8.28.2008
First Official Day of Being a Teacher!
8.27.2008
classroom pics!!
Here's the hallway entrance to my classroom.
The hallway has a garden! I would never have that in the States! My classroom door is open.
Through the gated doorway... I really want to use this door for students entering the room, but we can't find the key for the gate!
My messy desk :)
I took this photo around 4pm but I made changes already... but it gives you a good idea!
I had a whole conversation in Spanish today... or rather, I understood most of what Mrs. Lucy was saying to me... and I attempted Spanish :). I'm so excited that I am hearing and understanding words and phrases now! The custodian, Marie, will also talk to me... and she says "poco a poco!" to me a lot :). "Little by little," that's for sure.
Shout out to Aaron and Maria Wood... Thanks for these great organizer baskets from your leftover wedding favors :) They hold my paper clips and thumbtacks!
Another shout out to Melissa Smith for her amazing Faith and Life speech when she let us keep chunks of her painting! The piece that I claimed labels my clock well!
Another BIG thanks to Erin Blucker! Woohoo!! First piece of snail mail from the U.S.! :) It made it here in 8 days... My boss says it takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, so we got lucky this time!
Introducing a student of mine, Carissa. She's lived most her life in Costa Rica, and it's amazing to hear her speak Spanish! She helped me paint curtains today and literally told me her life story, ha. She told me matter-of-factly that she likes jazz and salsa music.
Here's the curtains we painted... I'm not sure how well they work next to the painted windows... so I'll brainstorm what to do next.
a moment for thanks
8.26.2008
would anyone like to proofread this for me? :)
I did consider copying and pasting the whole document on my blog, but I wouldn't want to bore any of you. Let me know if you're interested, however. ha!
So I found out today that I won't be paid for these teaching endeavors for quite some time... but when I do receive my first paycheck, it will be wonderful. I want to thank those of you who have been so generous to support me and make this whole thing possible! God is providing and will continue to do so!
Sorry, I still haven't taken photos of the classroom. It's not how I want it yet... so I don't really want to take photos. But it would also be nice for you to be able to picture where I've already spent 23 hours this week, right?
Tomorrow I will only be testing my 5 new students. Thursday's the BIG DAY of KATE'S FIRST DAY OF CORRALING 15 STUDENTS...
I did have 27 4th graders in student teaching, so what's a mere 15?? (That's what I keep telling myself :))
Oh, and some photos from today. Here's the outside of our apartment... outside the gates and everything. Bright orange!! :) That will be a great story for someday. Our apartment door is right behind the tree in our front yard.
And here's our apartment again through the back gate of the school. Vivo muy cerca a mi trabajo! (I live very close to my job! :))
And here's the school in the morning. Beautiful warm sun and the mountains beyond the city limits. The clouds are already forming and promise rain from about 1pm for the rest of the day. If you want to exercise outside or run errands, morning is the best time!
Oh, and the language mix-up of the day. I was trying to write directions to our apartment in Spanish, and I wrote "gato enfrente" to describe the front gate. ha. I had a tico teacher proofread for me, and she said... "Um, Kate, 'gato' es 'cat' en ingles." Whoops. I'm definitely learning from my mistakes. Now I know that "gate" in Spanish is "proton" with an accent above the second 'o'. (I don't know how to make accents on this keyboard, can anyone help me with that?)
Wow, this is all incredibly humbling.
8.25.2008
primera dia...
The staff is mixed gringo and tico... so everything said in Spanish and English was translated into the other language...
I'm not sure if my brain hurt more from listening to lots of Spanish or from everything I have to get done in the next few days...
New students come on Wednesday for preassessment in Math, Reading, Writing... then all the students will be here on Thursday.
I've been organizing the classroom (books, files, and my binders)... I really want to make other decorations, but I figure organization is more important at this point and the ideas I have for learning posters can be made within the next month :). Grace is good.
Pictures of the classroom to come...