Whew, week 1 is done! It always seems like the LONGEST week of my life...we do this thing on the calendar...OK, my friends, how many days have we been in school? When they say "2" it's like, "really???, I"ve only known you for two days????"
So now I've got 11 students, a good mix of boys and girls, native and non-native speakers, and different types of personalities. I had the kids do an assignment where they gathered items into a "Personality Bag" at home and then brought it into the classroom to share. It was really fun to see the kids reveal each item one by one and then call on their classmates to guess.
We've also been doing a lot of independent writing. I put on tranquil music, turn down the lights and let the kids choose a comfy place in the classroom to settle down and get their thoughts on paper. It's a favorite time for 2nd graders.
Something that makes me smile each day is UNIFORMS. It's very cultural here in Ecuador that everyone wears a uniform. Now, in the public schools, this is enforced. But here at Academia Cotopaxi, as long as the kid has on a polo shirt with the Academia Cotopaxi logo on it, everything else is his or her choice. So I've got my little fashionista girls coming in with striped leggings, cute little jean skirts, fancy sandals, a sparkly long sleaved shirt and of course their uniform on top of this...the point of uniforms is to level the "clothing field"...or I've got this one kid, big, burly, lots of personality who reminds me of a man in a boy's body. You know the type. He wears his work jeans, shiny white sneakers and red suspenders every day (and of course the school shirt). In a way, I'm kind of glad the strict uniform policy isn't really enforced. For me, at least, clothing is a way to express how I'm feeling on a certain day, I think kids should be able to express that too!
I know you're eager for photos...they are coming soon, I promise!
This weekend will be for relaxing and recharging! Maybe a massage is in order...these 7 year olds are wearing me out! (But in a good way :-))
Love,
Rachel
I love the images of the kids; yes send photos. And that daily writing time is really great. It reminds of "the daily pages" from that book, The Artist's Way.
ReplyDelete