Reasons I Know I am Back To School:

-->And now, to present times-->

 Reasons I Know I am Back To School:

•  My evenings have consisted of a nap followed by bedtime.
• I have said "We Raise Our Hands to Say the Answer" 1,752 times this week.
•  I have cut back on my liquid consumption during the hours of 7-3 because my job requires me to "hold it" for hours and hours........and hours.
• I have stickers plastered to every part of my body when I return home from work!
• White board markers stains have become my new signature look!
•  I feel like a super genius that can hold incredible amounts of information such as but not limited to: copy codes, attendance codes,amounts of lunch money for 7 different students, passwords for 8 different educational websites, and 49 different modes of transportation that could and do sometimes change daily.
• I am ecstatic over the idea of standing out in 100 degree weather to watch children run and play at 9:45am Sunday through Thursday...so much so that I literally stare at the clock in anticipation.  If this divine privilege is taken from me I am downright distraught.
• I have sung more songs this week than the entire summer combined.
• I have handled, stored, and organized 1 ton of school supplies. (like tetris into my 2 tiny cupboards)
• I have been hugged on, tugged on, and loved on by 49 new precious human beings!!!
• How are you holding up?  The reality is surely setting in...This 11 month gig is ON.
   

Another great present I received this week. Your guess is as good as mine!


I have actually been going back and forth on if I really want to continue teaching. And every time I have doubts my students reel me back in. Yesterday, my students were working on using a number line to subtract 2 digit from a 1 digit number. I have a handful of girls that just cannot understand the process. One little girl was looking pretty defeated. I sat down next to her and modeled a few times. Then slowly I let her do the whole process alone. Bam! She got the first one right! Bam! She got the second one right! After everyone she I got right I made a huge deal about how hard her brain was working and how she was starting to understand. By the time she got the 4th one right she "knew" she knew how to do it and couldn't help but break out in giggles every time she completed a new problem. She would find 14 on the number line. Draw 8 bunny hills down. And look at me and giggle, giggle, giggle, while she wrote the correct answer! It was the sweetest thing and made me once again rethink about leaving all my little kiddos!

Again, today I had the same experience. Yesterday was a killer. I was wore out. Defeated. Tired. However, my girls wrote a book about "The Missing Teacher" yesterday and we took pictures of them acting out the pages, etc. It turned out very cute. Anyways, today there was fog and school was late. Usually ALL the kids don't make it to school (that is, if they didn't make a book the day before). "Miss, the book! Can we read our book? Miss, what time are we going to read our book? Miss, PLEASE!!! I come to school to read the book!" 24 girls surrounded my desk, questioning, begging, commanding that I read the book THEY wrote! It was if they had never seen a picture of them self before. "Miss, look at Hamdah!", "Miss, I am crying. hahahh", "Andrea, I see you in the book." "Miss Andrea, we take book home and show mother, baba, and sister. Please Miss!" I loved to watch them get so excited over work they produced and I loved their enthusiasm today during writing class. They now want all their stories published on the computer, with graphics of them selfs included =)

The sample page....

All the girls sleep. They are very sleepy. ZZZZZZ

____ said, "Oh, no! Miss Andrea is missing!"

 I will be blogging more soon. I have so much to share about my new school! I love it!

A New School..A New Perspective

This past month has been pretty awesome in terms of setting up and preparing for the new school year.  I have worked with my new 2nd grade co-teacher planning themes, ideas, what to display in the classroom, and where to store our share and sparse resources. We talk about goals, students, expectations and rules. We are a team, and I am so excited to have her by my side.

I think back of my first week last year, and I am shocked at the contrasts. I am actually preparing for the upcoming weeks. I honestly don't think I would be doing anything different if I were in America (which is saying a lot).I have come to realize that geography doesn't get to dictate how hard I work, how many hours I put in or what is expected of me. I am called to teach, to teach well, and to serve the 48 little ones that call me Teacher. They deserve my best, and so.....I will give them my best, and I will love them every second of the way. Even when they *&%* me off. And if I do that, I know God will take care of things.....

