Cute moments

If I earned a penny for every time my students said/did something hysterical, I would be pretty rich. I should have had a notebook titled "Kid Quotes" at the beginning of the year to just record them all. I was able to document a few of the moments that were in writing...everything else depends on my memory (which usually fails me an hour after the moment). Before our science unit on Materials & Objects, I had the students work together in groups to make a KWL chart (What they Know, what they Want to know, and the what they Learned would be later). According to one of my students, his knowledge of materials and objects was that squirrels were made of meat. He even drew a picture with a label! At least that wasn't his question, because I am definitely not talking about the properties and materials of animals...

For our writer's suitcase that has been going home each weekend, one precious girl decided to paste some of the wallpaper from her new house into our writer's notebook. The students take the whole week to fill our comment jar, and I decided to read a few of them. Here's one (from the same student as above)..."I like the way you put the wallpaper in the journal (It feels good!)". I love how kids talk to each other....especially these two. They are both American in a sea of Korean students so they have a natural draw and bond to each other. I find it hard not to laugh at their interactions at times. One time when he was telling her some fascinating information about dolphins, he proceeded to act out how they can stick their noses 1 inch from your face. Boy was she startled! I just walked away laughing to myself I almost cried.

A six hour adventure to the border...

Friday Morning:

Dave: "Hey hon...do you want to go somewhere for spring break?"

Lauren: "Are you sure? It starts tomorrow! Do you think we'll have time?"

Dave: "Oh sure, I'll just run and get tickets today....let's go see the border of China and North Korea!"

Lauren: "OOOOokkkk (brief hesitation)...sounds like fun!"

And we were off to Dandong....marveling at the spontaneity of it, and looking forward to the adventure of our riverfront hotel, two days of exploring and seeing what we could of North Korea (museums, mountains, boat rides, etc).

Here we are on the train super excited for our adventure together!

And then we got off the train:

Dave: "OOhhhh....no..."

Lauren: "What? Did you forget something on the train"

Dave: "The passports are at home......"

Lauren: "Ohhh.....that means..."

Dave: "no hotel...."

Luckily, we were able to keep good spirits about it and quickly searched for a ride back that evening. Since the next train was leaving at 12:00 and it was already 11:00, we decided to take a bus back at 6:30 that evening. We left our luggage with the bus station and were off to cram it all in one day! Good thing Dandong is a small city...a verymanageable trip for just one day...just not ideal. We had to cut our sight-seeing in half, yet were able to see the main attractions....the border itself and a boat ride in Korean waters. We were thrilled!

Since we didn't have a hotel room to crash in when our feet were throbbing, this SPR shop was our resting place. Good food, good coffee and great atmosphere!

Here is a shot of North Korea. Interesting to see a ferris wheel in the background. Wonder if anyone rides that thing?

We had our own personal speedboat for a good 20 minutes! Let's just say, we got up close and personal with the "other side".

Note to self: Don't look through binoculars when your on rocky waters going a very fast speed. I think I bruised my cheekbone!

China behind us An old steam shovel that hasn't been used in the states for decades....wonder if the Koreans use it....

The entrance to the bridge that was bombed by Americans during the Korean war.

It was so interesting to see the contrast of countries. Looking over to one side, it is dark and dismal with not much going on. And over here in Dandong, they had bands playing, kites flying, and people laughing. I wonder if they are envious of the joy.

It was so neat to watch this guy paint characters on the ground. If you didn't look long enough, what he wrote evaporated in a matter of minutes!

And to end the day, we treated our twisted back and shin splints with a 20 kuai massage (that's like $3.00)...it was fabulous.

And then filled our tummies before hopping on the train! What a day!

Hopefully we can make it back to Dandong again to see the museum and hike a well known mountain. But through it all, He provided! We felt so blessed by how everything worked out...and we sure did save a lot of money :)

A wedding out our window...

I feel a bit under dressed. I stand here with my unshowered desheveled hair and pajamas only to see that there is quite the celebration right outside our window! I assumed that it was a traditional Chinese wedding with all the red clothing, the hanging box, and dancing dragons in the front. As they played their music and marched around the apartment, I ran back and forth like a little kid thinking they were going to throw me candy. When they were nearing the back of our apartment, I got so caught up in hanging out the window (1st floor by the way) to catch it on video, that I didn't even realize the group of people just staring at me. Once I realized, I thought to myself "Oh there is never a moment we Americans don't get stared at". But then I suddenly rememebered my attire. My hair....is sticking up everywhere.....my face...still has imprints of the bedsheet.....my clothes.....mixmatching with holes! Yikes! That's what they are staring at! Well, I still think it was worth it for the video I was able to capture. Wish it wouldn't take an eternity to upload.

Noodle Dancing

At first glance, it appeared to be an aproned man performing a ribbon dance. Yet amidst the cheering and applaud you discover this stretching/flinging/twirling thing to be one long noodle! An edible one at that, soon to be dropped into a boiling pot in the center of the table. This my friends, was quite the experience...dinner WAS the show!

We were out celebrating at an upscale hotpot restaurant for a friend's birthday. I have never been waited on with such persistency in my life. Personal aprons for the "noodle splash-back" hot rags that were promptly delivered when yours got cold, people stationed in the bathrooms to lotion your hands, and even a free ticket to get your nails done while you were waiting! While we enjoyed being waited on hand and foot, we were entertained by the noodle dancing and laughter with good friends. What a joy it was to all get out together again....it's been way too long.

This guy is getting ready to wind up and trick Amber and Rachael....look at their faces in this picture (this is before he decides to fling the noodle inches from their eyes).

And this is after he flung it right in front of them....and I captured it! We laughed at this picture for quite some time after that moment.

Laughing about something....not sure what....most likely something to do with noodles.

Now that I got out and socialized, its back to the books to prepare for the last and final stretch of the year...the 4th quarter! There will be many adjustments come Monday when my classes will be much larger than before. I have to keep telling myself "If I could do 20 students last year, I can handle it for just one quarter now."

When being "cheap" kicks you in the rear...

I knew this moment would come. The moment when past shopping decisions would start coming back to humor me. Back when I was getting the classroom decorated, I was out getting pillows made. I was told that it would be wise to purchase the actual pillow inserts, but I realized that I could just buy the fuzz stuff for a 1/4 of the price! Who wouldn't go for a deal like that? A year and a half later, I realized why I should have listened to the market ladies.

Closely hung winter jackets + LICE outbreak = washing everything with fabric in your classroom!

Even though we only have one student with lice in our classroom, I spent the whole afternoon "de-stuffing" all eight pillows. Carpets are shampooed and everything else is in the wash machine. Hopefully we can get rid of this fast!

I'll have a lot of fun come Monday morning trying to shove all of this back in each pillow. Just look at the pile of bags I have to work with!

Maybe the markets are not always trying to rip you off....maybe there is quite a bit of wisdom in how they sell you stuff. Noted for later trips ;)

Homeade Lasagna = Teamwork

Like mentioned before....people motivate me.

To put it in the perspective of my kitchen, I find this pattern of positive energy everytime someone is either cooking with me or working nearby. The other day, Dave and I were making lasagna together and it was so fun (and I am pretty sure he felt the same way)! We were tagteaming it the whole way, and were able to knock out the steps in 1/2 the time. I worked on the homeade lasagna noodles while Dave worked away at the meat and sauce. By the time we were both done, we just sat there in our glorified exhaustion waiting for our dinner to cook. Oh the joys of working together!

Thanks Emily for your lasagna noodle recipe! They were so good that Dave and I just sat there eating them raw :)

Pure satisfaction :)

The only thing is that with just the two of us, we are stuck eating lasagna for the week.

A Scrapbook of Comprehension

It is always so entertaining to watch how students interpret their understanding. It could be as small as knowing how rain effects the Earth to big things like how changes works together to create order. I have simply fallen in love with the idea of using journals for every subject. This opens the doors for creating an interactive notebook with responses, quick assessments, and it is much easier to grade their work since it is always in the same place! If it's a cute little foldable, they just glue it in, and then have lined paper to write a quick response. The cool thing is that it acts as a keepsake for them (they love looking back on all that they have learned). In one particular subject, I use a bunch of different comprehension responses to see how they are understanding the lesson...take a peek!

Illustrate & Label

Sometimes after sharing a story, I might say "Okay, I want you to cut up this paper and re-create the scene, label the important parts, and then respond how this story is like you!"

Comparing Characters & Places

Sometimes I might just have them compare and contrast two different characters that we have already reviewed. This student chose Samson and Gideon (they were both "heros").

Story Sequence

Sometimes I have them create a window where they need to include "First, then, next, and finally" to create a sequence of what happened in the story that day. Labels, simple sentence, and illustrations need to be included. This was one student's account for what happened after they took Samson away:

First the Philistines took him away!

Then they chained him to a building.

Next he was forgiven and got his strength back!

Finally he broke the building (that had the Philistines in it) and Samson died!

Character Analysis

And sometimes I have them choose two characters that we learned and write about them in the 1st person. They need to include who they are, why they are important, and some other interesting facts about his/her story.

If it is too hard to read, here is his interpretation of these two characters:

Ruth

Hi. My name is Ruth. In my past, a man named Boaz left me lots of wheat when I was gleaning. What became of me you ask? I got married to Boaz and had baby Obed.

Samson

Hey. I'm Samson. As a Nazarite, I am very strong! My enemies are the Philistines. I wish I could kill someone with a tree. In the end I will die.

I wish I had thought of this idea at the beginning of the year! At least I can begin anew next year :)