Joy came in on Wednesday to do our first observations this week. She will do 4 observations for our CPAS in total while we are here. (Clinical Practice Assessment System - based on 10 INTASC standards for beginning teachers; it's designed to keep a cumulative record of my performance as a teacher throughout all of my practicum and student teaching experiences). So for this first observed lesson, I did a read-aloud for my kids from a book titled "Pancake Attack!" It's the cutest book and they loved it. My main objective was sequence. Good readers remember the sequence of events in a story. Afterwards, we made pancakes in the classroom. That part was more my mentor teacher's doing than mine, but it fit in beautifully and the students of course were so excited. Since we were talking about sequencing, I added in the importance of sequence when following a recipe so we talked about sequence some more as I had them take turn pouring in ingredients and stirring the batter. I added water to stretch the batter more, so they ended up looked more like miniature crepes than fluffy, delicious pancakes. One kid innocently told me, "those don't look much like pancakes." haha I told him these just happened to be "special" ones.
Mekelle and I rushed home after school because I was stressing about dinner. We were going to make our "American" meal for our family, neighbors, and other friends. I had gone over the cooking game plan with Mekelle during lunch, so we were ready to create some cuisine. We worked hard and fast for 2 1/2 hours straight.
I was so nervous because I had just written down the ingredients we needed for the meal, and Jules went and picked them up - but they weren't the same ones I was accustomed to back in the States. So, we had to improvise and be creative with a few of them. It all worked fabulously though, which was a relief. The evening's menu consisted of yummy (a.k.a. funeral) potatoes, baked chicken, homemade breadsticks, and smores for dessert. Basically the foods that I grew up on and love....American enough for me! A special thanks to my mum who taught me how to cook. This couldn't have been successful without you. :)
It was our family, our neighbors - Heber, Natalia, & their 2 kids (Bella & Heber Jr.), as well as one of Jules' friend, Robin, and her 13-year-old daughter, Tamara. The two of us became good buddies - she helped me do the dishes.
It had been a stress-filled day with the observation, pancake activity, and American dinner extravaganza, so peaceful slumber was calling to me. I put Beau to bed so Jules could drive her friends home. It usually takes a few minutes for him to fall asleep, but this kid was out in approximately 23 seconds flat. I almost fell asleep right then and there too. Long day!
Our guests, around the table: Robin, Jules, Beau, Heber, Heber Jr.
Because it's illegal to have open fires here, we roasted them over the burner on the stove. We used wine biscuits (a kind of cookie) and chunks from a cadbery chocolate bar. Their marshmallows taste a little different here - but it worked! This is Natalia trying it out - she was especially excited about these "smores" because she had heard of them and tried to google them to find out how to make them....haha
As for today, I wanted to do a writing lesson for my students. My focus was on using descriptive words. So, I used the pancake experience from the day before as an example. The kids came up with some awesome descriptive words for pancakes - spongy, wobbly, golden, etc. We brainstormed good descriptive words with a web. I then had them go and write their own paragraphs about their favorite food item. The majority wrote about pizza, chocolate, and KFC. Who would blame them? One little boy came up and asked, "Is cake food?" Most definitely!
I had to go around for a while and give the kids prompts as they brainstormed some good words to use before they started writing. Some of them are so creative. And, of course 8-year-old spelling is the most adorable thing in the entire world.
These were my favorite descriptions (don't worry, translations are included):
"My favorite food to eat is...."
-"soup and bread because the bread is nomall an the soup is hot and when its hot it gets worm an it tasde like worm. and cloud and its a lovely food I ever tasdid."
(...the bread is normal and the soup is hot, and when it gets hot it gets warm and it tastes like warm; it's the most lovely food I ever tasted.)
-"chiekin is sooow yum becose it is sooo mach goseyobis and fallayvvey you woill nevar ever forget wot youhad for diner it is sow metey. it is litte brawne. wene you smle it you wont to gowbell it oll up like loeys. it is hevey and fat. evve nigt you wolld wontt to ete it evin the moning you wolld wentt it."
OK. Disclaimer: this child is not actually in my class - but he had to sit in for today because his teacher had taken the swimming team to a competition so he and his classmates were dispersed amongst all of the teachers. If he WERE in my class, we would be seriously focusing on spelling. (Chicken is so yum because it is so juicy and flavory. You will never ever forget what you had for dinner, it is so meaty. It is light brown. When you smell it you want to gobble it all up like lollies (a.k.a. candies). It is heavy and fat. Every night you would want to eat it even in the morning you would want it.)
-"Pizzas are yummy. Some pizzas are difint shapes. it has lots of meat on it. Pizzas are hard and sometimes pizzers are hot and spicese and pizzas are wobble and grezy."
(...Some pizzas are different shapes. It has lots of meat on it. Pizzas are hard and sometimes pizzas are hot and spicy and pizzas are wobbly and greasy.)
-"Chicin sop, and it is halthe and it tast amazing and the chikin is bran and the water is brane and wen you ckook it. and I love it because it is my fareit food to eat and it is smashing."
(Chicken soup, and it is healthy and it tastes amazing and the chicken is brown the and the water is brown and when you cook it. And I love it because it is my favorite food to eat and it is smashing.)
-"pizza because they have ham and the best thing about the ham is the sqiushy bits like spunchs and they have yummy bits of chicken and they are awesome like soft bits of banana skin. they are thin like a pencil. they are very yummy with the chese because they are sticky and yualow. they are the besh food in the world the end."
(....about the ham is the squishy bits like (spinach? (open for further translation...)) and they have yummy bits of chicken and they are awesome like soft bits of banana skin (He was so proud of this line - I just commended him on his creativity...haha) They are thin like a pencil. They are very yummy with the cheese because they are sticky and yellow....)
It is so entertaining to read over their papers! It's been a slow start for me to teach in my particular classroom, but I'm so happy to finally have some control and experiences with my students.
We had a reliever (substitute teacher) come in after lunch and she just took them outside to play T-ball. Oh.....only in New Zealand! :)
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