Monday Assembly!
What a week! Monday began with, once again, teaching number patterns and doubling and halving. What is the point in moving on if the learners aren't understanding a topic. Honestly...I feel as though it is a mix between language barriers and attention skills. BUT what can you do?:) So I retaught and gave another assessment to check understanding. It was good though! Then, I had an activity planned for environmental studies about social groups. The learners seemed to have a blast. They received a note card with the name of on social group and they were to find all the people in the same social group as them without talking and only using motions. IT WAS GREAT :) Then I had them draw a picture of the social group they would like to be a part of...what little artists I have. AND FINALLY at the end of the day on Monday I was able to do the first drawing for prizes. I have changed my strategy to giving the learners who are on task and quiet little pieces of paper to write their name on throughout the day and then at the end of the day I draw 2-3 learners names out to pick a prize from my prize bag! :) It's sooo fun giving away fun stuff!
After School RAIN!!
After Monday came Tuesday...of course...and it was a rough day. I had a boy sneak out to break on me when I was dismissing learners individually because so many were being loud and misbehaving. The boy's name is Brian and I told him he would be staying in for break on Wednesday, but after watching him get beat right before Wednesday's break by my teacher, I went up to him to check on him and he had tears in his eyes...as my heart broke there was no way I could keep him in, so I let him go out.
Along with this event on Wednesday were many other very impacting events. I planned like crazy on Tuesday night in order to have math groups Wednesday so that I could give more one-on-one attention to those learners who were still struggling with number patterns and/or doubling and halving. It was a lot of work but after looking over the assessments from Monday, I dividing my learners into 4 groups: those who clearly understood both, those who needed more help with number patterns, those who needed help with doubling and halving, and those who needed extra help with both. Then I came up with various enrichment/practice activities for those who understood as well as a couple for the other groups. I re-taught the concepts to the smaller groups and had the learners who understood doing activities like: double and halving bingo, number patterns with dice, make your own number patterns, and doubling and halving grid. I went into Wednesday thinking it was going to be CRAZY! But surprisingly enough, it was great! It was crazy, but not as bad as I thought it would be and although there are definitely things that I would change for next time, the kids loved it and most really began to understand both concepts.
Class Photo...Say CHEESE!
As the school day came to an end, my day wasn't over yet. Jessica short (as the kids call the other Jessica) and I (Jessica Tall) began walking home with Tia, one of Jessica short's learners. Boy was that an experience! It was such an eye opening experience. As we walked kids crowded around, touched us, held our hands, and walked with us for majority of the way...although some began to drop off, many continued with us. I don't even know that all of their houses were the same direction as we were going, but they wanted to stay with us, lol.
The Walk :)
Once we got to Tia's house we met her family and talked with them. We learned that there were 16 kids and 8 adults all in their VERY small house. I couldn't believe it! I fell in love with one of the little baby/toddlers there though. From the moment I saw her I couldn't help, but smile and play with her. After she warmed up to me, she sat on my lap the rest of the time.There were also several other kids that snuggled up with me :) It was a great experience...from walking home to learning about their family and then also walking back to the school to be picked up. Overall it was a fairly good Wednesday with a mix of thoughts and feelings.
God is the same everywhere I walk! :)
Houses in Katutura
Little girl I saw while walking
Jessica and I with some of the kidos in Tia's family
Cutest baby ever!! Loved HER!
Some of the other girls snuggling up :)
And finally, Today! Today was a pretty normal day...I gave the learners the letters from my students in the States and they were sooooooo excited! :) So excited that it was a little hard to get their attention after handing them out. Once everyone read their letter and got their friendship bracelet on, we began to write the sentences that will soon be in their letters back to the students in the States. In doing this, I found my learners are VERY good at writing sentences!! YIPPEEE!! They loved writing and as they finished I gave them a Namibian flag that I drew and my teacher made copies of for them to color for the front of their letters. The only rough part was when my teacher came in at 12:29 and informed me that the learners were suppose to be dismissed at 12:30 today for "preparation time"...I hadn't given homework, all the learners were still working and after telling me that my teacher left. I think she may have been a little annoyed with me, but how was I suppose to know. After giving homework, packed up and praying my learners finally left to class at 1:08, 2 minutes before they usually get out...whoops.
And with that...we head into a three day weekend. Hopefully I get into town this weekend to finish up some of the final gifts and wants, so that I am not cramming the last few days.
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