Book Challenge, Digraphs, Genius Ladder, & Abu Dhabi

We have been doing lots of fun things at school. 

I am using the 100 Book Challenge from The Teacher Wife.  Some of my kids have totally bought in to it and are reading 10 books a night; others are not feeling it at all.  I explained to them that they have 6 months to read 100 books – that’s not very many books.  But some still feel overwhelmed.  Any ideas for how to get parents on board with this?

Here are some of the keeners in my class.  They have brought in their chains to show each time they have needed a new sheet of chains.

We are doing a mini-unit on Penguins.  This is mainly a language unit, but can also be overlapped in to science.  I was happy to see, when scrolling through the Genius Ladder slides, there was one for penguins.  We will be doing this one on Monday.  If you are not familiar with Genius Ladder, it is another motivating activity from Whole BrainTeaching.  You start with a ‘blah’ sentence, then move to ‘spicey’, ‘extender’, ‘genius sentences’, and lastly ‘genius paragraph’.  With younger students, you start with oral writing and then move to paper.  My kiddos are buying into it and their writing is greatly improving!

The children are enjoying the Power Pix from WBT.  The other day, the resource teacher came in to talk to me, and I heard all this noise behind me [you know, the typical, when you are distracted, the kids go wile].  Well, when I turned around to tell them to follow Rule 2, I was pleasantly surprised to see one student had gotten a pointer and was pointing to the Power Pix, and the rest of the class was reciting the definitions and doing the gestures!  Teacher Heaven as Chris Biffle likes to say.  J 

I greatly appreciate JessicaTravis’, over at 'Wild About Firsties', freebie of interactive digraphs.  It is fantastic and gets the kids engaged.  I introduced one digraph a day, starting with ‘sh’.  Before using the handouts, we sat at the carpet and came up with a huge list of words that started and ended with ‘sh’.  When we moved on to ‘ch’, the third day, I noticed many students were confusing this sound with ‘tr’.  They were suggesting words like ‘train’.  This greatly helped me in understanding some regular spelling errors.  Each day we have practised where to put our tongue and teeth with each of the different sounds.

Update on Abu Dhabi travels:  my teaching diploma arrived, so I have all my paper work together that I have to get authenticated.  Now, just waiting to get an appointment with the lawyer.  I am following lots of blogs of teachers that are in Abu Dhabi now.  I am selling off things and the house is up for sale!  I am looking so forward to this great adventure!!!

Freezing Rain Warning!

This is today’s weather forecast and I have to head into school!!!  I live out in the country about a half an hour from my school.  I have to go in because my Christmas things are still up and I have to get the room set up and ready for tomorrow.  All the furniture is taken out over the holidays for cleaning; so it all has to be put back together.  Wish me well!

Back to Basics!

January means back to routines.  And by this, I mean reviewing the routines from September.  We got a little lazy with them during the month of December.  As I've mentioned before, I use Whole Brain Teaching as my classroom management backbone.  Here are the highlights of the regular techniques I use:

     Lines:  When I call 'Lines', the class three-peats it, 'Lines, lines, lines', as they move into their line order.  I have a set line order that we use all year no matter what - doesn't matter who is VIP of the week, whose birthday it is, etc.  Everyone is given a number on day one, and that is the order they line up in.  This has been very handy for me on field trips and fire drills.  I call 'Number off' and they say their numbers in order.  It is a quick and easy way for me to see if I have all of my kiddies.  We use this order for lining up, order of the hooks in closet, and various other uses through the year, like grouping - '1, 6, 11, 16 - you are one group'.  You get the idea...

     Class-Okay:  This is the attention grabber.  When I need the classes attention, I say, 'Class' and they respond 'Yes'.  You can make it fun and keep it fresh by mixing it up.  'Classity Class' - 'Yessity Yes'; 'Class-a-doodle' - 'Yes-a-doodle', etc.  It is unbelievable how effective this is.

     Hands & Eyes:  After doing the Class-Okay, if it is something really important, I will say 'Hands and eyes'.  Students fold their hands and look at me while saying, 'Hands and eyes'.

