First Week of School

     I survived my first week of teaching, and we didn't burn the school down yet. My class tried though. Yesterday, one student randomly threw his water bottle in the air, which hit a light. The light then started smoking, sparking, and became a very small fire before dying out. I quickly got the kids out of the classroom and found help, and it was fixed in no time after spending one of our 20 minute Daily 5 stations outside.

     It is certainly different starting some procedures with fourth and fifth grade then with first grade last year. My students quickly picked up on read to self and read to someone, so today we moved on to a new station. This year, my plan is to do stations similar to Daily 5 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday we don't have enough time so we will do other things like literature circles. Last year, starting Daily 5 with first graders took them weeks to be ready for three stations, but my students already (for the most part) have the stamina built and were ready to do three stations all of next week.

     We are also doing stations for math, since it will be easier for me to meet with my math classes in small groups. This week they learned the At You Seat/Carpet station, which will be a Daily Math review sheet. I'm sure that I'll talk more about my math stations in the future. I am really liking what I have decided to do, but might change a few things around from my original plan to make keep my low fourth graders with me twice, since they will need more than fifteen minutes to understand a new concept.

     Well, now that I've talked about academics that were on my mind, let's go back to the first day with pictures! The picture above is my classroom ready for students. I still didn't have things like bag hooks and our schedule hung on the wall (I finally had that done yesterday). Other things like my computer weren't ready either, but we did fine without it. There was a message on the board, telling them what to do, and a blank nametag on their desk. In the morning, the students came in with their parents and most of their supplies. Some of my students had been hanging around school the week before since their parents worked at the school, so I put them to work. One helped me by making signs for where all of the different school supplies should go. Our spots quickly filled up and overflowed with supplies! Once we sent the parents to their meeting, the students and I dealt with the rest of the supplies that they will keep in their desk after giving me a few more things.

     In the morning, I had a circle time, where each child said one thing about his/herself and his/her name. We talked about the beginning of the year and what some of my expectations were. We also had an elementary school meeting, where we talked about school rules. Between this meeting, morning recess, and lunch/recess, most of the day seemed to fly by, except that I never had time to myself since everyone was on duty for everything.

     Later on the first day, I had students write classroom rules. I told them to come up with any rules that would help us work as a class. They did a great job and came up with seventeen. I then told them that seventeen was too many, and I would narrow it down to three big ones. We now have: 1. Follow directions the first time. 2. Do your best work. 3. Respect yourself and others. On the second day, we found how each of their seventeen rules fit into these three big rules. I also sent a sheet home about the rules to the parents for them to sign and send back.

     Another thing we did was write things we wanted to learn on the board. Why it looks like a graphic organizer, I'm not sure. The students are apparently well trained in using those because when I circled our heading, that it what they did. I have one boy who loves technology and making videos, so I will certainly incorporate a project sometime where he could make a video since that will engage him. We had a lot of science questions, so I'm excited to hopefully look at those.

     Well, this is probably a long enough post. I love my new students. We still have lots of behaviors to work on, but I can already tell they will be a great class. This week was fun, but very hard. Here in Venezuela, even walking home from school is difficult and makes me want to collapse as soon as I get home since I live up a huge hill. Actually, I walk uphill both ways to school, sometimes in the rain. I am so glad it's the weekend, and I can breathe. Maybe I will actually be able to plan for all of next week or make some longer-term plans. Hopefully, I will be able to at least.

     One of my students brought me a flower and a lovely note on Monday, which warmed my heart and kept me going all week, even when things were tough. I hope all of you are having a great week, and I can't wait to share more. I'm excited to have upcoming posts about our nametags (which I love!), math stations, economy system, and more. Have a great week!

Third Culture Kids

     A few weeks ago, I attended a two week pre-field orientation for my job teaching in Venezuela. There were teachers going all around the world! At this orientation we learned about the stages of transition, how to handle conflict, how culture and values are different and important to recognize, and what third culture kids are. I thought I'd share a little about what I learned about third culture kids (TCKs) and cross-culture kids. We also read Third Culture Kids by David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken, which was an excellent resource on this topic. It was geared towards parents, but there was a lot of things teachers can learn from it.

     First of all, what is a third culture kid? TCKs are typically children living outside of their passport country. They are exposed to many different cultures. The three cultures that are considered are: (note there may be more than one culture under each of the three)
     1. Their passport culture or parents' cultures
     2. The host culture of any country or region they have lived in
     3. The culture of being an expat (TCKs can relate to each other, even if they don't have the same passport or host country culture)

     Now, you might be saying, what does this have to do with me? I teach in the same town that I grew up in and most of my students have spent their whole life here too. Well, this book also discusses how cross-culture kids and others have a lot of similarities. Do you have students that are constantly moving, leaving the school and maybe even coming back later in the year? I know I did last year. What about students that are biracial? Ones with parents who leave for periods of time? Kids who switch houses between divorced parents and the parents aren't on the same page? Students that speak a different language or have a different culture at home (I'm thinking of some Amish students I had)? Students that were adopted? Well, all of these children live in a little bit different culture, and it does affect them!

Some things that might affect them:
1. High mobility - Constantly going through transition is hard and makes children begin to do things differently down to the way they make friends. They might try to dive very quickly into a friendship because they'll leave soon or withdraw from making friends.
2. Confused which culture they are in - How should they act at school? This is why it is so important to teach these behaviors, especially to new students in the middle of the year. They need to know what's expected so that they can feel comfortable. Don't shame them until you have taught them what is expected.
3. Unresolved grief - This is a big one that can affect all students. Did they have time to grieve things? Whether it's moving, the death of a pet, the loss of their favorite stuffed animal, or even the loss of being the only child when a new sibling comes, children need time to grieve and to know that it's acceptable. Sometimes, they might not feel that they can because they have to be excited for something new, but they need to. Otherwise, it all begins to build up within them.

     Well, I barely skimmed the top of a wave on this ocean of a topic, but I hope it made you think a little bit. What cultures are your students experiencing? How does high mobility, confusion of culture (and rules), and unresolved grief affect their lives? I highly recommend reading more into this subject, whether it be this book or another one.

My First Classroom

     If you've been following me for a while, you know that this year, my first year teaching, I will be teaching at an international school in Venezuela. I arrived here earlier this week and have been doing new teacher orientation since then. School starts in a week and a half!

     Can I just say that packing to teach in another country when you aren't sure what resources you have (I did ask, but there wasn't not much of an answer)? Since I love books so much and use them in all of my subjects, I decided to pack my carry-on full of books. I even looked up the standards (AERO) and tried to find books that aligned with contents other than reading. My books (at least the ones I really wanted) all fit! I did get stopped due to these books when I went through security though. They had to be wiped with a small piece of paper to see if they contained something harmful. Also, I did not think about the weight implications when I packed this bag. I knew there wasn't a weight restriction, but I forgot that I should be able to lift my bag into the overhead compartment. Thankfully, two men (yes, it took two plus myself) were able to help me on both legs of my flight. One even took it down for me afterwards. I'm so thankfully to have books that I know, but I did find that the school has a few more books than I expected even if they are old and falling apart.



     Here are the pictures of my first classroom. When I came in, all of the furniture was in the middle and covered because they have to repaint the walls every summer. My goal the past few days is to figure out how to arrange my room. I'm still working on it, but I decided to post these pictures anyways.






     Since I have both forth and fifth grade, I wanted an area to have small group instruction, places for them to work independently or in small groups, and a whole group area. I also had to decide where I wanted my white board.








     My first step was to uncover everything. I found my curriculum! There is a lot of it since I have both grades.

     Then I found two bookshelves overflowing with books! We piled the books in this corner to move the somewhat ugly shelves (they're a burnt orange).









      Next, I decided it would be nice to have my small group area on this side of the room. With a lot of help (including from a student of mine), we unloaded the textbooks and moved the shelf to that area right next to the projector. I also decided to put the white board on that wall so that I can use it for whole group or small group. I'm hoping to use a carpet there for whole group.





     This picture shows the other side of my room. You can see my burnt orange bookshelves against the wall. I'm planning on scattering groups of desks throughout this side of the room. I don't plan on the students receiving instruction while at their desks often, so having them spread out more should be fine.




     I have already have met four of my fourteen students! I'm excited to begin but feel that there is no way that I will be ready. Teaching is overwhelming! I'm working on my room now and need to work on the first week of lessons soon. I will post more pictures as I am further along in organizing my room. If you have any tips or suggestions, I would love to hear your thoughts.