FU

I wish you all a very happy FU on this Chinese New Year of the Dragon.

I also wish these decorations literally said FU. But the Chinese characters will have to do. I didn't have time to make my own.

At School:
Part of the High/Scope curriculum is providing new materials for the students, and letting the students name them. For example, we have lots of different types of blocks, so they name them, "wooden blocks" or "waffle blocks" and today we worked with the "plastic chips". Not really sure how they came up with that name, but it helps during review time for the students to describe what they did and what they used. A couple of the kiddos were using prisms and kaleidoscopes today and other things that distort their vision . At review time, I asked these kiddos what they used in the Math and Science Center. "I was using the So-Many-Ms.-L. You looked really funny". I guess the prism is now called "So-Many-Ms.-L." I'm honored to have a toy as my namesake.

 Lately it's been very drizzley outside, so we've been using our indoor playroom for recess. The playroom has several things to climb on, including a tiny castle. I was surprised one day to see several students packed inside.
Me: "Oh my, how many students can fit inside the castle?"
Elf: (Not realizing I was asking as a joke) "One, two, three, four! There are four kids inside the castle."
Me: "Great, now change a light bulb".
Okay, well I thought it was funny. They thought I was really wierd.

Water. I seem to have a lot of issues with water:
- First, it seems I should've been showering in fear this whole time. It appears that when I went to buy "hot water" and I expressly said hot, in Mandarin and in English, the gal put cold water on the card instead. This morning, luckily this time BEFORE I got in the shower, the water stopped. I guess my hair will be in a braid today! Have you ever tried getting ready in the morning with no running water in your whole apartment? That is part of what still baffles me, if I technically still have "cold water", why is there NO water coming out of the faucets or the shower?
- Second, luckily I do have a culligan thingy (ordering water for the culligan thingy is a whole nother story), but I was still able to wash my face and brush my teeth. I used to never have the culligan thingy plugged in, just cuz it's actually quite noisy, but lately I've been using the insta hot water nozzle for coffee. Ever since I plugged the darn thing in, it started heating the cold water as well. So now I have the choice of warm water or hot water. I guess that goes along with the Chinese belief that cold things make you sick. The moms always heat the water bottles before school. It cracks me up.

Oberservation:
Most teachers were observed by our Head of School last October/November, but since I was still so new, my HoS said we could wait till after the break, problem being of course that I need his recommendation to apply for any other jobs. So today, I was observed. Of course today is the day that all the kiddos drank sugary orange tea for lunch. Tea? Really kitchen staff? Why would you give the kids tea? Let's just caffeinate them, shall we? Needless to say, my elves were helplessly hyper. Even my TAs were surprised. But at least the HoS got to see how I handle the kids when they're choosing not to listen so in the end, I think it was a good thing.

After my "lesson" I usually let the elves browse the books for 5-7 minutes. I think it's their favorite time of day. They LOVE just sitting their and flipping through the pictures. I let them go browse the books with my TAs while I talked to my HoS about the lesson.
The scene: I'm sitting at the table, HoS in the foreground, my elves in the background, so I can at least observe their behavior, but the HoS if facing me.
HoS: "It is very clear that you have taught the rules and routines of the classroom. The students know what's acceptable behavior and what you expect."
Me: .... *slightly horrified but trying to keep my face calm* At that very moment, one of my elves decided to climb up on the picnic table and strike a victorious pose while standing on top.
Thankfully, the HoS didn't notice, and my TA was able to talk him quietly down from the table without incident.


Well, even though I was just on break, I'm signing off for another week. I'll be escaping the New Year fireworks. So for China, see you next year!