St. Patrick's Day

First of all, Dain and Steffany were apparently in my 6 year old group (4 turning 5 in America), and their parents weren't too keen on them being combined with the 5 year olds (3 turning 4), so they moved to another school. I was sad to see them go, but it is much easier to teach/control three students when I can sit right in front of them and point to things.

So we're down to three: Sunny, Joshua and Alice

For this post, I thought it would be fun to walk you through a day at school for me right now.

We start off the day with Molly Teacher saying, "Hello! Good morning!" about 8 times until they realize they are supposed to say it back to me. Then, we get up and go to the calendar and I tell them the day of the week and the date. They sometimes repeat it, but it falls on deaf ears. They probably don't even know the days of the week in Korean yet.

Then we go to our weather cards. They have pictures on them so they answer yes or no as I go through each condition: sunny, rainy, windy, snowy. We do temperatures, too (hot, warm, cold, cool), but they haven't really figured those out yet. It's been cool since they started... so I think they just think it's cool everyday. We'll see if they notice when it switches to warm.

Then we share how we're feeling. Sunny and Alice usually grab the "happy" card and say, "happy!" Joshua, the happiest little boy in the world (literally), always grabs the "angry" card and says, "angry" through an angry clenched jaw. Then he laughs uproarously. It's hilarious. But, at least he gets it.

Then they sit down and I give them the key sentence. I come up with the daily key sentence, so they can be anything, but I decided to start them out with one letter each day. A is for apple, b is for bear, c is for cow, etc. They are supposed to memorize the sentence and be able to go home and tell their parents for homework.

St. Patrick's Day was our "L" day. I write the key sentence on the board and try to teach them what the word is that they are saying by drawing a picture. HA!

Then each student gets a worksheet to trace the letter of the day. It has a picture at the top of the subject for the day that they can color. Joshua and Sunny take forever to trace their letters because they'd rather play, laugh, and organize their crayons.


See.


Alice, on the other hand is incredibly studious and competitive (just like her sister, Jasmine). She usually finishes her letters, writes her name at the top, and turns in her paper before the other two have even realized what is going on.

I usually end up giving her a review worksheet to keep her busy. She's doing really well with her letters, but we need to work on that pencil grip.

See? Who holds a pencil like this?

After they trace their letters, we'll usually go through the letter flashcards until the bell rings. After a ten minute break, we have time to work in our SuperTots or Smart Phonics books for seocnd period. Super Tots is all vocabulary based, so they are learning colors, and numbers, and Smart Phonics is... phonics.

Forty minutes later, the bell rings again. After another ten minute break, we have a special class for third period (Music, Gym, Computers, Science, or Cooking). Each day of the week is a different class.

After third period, it's lunch time. The students eat in the classroom with our helper teacher, Sara. I usually get them seated with their utensils before she comes in. She loves me.

How cute are the little "training" chopsticks?

After lunch, we will work in another book or have story time for 4th period. Then, fifth is arts and crafts or another fun activity. On St. Patrick's Day, we made leprachaun costumes. All the kids wore green, too, which was so cute!

Sunny was the only one who would put on the full costume. She stood like this, completely stoic, for like 10 minutes while everyone pointed and laughed and took pictures. It was quite the spectacle.

Then, they leave at 2 pm, and elementary classes start at 2:35. We have 4-40 minute periods in the afternoon (2 for each class), then at 5:30, we go home!

I'll take some pictures of my elementary classes this week so you can meet them. My classes are all much bigger this time because we didn't re-hire for Liz's position, but they are a lot of fun!

I bought some rainboots and a cute umbrella... I'm ready for SPRING!!!