Saturday 31 August 2013

Saturday's Snapshot of Delhi

It's already Saturday again! The weeks go by very fast.

I am truly blessed to have 12 incredible students! :) We are wrapping up a unit on animal classification. We have been watching Planet Earth. They are so excited and keep saying things like, "Wow Mrs. H, it's the eco-system." or "That animal must be an omnivore. Do you see how it is eating plants and meat." It just makes this teacher glow with pride! 


Today we chilled around the house and then had our Hindi lessons. My dear husband, Kris, was trying to tell our Hindi teacher in Hindi that a cricket was small but a grasshopper was bigger. What he actually said was, "The cricket is my son and a grasshopper is sick!" You should have seen the look on our teacher's face. Then Kris realized what he said and we all started laughing. It's amazing how words can get jumbled up while learning a new language! :)


Here is today's snapshot. Enjoy.




Here is a vegetable market in Delhi. This isn't even the busy time ;)



Blessings,


Tuesday 27 August 2013

Tuesday's Teacher Tidbit

Happy Tuesday everyone! I can hardly believe that August is almost over. We are in our 4th week of school and our classroom is getting into a nice rhythm. I love when the students start getting the hang of the routines. This is especially helpful when you have to take a sick day (which I had to yesterday!) and a substitute comes in. I was so proud of my students when the sub's report said that they knew the routines, helped her learn them, and had very good behavior.

I was out yesterday due to strep throat and an ear infection. I am a carrier of strep throat so the doctor told me that all it takes is my immune system to be worn out due to stress and I can be knocked off my feet with strep throat.

So this week my teacher tidbit is to take advantage of all the amazing resources from other teachers instead of knocking yourself off your feet trying to do everything! This is especially amazing when you are making your sub plans! I can't believe how many amazing free resources there are at TPT

I wanted to draw your attention to two of my favorite free TPT products :)

The first is Amy Lemons' Tips and Tricks of Writing CraftivityWriting Tips and Tricks Craftivity

I just love this little booklet for the students to write out what areas they personally need to work on and keep it in the desk all year. The kiddos really loved doing this as well AND it is FREE! :)


The second is Rachel Lynette's Would You Rather Questions.FREE Would You Rather Questions for Kids!

My students love these questions and they make great journal prompts! The students really enjoy thinking about the questions and sharing their answers. I have to admit I have a ton of fun answering these questions as well AND it is free!

There are SOOO many more free resources that you can use in your classroom. So, don't kill yourself trying to make everything, start browsing the amazing things on TPT that can help make your life a little less stressful.

Blessings,

Sunday 25 August 2013

Saturday's Snapshot of Delhi...on Sunday :)

This weekend went by very fast! On Saturday I took my little man out for a mommy/son date. We went to a mall a little ways away that has a dunkin donuts and Hamley's toy shop. 

Since we moved to Delhi it has been hard for Wes. He loves to be outside and is extremely active but with the heat, mosquitoes, dogs, and trash it is hard to find a nice place for him to play. The mall is a 45 minute auto rickshaw drive and you generally have to walk a good 5-10 minutes before you find an auto rickshaw. I find that unless I prepare myself a couple of days in advance, it is difficult to get out much. 



The toy shop has a station to build some lego!

Looking at the lego display.

Sitting in the airplane and watching the trailer for the new Disney "Planes" movie

He did not want to get out!

Enjoying a chocolate donut with sprinkles 
On the ride home Wesley thanked me for taking him out and told me that it was very special. That certainly warmed this Mama's heart. 

Here is my latest "snapshot" of life in Delhi. I am standing at our backdoor taking this picture. The table that you see is used by the press walla; the woman who irons clothes for 5 rupees per item which is about 2 pennies. The staircases that you see lead up to the higher floors of the apartment buildings. This is our home sweet home! :) One of the things I love about where we live is that sometimes the monkeys come and they are really entertaining! In fact a couple of months ago some dogs were barking at a few monkeys who were on the roofs of cars dangling down some scraps of food near the dogs faces. It was really funny to watch. 


