Eat, Sleep, Lesson plan

This week was interesting. There's a normal speaking voice and a teaching voice-which is a lot louder! Well this week I had a sore throat and lost my teacher voice and almost my normal!

Yesterday we had a Hajj celebration. The third graders acted it out with costumes and props. It was quite a production! I'll have to borrow some photos and put them up tomorrow!

The rest of this post is just teacher stuff, but we're going on a desert paintball/camping trip tonight so there will be a update post tomorrow with pictures : )


These are my random thoughts of a first year, second grade, boys' campus teacher in Kuwait:

• I taught a lesson last week how to say Miss Toni. They were saying Miss or Miss Tonya (like tone-ee-yah) So I drew a stick figure and said, "Look. Toe. Knee. Toe-knee. That's my name.
• My to-do list is never ending and there's not enough hours in the day. 
• My maxi skirt gets caught under the wheels of my desk chair daily.
• Second grade boys have learned that if they cross their legs, grab the front of their pants, squirm and give the bathroom signal, it means emergency and they will be given permission. So, we had a talk the other day-only use one had to give the bathroom signal-no grabbing with the other! haha
• There's no shame in lesson planning the night before : )
• Kids love routine and it helps with their behavior. 
• I did an author study on Laura Numeroff, and explained that part of her writing day includes walking her dog. My boys yelled out "Haram!" So my TA discussed it's only haram if she keeps the dog inside. (It's not too common to have dogs as pets) It's so nice having a bilingual Muslim TA!
• Pinterest-it's a love/hate. I love all of the great ideas, and I hate that I can't do them all.
• I choose small group instruction over whole group any day.
• "Actually" now has a new meaning. Example: I'm introducing a lesson but I already asked the boys to get out their scissors and gluestick...big mistake! They can't pay attention so mid sentence I say, "Actually, we're going to talk on the carpet!" 
• When I need a dry erase marker-I can only find a pen. When I need a pen, I can only find a pencil. But I always have my clipboard! It has my schedule, class list, informal assessments, lesson plans and to-do lists. I lost it for one period last week and almost lost my mind!
• When my boys do really great, I feel like a proud momma!

The past three weeks, we've working in small groups for reading block, and this past week we worked in small groups for math. But this upcoming week my math stations and literacy centers will be in full swing!! I am so excited, because I know it's best for my active boys! Can't wait to let you know how it goes!