I'm back in Kuwait after a wonderful trip back home to colder, damper Canada, and you know what? It's good to be back. Who in their right mind would chose -20 weather over +20 weather? NOT I! While it was great to be home anf see my family, friends, and the boyfriend, the hugs I got from my students the first day back made it all worth it! They're adorable! They actually asked how Canada was, and if I could show them pictures of my dog!
Before the break, I had introduced a new beheviour management idea where students get points for good deeds, working quietly, sharing with their friends, and being overall good student. If every student had 3 or more points by the end of the week, they'd get a treat. Although they really enjoyed decorating the cookies I brought in the week before Christmas, this week I decided to do something a little different: I introduced the Special Chair! The Special Chair is basically just a big red plastic chair, but whoever has the most points at the end of the day gets to sit on it the following day. Wow, are my kid's ever helpful and well-behaved! Of course they still have their moments (they are Grade 1s afterall) but it's getting better! They are so into it that they even tell me to give other people points for good deeds! Let's hope it continues this way!
This week we also did an activity where they each had a number written from one-twenty on a piece of paper, and they had to put themselves into order without my assistance (diagnostic) and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Earlier in the year, I had students try to do an activity where they had to break into partners and ask each other questions, and they didn't do anything. I guess my students were not familiar with group and partner work, and due to this, I didn't think they'd be able to work co-operatively. The results were stunning. In less than 3 minutes (I checked) the students had lined themselves up, with the help of two students who have become natural leaders in the classroom.Even though it was such a simple activity, I was really happy to see that they succeeded in working as a group, and I felt really proud to be their teacher!
For less school-related stuff, I went ATVing in the desert yesterday! One of my friends heard about a get-together/party in the desert at some Kuwaiti's tent/camp and so we decided that it sounded like fun! Now, when I pictured a tent in the desert... well, I pictured a tent in the desert! Very primitive, very sandy, nothing else around. Instead, it was a camp set up with four or five huge tents which housed real beds, tables, etc and their bathrooms have running water. I was shocked. This is camping to them! What surprised me the most is that come summer with the hot temperatures, they have to take down their elaborate camps and set them back up again next fall when the weather gets cooler. Apparantly it's government law to make sure people don't get bitten by scorpions and snakes and stuff, which makes sense, but I would definitely stick to my easy-to-set-up tent if I were Kuwaiti! It was a lot of fun though. There was food, ATVs that we drove around, a random horse which Rachel and Shauna rode, and a man-made lake!
Long post for now, so I'll stop. It's nice to be back in Kuwait with an easy, but jetlagged, beginning to the new year!
Before the break, I had introduced a new beheviour management idea where students get points for good deeds, working quietly, sharing with their friends, and being overall good student. If every student had 3 or more points by the end of the week, they'd get a treat. Although they really enjoyed decorating the cookies I brought in the week before Christmas, this week I decided to do something a little different: I introduced the Special Chair! The Special Chair is basically just a big red plastic chair, but whoever has the most points at the end of the day gets to sit on it the following day. Wow, are my kid's ever helpful and well-behaved! Of course they still have their moments (they are Grade 1s afterall) but it's getting better! They are so into it that they even tell me to give other people points for good deeds! Let's hope it continues this way!
This week we also did an activity where they each had a number written from one-twenty on a piece of paper, and they had to put themselves into order without my assistance (diagnostic) and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Earlier in the year, I had students try to do an activity where they had to break into partners and ask each other questions, and they didn't do anything. I guess my students were not familiar with group and partner work, and due to this, I didn't think they'd be able to work co-operatively. The results were stunning. In less than 3 minutes (I checked) the students had lined themselves up, with the help of two students who have become natural leaders in the classroom.Even though it was such a simple activity, I was really happy to see that they succeeded in working as a group, and I felt really proud to be their teacher!
For less school-related stuff, I went ATVing in the desert yesterday! One of my friends heard about a get-together/party in the desert at some Kuwaiti's tent/camp and so we decided that it sounded like fun! Now, when I pictured a tent in the desert... well, I pictured a tent in the desert! Very primitive, very sandy, nothing else around. Instead, it was a camp set up with four or five huge tents which housed real beds, tables, etc and their bathrooms have running water. I was shocked. This is camping to them! What surprised me the most is that come summer with the hot temperatures, they have to take down their elaborate camps and set them back up again next fall when the weather gets cooler. Apparantly it's government law to make sure people don't get bitten by scorpions and snakes and stuff, which makes sense, but I would definitely stick to my easy-to-set-up tent if I were Kuwaiti! It was a lot of fun though. There was food, ATVs that we drove around, a random horse which Rachel and Shauna rode, and a man-made lake!
Long post for now, so I'll stop. It's nice to be back in Kuwait with an easy, but jetlagged, beginning to the new year!
