After a long weekend putting the final preparations on my classroom and getting ready the first day finally arrived. You know, "ready or not here they come!"
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| Nice shot of the 4 student computers |
Before I tell about the first day, here are a few pictures of my new "indoor" school and classroom.
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| Entrance to the Primary School |
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| My SmartBoard
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| Indoor play area called the Quad/Pod |
The building is super nice with lots of modern facilities including a swimming pool! I just hope it's more than a nice campus.
Sunday September 2nd marked the beginning of the school year. I got to school a bit past 7 and students were already there. Typically the assembly starts at 7:30, but we won't be having an assembly until Wednesday. So, at 7:30 the students were sent to their classroom. We had a slight issue directing students to the proper classroom because the lists in the reception area were labelled wrong. My classroom is 4D, but the list in reception had me and Gursharn (pronounced Gasharon; don't ask me how) flipped. So her class, which is 4F was labelled 4D so all her students went to my classroom and vice versa. One of the parents told me this, so I went out to reception to fix the mistake, but that didn't prevent the parents from bringing Ms. Gursharn's students to me. Oh well. We'll get it all figured out.
As of right now I have 22 students on my list and only 10 of them showed up. I actually had 12 students, but 2 weren't on my list. They are probably Gursharn's students. The few students that I had were coming in, getting settled, and making name tags for their desk and locker while I was talking to parents. The first thing Saeed's dad told me was that I would have to watch him "his behavior is bad." Great. That's exactly what every teacher wants to hear on the first day. I probably could have figured this out by myself, but with parental input that makes it a bit more real. He was quite talkative today (probably the only one) and had a hard time sitting still. But, he did do his work (the little that we did) and he did participate and he seems to be bright enough. He likes praise and worked for that today so I'll have to keep that in mind. While we were filling out the parent communication book I was pointing out who was ready and I didn't mention him, although he was ready, and he said "Saeed is ready too; good job." He's really cute too so that will be a problem. I did have a minor problem with him today. After the first break, Peter - another teacher - told them that they had to tuck in their shirt or they couldn't go back to the classroom. He told this to all the grade 4 boys. So I went around making sure my 5 boys tucked their shirt in. Saeed of course didn't. I told him to and he didn't. We got back to the classroom and I told him that he couldn't come in the class. He sat outside (which I must mention again is actually inside) the classroom for a while and I got the rest of the 11 students started on something. I went out to see if he was ready and I asked him if he could come in the class. His response was "No." I asked him why he couldn't come in and he told me "My shirt isn't tucked in." Well tuck it in then! He tucked it in and came in the class. It didn't remain tucked for very long. I have to tell you this isn't going to be a battle that I am going to fight, unless of course I really have to. As long as he keeps his shirt on I could care less if it's tucked in or not!
I had a little mishap this morning after art before break. I had agreed with the art teacher that I would take them to art and she would take them to the quad for break. Great that meant that I wouldn't have to walk up 2 flights of stairs twice. Khadija led the way to art and I left them there with the full assurance that Maggie would bring them to the quad for break. After my 40 minute break I went to the quad to find my students. All the other 4th grade classes were there, but my class was nowhere to be found. Where were they? Peter sent one of his students (the art teacher's daughter) to find them. She came back and gave us the thumbs up. We figured that meant they were on their way. No such luck. So I walked up the 2 flights of stairs to find them. Only they weren't in the art room. By this time the eating part of break was over and the rest of 4th grade was playing. To my surprise it was actually all of 4th grade. Where did my students come from? Khadija came over to me and I asked her where they were and her response was "we know where to go, Miss." OK. They are obviously able to do this on their own! Evidently they were in the cafeteria when all the other 4th grade classes were lined up outside. I had no idea. I guess I should have looked harder for them! Other than that there were no real obstacles today.
After the first break students began to leave and by the time I left for my doctor's appointment at 2:00 I was down to 9 students. As I was getting ready to leave I saw Nawal (art teacher from Ammoryiah). It was great to see her and we greeted with lots and lots of kisses! She said that there were many new teachers at Ammoryiah and the returning teachers were asking about me. I told her to tell them HI and that I wish I could come see them. That will have to wait until I have a day off and they don't. Probably won't be until the summer. Bummer because I would love to see my former students.
My doctor's appointment was for this lump I noticed on the side of my neck and a mildly irritating constant sore throat. It's like I've been sick since I got back. Not good. Dr. Shirley said not to worry about the sore throat; it's just slightly red and tender. Yeah mildly irritating! About the lump. It's right near my thyroid so they are going to do some tests. I have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow night which will tell her if there's fluid in the lump or if it's cystic. If there is fluid in there, which she thinks there is based on how it feels, then I will have some sort of procedure to drain some of it so they can analyze it. In addition to the test on the lump they are going to look at my thyroid to see if it is functioning properly since thyroid problems run in the family. They are also looking at my iron levels again. There may be a few doctor's appointments for me in the near future. I will keep you all updated.
Back for day 2 tomorrow. Hoping Saeed tucks in his shirt tomorrow:)
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