So, my first week started out extremely well compared to last year. I knew what grade level I was going to teach on the first day, as well as, what classroom I had. The second day I got right down to work and started changing this cell block into a school room. An interesting fact: The school does not supply teachers with bulletin board paper, bulletin board boarders, construction paper, or art supplies; however, they do require you to decorate and change the bulletin boards per theme (every 2 weeks-1 month). I have 5 bulletin boards which I must decorate.  In the UAE, there are no real "teacher" stores, Target dollar aisles, or Dollar Trees to purchase cheap decorating items =(  So, this gets to be  very spendy, very quickly.

So here is a little view of my room before I began. Again, this is hands down better than my sand-filled, paint-chipped, little box of a room last year....So, I will not complain...

From the front looking to the left(cute chairs, but they weigh a ton and are extremely noisy every time they move)

Front looking to the right (YES! I DO have a Projector and a beautiful new touch screen computer..Finally, technology in the classroom!)

Front of the room ( I wonder why they decide to paint classrooms like prison cells? ugh.)

The Back ( I have only these two little storage units to store all the students books, supplies, manipulative, etc.)My solution...I used cardboard boxes I found, taped them into a nice tower, threw over a piece of cloth and wallah new storage....My principal was not fond =P and told me she would "Inshallah, buy more shelving."

 

 

 

 

KHALAS! aka FINISHED!!! The Back (Science focus wall, math focus wall, word wall, English focus wall)...It's a start!

Reading Center

English Focus Wall

Beginning of my Daily 5 Board

Front of the Room (excuse the mess!)

This is the first week of school...the girls, although very chatty, are very well behaved. No fighting, no throwing things, no breaking things, etc. They LOVE to read books and have books read to them. They beg me to read "One More!" They are very good at working in groups =) Relief!

The girls spent the first week exploring our different manipulatives and learning the proper way to do the Daily 5. Here they are working with letter magnets, it is interesting what you can learn about their levels by just watching them during this time.

 *What it is like to teach 48 girls*


1) You hear constant talking, but most of it is productive and on-task

2) You are given gifts everyday...stickers, water, books, pictures, and anything else you can imagine!  My favorite thus far, a Looney Toon napkin!
3) You will constantly be hugged and hear "I love you, Miss Andrea!"
4) You will shake hands on an average of 200 times a day
5) You will be asked to put in a girls hair tie or clip because, "My hair is out."
6) You will see 800 backpacks in the school and they are ALL pink.
7) You will have a heart or flower on just about every worksheet that is handed in.
8) You will constantly have to remind girls to stop playing with the girls hair in front of them at assembly in the morning. And you will definitely hear about "the girl" who is not wearing her hair up (all the girls have long hair, it is against school policy to wear your hair down).
9) You will see hoards of girls gather around the girl who is crying, even though you assured them she is alright and to leave her alone.


I love my girls. I miss my boys. But I love the calmness and motivation of the girls. They all want to please you.

I cannot say this school is totally without fault though. =)

-I met my principal for the first time this week (4.5 weeks in to school). Bizarre!
-The principal came to my room a month after we have been in school and told me I had to change rooms. I begged her and tried to convince her to let me stay. I didn't not work. Thankfully I have a lovely Western HOF (V.P.) who is stubborn and who saved me from the days and endless hours of work to recreate a classroom.
-I started with 50 girls and memorized their names, taught them my procedures and rules, organized their supplies, took their pictures for name tags and Daily 5 charts, etc. Then on the 3rd week of school, without notice, they took out 12 of my girls...Then daily would randomly add 3 or 4 girls to one class. Move them the other class I have. Add more, switch some more...In the end I had 28 students exchange, dropout or enroll in Special Education. Makes for one confused teacher. Remind you, no one tells you their names or brings them to your room. They just show up in the middle of the period and stand in the door way. "Come in. What is your name? What is your father's name (last name)" and we go on with our day!!! =) Craziness, every day, all day!


“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell