Nesting

So this week, I've had to myself, and I've started nesting. I'm staying here for another year, this is starting to feel more permanent than temporary, and I had my parents send over a few more creature comforts. From brownie reinforcements, to a new yoga mat, to birthday presents, I'm settling in.


Here's what's been happenin at school:

I have a new student! Two in fact. And the one who moved up to kindergarten wasn't doing well so I have him back too. I've doubled my class size in about 2 weeks. Woot! 6 total :)

One of my new moms is apparently an artist, she likes to draw me messages in our communication book.

Her daughter has yet to speak any English in class, until one day after school, Alice and I were watching the little elf interact with some of the other elves. The moms were all standing there, so I felt out of my juristicition when one infant (a younger sibling of my elf) started slapping another infant. My elves became very concerned. The first one pointed at the offending infant and proclaimed, "Bad guy!" My new little lady elf followed suit and said, "Yes, bad guy!" I didn't know what to say, normally I don't allow that kind of talk, but Alice turned to me and said, "Oooo, bad guy teaches English!"

This drawing above is her informing me that some cold germs had caught her by surprise.


This one on the right came after I asked for her to send a toothbrush to school. Apparently she liked the idea that her daughter would be killing evil devel germs in her mouth every day after lunch.


Now, it's not in our High/Scope curriculum to teach the calendar. In fact, they advise us not to. But I like it when they see the passage of time. And they can now anticipate which days they will come to school and which days they will stay at home. Just another part of the routine that improves behaviors. This decision to teach the months and days turns out to be a good thing, because they LOVE calendar. They love crossing off the days. They love guessing the name of the month based on the first letter they see. During work time they draw grids and proudly announce, "Calendar!" We're still working on pronunciation as one elf claimed he drew the month of "Bember" which I suppose isn't too far off. "December?" I asked. "Yes, Bember!" The same elf cried out, "Calendar!" in the middle of snack time and held up his mini waffle, which sure enough, the ridges of a waffle make a grid. Of course it was missing a few numbers :)

Our school did a performance of the Sound of Music. Prepping my elves for the play, I tried to use words they would understand. I drew a picture of "Dad" and the "7 brothers and sisters". I explained that there was no mom and instead an "Ayi" would take her place. Ayi being a very common caretaker here in China (almost every family has one) I thought that was a good parallel for who Maria was to the Van Traps. My elves were still stuck on the fact that "mom" had left and they were wondering where the mom had gone. One elf said, "Mom is in Honk Kong!" This took me by surprise, but then I realized, it was a very sweet but sad connection. This elf's dad works in Hong Kong and comes home only every other weekend.

Maybe you've heard bamboo grows fast. It does. One day we came to school and there were new shoots of bamboo suddenly a foot off the ground. Spring is here and seeds are falling. Luckily we have very good diggers in our Early Years program, every recess since has been spent digging them up, and trying thereafter not to use them as swords. I guess you can peel and eat them too. Any new shoots that they miss are 2 ft tall by the next day.


And just in case you were wondering, though several of my elves can now hold a conversation in English, 'angry' is still the most popular word. Yesterday I was offered ice cream that one elf had 'cooked' in Home Center.
Elf:  "Ms. L, ice cream for you."
Me: "Oh I love ice cream! What kind is it?"
Elf: "Angry ice cream! You eat it and you will become very angry. You will turn into Angry Bird!"