop she is. Today was no exception. When the kids were packing up to go home I found Amanda on the floor by her desk just hanging out. She had made her religion paper into her own personal fan. She was chatting away as she fanned herself off. I had my camera out because I was taking the video clip I posted above. When I said "Amanda!" (wanting her to get her stuff packed up and not be playing around), she ran over and posed for a picture -- with the fan she should have never made in the first place. Ayiyi that child! But of course I had to take a picture once she was there, because it was too funny to pass up. Here she is:

Mom, thank you for the care package! I LOVE the sheets you sent. They make my room look so much more homey:

And I gobbled all of those peanuts right up. I'm enjoying the last few in the can as I write this blog:

Tomorrow I'm going to wash out the can, cover it with construction paper, and make it into a pencil holder for my desk at school. I love things that have multiple purposes!

Oh, and I'm going to cover the boxes you sent with construction paper too, and use them for my books at school. My students will be very appreciative!

One of the things my parents wanted me to do this year was create a blog for them. They wanted me to record videos of the songs we sing in class and the spelling and vocab words we're learning each week. A big thank you to my Aunt Monica for translating my first post for me :)! Here is what I created:

http://missking2.blogspot.com/

Please ignore my horrendous singing and get a good laugh at how silly I look. I only have one song up so far, but I'm going to try and record the rest of them this weekend. Next week I will start going over spelling and vocab words. Should be interesting!

On a more personal note I am currently reading "The Noticer" and I absolutely love it (thanks Julie)! It's a book about perception, and how changing the way you think about and see things can change your life. If you happen to pass it in a bookstore I would definitely pick it up. In the first chapter a man named "Jones" says:

"Everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you'll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what's a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination - our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life's next peak"

Ah, I just love it! It's such a wonderful analogy and so very true!

In another part of the book he is helping a man who is suffering from depression and this is what he tells him to do:

"On a notepad, I want you to list things in your life that you are grateful for. You can list names, objects, feelings...anything. Remember to list clean sheets and a roof over your head--knowing there are millions who spent the night without either. As you eat breakfast or skip it, remember the millions who have none. Be generous and creative as you list the many things you have to be grateful for, young man. Don't be shy about writing the same ones down every day...You will be grateful! After all, the seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart"

I hope this makes all of you think about the many wonderful blessings you been given in your own lives. I know if I wrote down everything I was grateful for I could probably fill hundreds of notebooks!

God is incredible, so:

live with intention.

walk to the edge.

listen hard.

practice wellness.

play with abandon.

laugh.

choose with no regret.

continue to learn.

appreciate your friends.

do what you love.

live as if this is all there is.

-mary anne radmacher