=D CNY

Chinese New Year - Singapore's Most celebrated - even I, who has no clue or background with this celebration, am in the CNY mooooood =)

Thank you boss for the CNY gift...

and ang pao...=)

Classroom door deco..year of the rabbit!

Classroom window deco....

Working Space

Well, I haven't exactly updated on my "new" job description.

On my previous blogs I showed pictures of my classroom and work of the kids and I had fun as a class teacher but now I am a computer teacher!  Yeah! I love my new job description.

Adding to being a computer teacher though I still help with office work, I am on the IT committee (taking care/inventory of IT stuff) and in charge of contacting or "trying" to fix any IT problems (me fix?!?!! ahhh!) - yes there is some stress there considering I'm not an "IT" person and suddenly the whole school thinks I can solve any IT problem (wut?! no!) haha...

I now have 218 students.  I teach K1 to K2.  4 classes a day Monday to Thursday and replacement/office work on Fridays.  I still work from 8 to 5.   I still leave the house at 6.30 and arrive home around 7. And yes, I'm still exhausted.  But I'm happy with my new job =D

And of course here are some pictures!...

Still getting ideas to decorate my class room...Oh and there are 16 computers which I need to disinefect everyday =P

My "table"

Pictures of 2 very memorable occasions with my family.  Seeing their pictures and remembering our good times helps me to get through each day.

Time to mark books!..218 books to be exact. HAHA this is a lazy day I don't usually do it all at once.

Students workbooks all organised!

Kinder Expo

On Tuesday (My last day of work before my holz) I went with a few colleagues to the Kindergarten Learning Forum.

Bascially, There are tons of booths related to kindergarten education.  There were booths from different kindergartens showing what projects their students did, booths from museums, the Science Centre, IT stuff like the interactive board, toys, books, all materials related to what kindergarten students use to learn.  It was fun and cute...hmm..yeah cute...hehe...some pix below!

Selling, Selling, Buying, Buying

Kids Projects

Kids Projects..they made a salon from recyclable materials!

Selling PE equipment

Science Centre Show

Meet the Parents Session

Last week I had a Meet-the-Parents session 2 days in a row.  I was busy preparing the classroom and displays for parents to see what their kids have been up to.

I put up work related to writing, art, english, math and their theme.  After going through their child's strengths and areas that need some improvement I gave them a little tour of the classroom to them their child's work.

Here's my tour for you!

What is kindness?  I took pictures of students role playing acts of kindness =)

Words the kids recongise from their Reader Book

The pictures I posted about of the kids' family portrait.

Some simple art work.

Math-Patterns

Good Hygiene =)

Pictures I printed out for parents to see in the hallway.

Individual and group photos.  I made sure all the kids were on display =)

4 year olds can write their name.

They were learning about feelings and I asked them to act different feeling and took snap shots of them.  I also let them draw a face with whatever feeling they wanted and also paint a face and stick hair on it =D

"My Family Portrait"

I asked the kids to draw a picture of their house and their family.  Then I asked them to explain to me what they drew and I wrote it down for them. I also pasted their family picture which they brought from home.  I'm going to put it up for their parents to see when they come for parents meet =)

Just a few pictures for you to admire...

What would happen if kids were teachers?

I had this random activity to let my students do.  It kinda just came to me to try it out.

I sat on the floor with my kids and I let my kids go one by one and sit on the teacher's chair and pretend to be a teacher.

We would ask the child acting as a teacher what he/she would teach us and the funniest but not surprising thing was that each one of them answered it something like this:

Students and I:  Teacher, teacher what will you teach us today?
Student acting as a teacher:  Games.  We are going to play games today.

It made me LOL.  Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to teach kids lessons but just let them out and play ALLLL day long?? HAHa...I bet that's every kids dream =)

My Dear Students

Sometimes people might get the idea that teaching children with special needs is boring because most of them need routine and everything is the same everyday. It's just the total opposite. Something different happens everyday. They are wonderful human beings to be around and to get to know. To me they are just like anybody else except that to the world they are labled as "special". Well, it's hard to explain unless you get to meet and spend time with these kids. I'm so happy to be able to connect and begin to understand this part of the world that not many people know about.

Anyways, I just want to share a few things about some of my students.

J is having his GED exams on November 19 Mollel and I have been trying our best to help him. He is doing his final exam on mathematics.

A., he loooooooves music. So on mornings that I am on duty to watch the kids I lend him my phone and let him listen to the music. At first he just nods his head to the song, then he snaps his finger and taps his feet, then he gets up and starts bobbing around...finally I tell him to just go to the court and walk around to the music. He loves music so much he can't stay still or stop smiling while he's listening to it. It's so fun to watch him. He doesn't know how my phone works and he asks me "Where is the volume?" You can hardly get a word out of him without talking to him first or sentences that are not rehearsed but here he asked that on his own accord.

Today, I wore a Karen shirt from on o fmy friends at MC. Then E comes up to me points at my shirt and says "nice,nice". She also hardly starts a conversation or doesn't seem to notice these kinds of things and out of the blue she comes up to me and says that. It was such a great start for the day.

Yes, just a bit about a few of my students. I wish I could tell you every funny thing that happens but it isn't the same if you don't experience it first hand. So come and visit The Village! Hahaha.

Pattaya Class

Pattaya Class is one of the two Drama classes I teach. These are the youngest kids I'm teaching this term. I've gotten to know them and they're really great and sweet kids despite the stress at the beginning of this term I've come to enjoy spending my time with them twice a week.

William putting stickers on his mask.

Eilis blow drying her mask.
We're gonna use the mask as a prop for their Drama class.

There are 5 students and these masks are their work of art.
Eilis, the artistic one, made 2 masks.


This helps me keep them under control =)

They get the good job coupon if they receive 3 stars in one class. They can exchange that coupon for a "prize" usually chocolate which they love. If they get 6 stars they get a certificate in assembly. And if they get 30 stars as a class they have a movie day watching what they love most...Magic School bus!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

http://www.our-kids.org/Archives/Holland.html

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Colourful Festival of Light

Please refer to Hazel's Post to see what festival The Village has celebrated today. I had a great day. I wish there was a camera that could catch feelings so that I could share with you how I felt. Like click this button and then some aura comes out and you can feel the happiness and love I had.

Now the pictures of my [work] love life...=P

These are shaped by coloured grains of rice!