     Scoreboard:  When doing all the above mentioned, I use a scoreboard on the blackboard and give a smilie or frownie for how well they responded.  A smilie gives them permission for a 1 second party of pumping their arms and saying, 'Oh yeah', and a frownie gives permission for a 1 second sulk of giving a collective mighty groan.  

     5 Classroom Rules:  You can read more about them on the WBT website.  But I will just say that we will be reviewing these at each reentry to the classroom for the first couple of weeks back.

You can find more information on all of these techniques on the WBT website or in their amazing book, 

Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids.  It's inexpensive and is truly the best class management program I have ever come across.

Good luck to everyone with back to school tomorrow!!!

Primary Ponderings in Abu Dhabi

That is what my site will be titled next year.  A couple of years ago I started looking into teaching internationally.  It’s something I have always wanted to do but haven’t.  There was always something ‘guilting’ me to stay put.  With both my daughters in their teens, the oldest in college and the youngest with a sense of adventure, I decided it was time.  From browsing the internet, the agency that stood out to me was Teach Away.  Of course, I wanted a job in Italy, Switzerland, or Australia.  These were not to be found.  I applied on line and the next day received a call for a phone interview.  I was accepted for a position in Abu Dhabi!  Where is that?  I had never heard of it!  They wanted me to go right away.  I couldn’t go right away --- I had a job, house, commitments.  I began preparing my parents (I’m an only child) and children that I would eventually be doing this.  I decided when my youngest completed grade 12, would be a good time.  That is spring 2015.  I told my rep at Teach Away this and my file was put on hold. 

Over the past two years we have researched Abu dhabi, Teach Away, and many teacher blogs that are teaching there now.  The excitement grew.

This past fall, I reawakened my file.  I had to do another phone interview for everything to be brought up-to-date.  On November 22^nd I went to the Harbour Castle in Toronto for an in-person interview. 

The first step was to check in with all of my paper work – copies of passport, degrees, criminal check, reference letters, OCT certificates, resume, passport photos, medical form. 

Next step was a small group session first.  We watched via satellite, as two women filled us in on some of the ADEC policies, contract info, what to do if you don’t like it, and a few cultural differences.  They were both very friendly and wearing what business women in Canada might wear.

Then we went back to a waiting room to wait for our individual interviews.  I had expected the room to be filled with young new teachers.  This was not the case at all – there was 1 that I would say was under 30.  The rest were middle-aged.  I talked to a man beside me that told me he was from Nova Scotia and had been teaching internationally for some time.  He takes a two year contract, then comes back for a year – doesn’t work – visits family and friends, then travels to visit friends he has met from around the world.  Then he repeats it.  Sounds good to me!  My hope is that this will lead me to connections to teach in other countries.

I was first up for the IPI.  What a difference experience!  I was led in to a big conference room with an open laptop sitting on a table.  From a distance, I peered around to see who would be interviewing me.  There was a woman, maybe in her 50’s, and a man, 30ish.  I sat down and put on the headphones.  I have never skyped or anything before, so this was really different.  The woman was quite strict with her questions and her reactions to my responses.  She had me a bit nervous as she seemed to dismiss everything I said.  The man was more casual.  [Good cop, bad cop?  I don’t know.]   When I left, I really wasn’t sure how I did.  The rep’s told me I would hear in about 6 weeks.  Ok, I am ok with it either way.  I have a job I love, at a school I love!

On Monday, Nov. 24, after school, I got an email with a Letter of Offer!  The interview was only Saturday!  That was awesome.  I was so excited – a few tears escaped!  Now the process of authenticating all my documents has begun.  I cannot find my diploma for my teaching degree.  It was too long ago!  I had to contact the college and pay, and am now waiting for a new one.  My lawyer’s secretary said it will be about $200 for authentication.

Happy New Year!

My goals for 2015:

1.  Sell my house

2.  Move to another country

3.  Invest some money

4.  Contribute $12000 to my RRSP

5.  Visit 4 countries

6.  Ride a camel

7.  Swim in the Persian Gulf

8.  Get a custom made abaya

9.  Shine God’s light more

10. Spend more time with God

What are your goals?