Another Update.

Xin chao friends!

I have been sitting in my apartment for about an hour looking up ideas for science journals for my kids and I decided I needed to take a break, so here I am blogging!

There is not a whole lot of new stuff to tell about, I am in a pretty normal routine. Everyday I go to school around 7:00. My kids come at 8:15 and I have them until 3:20. I leave school between 4:00-5:00. Then I either workout or go out to eat and sometimes (like tonight) I can squeeze both in. Then I watch TV or read for a while. I am typically in bed by ten (I'm running late tonight) I read for a while and I zonk out. Exciting right?

While my routine may be boring, my students are still anything but. Many of you have said you thought Max (formally known as Phat) seemed like he could be the entertaining one of the class and he certainly has proved to be quite the character! For example, a couple weeks ago we were learning about adjectives. I had the kids fill out graphic organizers about themselves. I was looking over them and about died when I came to Max's. He described himself as....

 

I still laugh every time I come across these photos! We were using the five senses, so the first picture was what he looks like and the second was how he feels inside. 

Another thing that makes me laugh on a daily basis is watching my kids read silently. Everyday we do the daily five where they may choose to read silently. We also have DEAR (drop everything and read) everyday. It is school wide and lasts twenty minutes. I tell my kids that when they are reading silently they may sit where ever and however they like. Lay on the floor, lean against the the wall, stay at their desk... wherever. Some days the kids spread out like crazy. Other days they just stay at their desks. Last week after I reminded them they could sit wherever none of the students left their desks. One student asked me, "Ms. Michelle, can I sit anywhere?" I answered yes and he walked back to his desk and sat in his seat. I was reading my own book (modeling reading for the kids is AWESOME) and I looked up to make sure everyone was reading. This is what I saw...

 

Yes this is Max again.

Today I took picture of my kids progresses from the beginning of DEAR till the end. They get more and more comfy throughout the 20 minutes. 

 

I'll let you guess who asked if he could stand by my desk. He was very curious to see what I was reading!

 

And since I think my class is so adorable, I will end with some pictures of our daily five. This is a literacy block we do daily where students choose between five different activities. Though the week they will read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, working on writing, do word work, and work with the teacher.

 

Read to someone

 

Work on writing

 

Teacher table with our wonderful ESL teacher

 

Listen to reading... Max being silly. Again.

These pictures don't even begin to show the reasons I love my job. Even my 'bad days' aren't really that bad. One my newest reasons for loving my school is that right outside there is a coconut stand. You can go get a cold coconut in the middle of the day for 7000 dong... less then 50 cents. I will be so sad when I can no longer drink fresh coconuts every day. 

Anywho, that is enough for tonight. I hope you all have a fabulous hump day.. thanks for keeping up with me!

Love always,

Michelle