2011년 5월 23일 월요일

Robot Class: The reason I drink

I know you've been eagerly awaiting this run down of my chaotic babies...so, with out further ado, I give you Robot class.

Tom. Super smart. An excellent reader and speaker. He loves to hit his teachers and karate chop his classmates. He is also one of the slowest eaters I have ever seen.

Sally. She has a great attitude. She also loves screaming, dancing, and laughing. Sally does not try to sound out new words so much as look at them, look at me and say "Teacher, what?!"
Mark. I don't know what to say about this child. He has never sat in a chair for longer than 2 minutes. Tops. He is extremely smart, but does not sit, does not complete his workbook work, and he says odd stuff. Stuff like "Teacher, me no like workbooks. It's not funny." "Teacher, me good job?" This face? This face is the result of "Hey Mark, Smile!" He also loves to dance, shakes his butt in the air, and rolls around on the floor.
Kate. A really good reader. She doesn't really speak that much, and she just stares at her teachers when she needs something. She loves to laugh and she has a great attitude. She lives in Kate world. 100 percent.
Jessica. Loves school. Hates sitting down, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and generally paying attention to anything that I say or do. Jessica gets tired of feeding herself somedays. So she looks at me and says "teacher, help me."She laughs and laughs and screams, and dances, and takes years to eat her lunch.
Jenny. An excellent reader. She refuses to speak to me when I have a question, but loves to mimic me and ask silly questions. She talks and talks and talks and talks when I'm trying to teach. She also has a great laugh. She is another slow eater. Super slow. And adorable.
Eric. This little mad usually just says "teacher, I don't know." and then continues to draw on the desk. He loves to play power ranger. Some days, he's really good at reading. Some days, he's not. He generally stays in his seat,although he's rarely quiet.
Daniel. This child has a temper! He also loves to answer questions and scream as loud as he can. He rarely stays in his seat for longer than 3 minutes. Daniel either loves me or hates me, and it usually changes about every 15 minutes.
Amy. The boss of the class. Completely ignores anything that any teacher has to say to her. She has a great speaking and reading level. She loves school and as far as she's concerned, she's the teacher. Her new favorite move is to hold out her hand and say "teacher, wait. Wait." I really like that...not.


I love these kids. They are a handful. They have improved a lot as far as class time behavior goes, but break time and lunch time ruin my life. I have included three videos that I took at lunch time today. They are about a minute long each. It's going to blow your mind. This is my life at lunch time. Everyday. But, they are adorable and I really do love them. All. They just make me so tired and crazy.

Enjoy!

2011년 5월 5일 목요일

Cinco De Mayo!

In Korea, May 5th is Children's Day. It is a national holiday-schools, businesses, everything is closed. Kids receive presents and get to spend time with their parents. (Don't worry, Sunday is Parent's Day and Teacher's Day is in the next couple weeks-we still have work, but we get presents.) I think this holiday is a good idea, first because I like days off. Second, because many of my kids don't see their dads during the week because they don't get home til after midnight, so the nation recognizing this and giving them a day seems like a good idea. Sophia and I started to wonder about the holiday- was it the result of the cultural love and protection of children that is is very apparent here? Or was it the result of Korea's move up the economic ladder of the world and their work ethic? So, I looked. This is what I found. Take it or leave it.

In South Korea, May 5 is officially recognized as Children's Day (어린이날). Parents often give presents to their children, as well as spend time with them. The children are taken on excursions to zoos and museums.

The children's day was firstly gaining attention from innovative students and leaders on the basis of independent movement of March first in 1919. From Jinju, many people gathered to bring up the recordable and respectable status of children and encourage adults to teach awareness of the deprived soverignity. Since then, several groups of children and students studying in Tokyo agreed to designate May 1 as the day in 1922. Predominant figure, Bang Jeong Hwan greatly contributed the enhancement of participation from the intelligent, while the laborer's day also tapped together and moved the day toward May 5. Until 1939, Japanese authorities based in Seoul oppressed the movement to stop the congregation of Korean people for the festival. After the independence,the intetion for respecting children came to revive from 1946. The children's welfare law written on the constitution officially registerd May 5 as children's day in 1961.


What did we do on our day off? Read this. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/asia/southkorea/flag/

Now, look at my pictures.

Before

Planning.

During.

Halfway?


I forgot to have Sophia take a picture of the finished product. Good news-it looks really good and I'm really happy with it. Cool news-You can see it next time you see me. It'll still be there.

Happy Mother's Day!