I love my new babies. They are so excited about everything we learn and will literally do anything just to receive a paper star. That's the beauty of 6 year olds. The reward and punishment system for my class? If you follow directions I hand you a star cut out of paper and you get to keep it and take it home to show your mom and dad...if you do something bad, I write your name on the board and put an "X" next to it. If you get 3 Xs in one class, I take away a star. It works like magic! I am really getting to know these kids and love them - I am spending so much time with them that some of them are already accidentally calling me "ma ma" - ahh! They mostly come from different parts of China (some Taiwan, Hong Kong) and some are half Chinese (one girl, Emily, is half Danish and half Chinese (she speaks fluent Danish, English and Chinese - it's pretty awesome!) Another student, Brandon, looks Chinese but he is actually from New Jersey! They is also one boy in my class from Canada.
Day 2 went smoother than Day 1 - they are finally starting to get the hang of all the new routines and procedures. They are also trying to get used to calling me "Ms. Hesse" - as they are used to calling their teachers in China "laoshi" (which means teacher in Chinese). Therefore, it translates to "teacher" - so instead of saying "Ms. Hesse can you help me?" many of them are saying "Teacher teacher is this right?" We are working on it :)
There were a few unexpected events today. First, Wen Yuchen (my student from Canada) vomitted all over the floor when he walked into class today, fun fun. It looked like he had eaten a lottttt of dumplings last night. Also, we had quite a few timeouts during recess today. There is an indoor playground that they are allowed to use (it looks like one of those playscapes in Chucky Cheese's and even has one of those cages filled with lots of colorful plastic balls). It also has an indoor trampaline (yikes). Quite predictable, kids were throwing the colorful balls at each other and getting hurt on the trampaline. They will earn their opportunity to play in the indoor playground again, but first i need to teach them how to play. 1st grade is all about learning how to be a person!
As a first grade teacher, I am required to sit with my class during lunch and eat in the cafeteria, so I got to experience that today. The lunch is actually pretty good! They serve us a tray with different sections - there is always rice, some sort of green veggie (usually bak choy), some sort of meat and potato thing, and usually eggs. I think I will vary packing my own lunch on some days and eating the cafeteria food. We also get snack twice a day with the kids - today it was steamed buns and cherry tomatoes. We also get bananas in the morning. I am saving my snacks and accumulating some healthy snacks in my fridge!
Below you will see pictures that I took of my babies during snack time. They are so loveable and fun to teach! They were soooo excited to get their pictures taken (and the principal told me it was fine to post them, so here they are!)
Happy Tuesday! XO
Day 2 went smoother than Day 1 - they are finally starting to get the hang of all the new routines and procedures. They are also trying to get used to calling me "Ms. Hesse" - as they are used to calling their teachers in China "laoshi" (which means teacher in Chinese). Therefore, it translates to "teacher" - so instead of saying "Ms. Hesse can you help me?" many of them are saying "Teacher teacher is this right?" We are working on it :)
There were a few unexpected events today. First, Wen Yuchen (my student from Canada) vomitted all over the floor when he walked into class today, fun fun. It looked like he had eaten a lottttt of dumplings last night. Also, we had quite a few timeouts during recess today. There is an indoor playground that they are allowed to use (it looks like one of those playscapes in Chucky Cheese's and even has one of those cages filled with lots of colorful plastic balls). It also has an indoor trampaline (yikes). Quite predictable, kids were throwing the colorful balls at each other and getting hurt on the trampaline. They will earn their opportunity to play in the indoor playground again, but first i need to teach them how to play. 1st grade is all about learning how to be a person!
As a first grade teacher, I am required to sit with my class during lunch and eat in the cafeteria, so I got to experience that today. The lunch is actually pretty good! They serve us a tray with different sections - there is always rice, some sort of green veggie (usually bak choy), some sort of meat and potato thing, and usually eggs. I think I will vary packing my own lunch on some days and eating the cafeteria food. We also get snack twice a day with the kids - today it was steamed buns and cherry tomatoes. We also get bananas in the morning. I am saving my snacks and accumulating some healthy snacks in my fridge!
Below you will see pictures that I took of my babies during snack time. They are so loveable and fun to teach! They were soooo excited to get their pictures taken (and the principal told me it was fine to post them, so here they are!)
Happy Tuesday! XO
