Nutshell update from the last post. Better sleep, better health (bye, bye sausage toe) and just a better week all around. Sara’s cough is improving, but still there. She did get to fly to a great training for four days about the workshop model. Hannah played her first two basketball games, and Lila started after school clubs where she is playing soccer, doing robotics, practicing Spanish, doing a version of Girls on the Run, and learning capoeira.
It is strange to think of everyone in Bend getting ready for the first day of school, as we get ready to finish our first month. We are missing friends we usually see over Labor day, but we do get to look forward to our first three day weekend this Friday as the country celebrates Brazil’s independence. It’s a pretty low key event as far as holidays go, but it’s still a three day weekend, and we’ll take it. We are headed a couple of hours away to go hike some waterfalls in a town called Perinopolis.
So, the million dollar question. How is teaching down there? Turns out, it’s still teaching, it’s still hard, but it is definitely different in some ways. To start, I have students from Brazil, America, Spain, Costa Rica, Nigeria, and Egypt. I have students who ride the bus and students who have a personal driver drop them off and pick them up. But then like everywhere, I have an interesting collection of kiddos. I have a runner who loves to “forget” and end up in other places around the school. I have a student who gets overwhelmed and curls up in a ball unresponsive. I have legitimate readers and I have students who don’t know the letters in their name. I have kids falling asleep on the carpet. I have 12 of my sixteen for whom English is not their first language. I have a couple boys in that group routinely tell me no (at least it’s in English) because they are overwhelmed and frustrated. And they are young! I have four students who just turned five in the last two months. But they are an amazing group of kids, and no surprise, I have totally fallen in teacher love with all of them. And yes, even with those two.
We are using the Units of Study in Reading, Writing and Phonics, and I absolutely love them. As a curriculum combo pack, I haven’t used a stronger combination for literacy. And I’m not even good at using them yet. Math is still a work in progress, but it based on EngageNY’s scope and sequence. Jury is still out on that one for me.
And for those folks I told that all I really need is my box set of Elephant and Piggie books and my puppet, it’s true. I haven’t been able to incorporate all the curriculum I brought with me, but E and P and Mikey the Marmot have been lifesavers. We have a class poster going with all the “life lessons” we have learned from Gerald and Piggie, and it has worked wonders. Mikey brings books to read and is starting to cause some problems that we need to address as a class. It’s nice to have scape-marmot to use a my non-example.
But it’s still strange. You can’t find a Sharpie or a pencil with an eraser on it to save your life, but my kids have a covered soccer field, bouncy houses, and in ground trampolines to use at recess. I have a boys and girls bathroom in my classroom, but there is not one drinking fountain in the whole six classroom wing. I have been able to ask for any resource I want, but I may have to wait six to nine months to get it if it’s not from Brazil. Kooky little idiosyncrasies that are normal for international schools, but new to us.
What makes it the most impressive is the staff. It really is an incredibly dedicated and strong staff from top to bottom. And everyone is valued and supported, which is something I haven’t been able to say everywhere. And I lucked out landing with an amazing teaching team in my grade level, so that helps so much. So yeah, in a nutshell, it’s a pretty incredible place to teach and I do feel so lucky to be here.
This is my room. Everything has wheels and moves, all the tables are whiteboard tables, and I have a wobble stool for every kid. Kind of cool.
This is the long walk from my classroom to the playground. I do try to make them walk at least the five steps over to the green part.
Yep, that’s a soccer field. And that’s where I spend recess, monitoring of course. I need to get some zip off pants and soccer shoes. I’m working up a sweat getting schooled by five year olds.
Did I mention the sliding glass doors to my classroom and the outdoor seating?
And yes, that toilet is that small.
And it’s not a great picture, but it’s one of the best things about being here. This is the view out my classroom windows, and it’s hard to see, but that’s Hannah with her head down working on an art project in the middle of those palm trees. I get to be at school with both of the girls again, and that’s worth every hard moment I’ve had here so far.
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