I am off to bed now. My 4th week of school starts tomorrow! I can't believe how fast it is going!

Blessings,

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Sneak Peek at Harvest Party Pack

So excited about this pack! I love our harvest party. I wish it was October already!!


Banner







You can check it out at my TPT store by clicking the picture below:





Blessings!

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Tuesdays Teacher Tidbit...This One is for Teacher Moms!

This one is for all you teaching moms out there...

I have a two year old, who I adore to death, but let's face it life with a two year old is boogers, chocolate faces, accidents in pants, 50% of the food on the ground instead of on the plate, temper tantrums, slobbery kisses at 3 am, and the lovely phrases "I do it", "no", and "that's mine!

There are things about two that you know you just can't wait to say goodbye to like the messes, saying "No no, don't do that!" every 10 seconds, and temper tantrums but there are things that you want to hang onto forever like the cute baby voice, the silly things they say, and being showered with kisses.

When Wesley turned a year and a half, I started my first year teaching here in Delhi. It was especially hard leaving Wes at a play school all day. A few months later I started my TPT store and my blog. I began to feel all the stress arising about December of last year. I love all the hats I wear (mom, wife, teacher, creator, and blogger) but I was starting to dislike all of them at that time. My husband also got Dangue Fever which was a huge stresser. I wanted to be the world's best mom and wife, the schools best teacher, the writer of a famous blog, and have 60 products in my store and unfortunately I'm not super woman so I couldn't do it all.

I know that you other teacher moms know what I am talking about. Let's face it...we love to be PERFECT at everything...and we want it to be fairly instant. We all know that it takes a lot of work, but we like to see immediate results. That's when I started to remind myself to set realistic goals and most importantly prioritize.

I want to keep wearing all my hats, and I don't want any of my hats to fall in the mud. So how does this work? When I wake up in the morning I am teacher. I am ready to discover and learn with my class. I am ready to tackle each days problems and guide my kids to learn new things. When I walk into my house after school, I switch hats to being mom. This means throwing balls, watching the Lorax, giving horsey rides, and being tackled by my energetic boy. I don't think of school, tpt, or anything else. That's my time with my little man. Then, after Wesley lays down to sleep, I put on my creative hat! I get on pinterest, I start creating, I read blogs and blog myself. About an hour before bed I change hats again and put on my wife hat. My husband and I always spend an hour or two together before bed since we got married. This is our time to talk about our days, watch a show, share a sundae, or have a cup of coffee.

So for all you teacher moms out there who are trying to wear a lot of hats, I have two tips for you:

1.You can't wear more than one hat at a time. That means taking off one hat to put on the other. If you are playing with your precious little ones, don't think about school problems, pinterest, what you are going to blog about, or your newest tpt product! Just soak up your time with you kids before you blink and they grow up. When you are at school, think about your classroom kiddos. Don't worry about dinner, grocery shopping, or dance practice. When you are wearing a hat, don't try to put another one on top, that's when things get messy and all the hats fall in the mud!

2. It's not the end of the world! Get that? It's not! If you didn't get to that post up that you wanted to, it's not the end of the world. If you had to stay home from school to take care of your sick little one and you know that the sub just won't follow your plan right, it's not the end of the world! If you didn't finish that project at school in time, it's not the end of the world! Take a deep breath, eat some chocolate, drink some coffee, and tackle the problem tomorrow.

Remember that you are balancing two full time jobs at once. Your work never ends! Life is too short to fret about the small stuff. Keep up the good work teacher moms! You are touching so many lives at once!

Monday 12 August 2013

Classroom Management Pack

I just finished my Classroom Management Pack. Wanna peek?




Kids are often reminded what not to do with their hands...let's remind them what they can do! :)



These are just a few of the posters to show students what they can do with their hands! 





Remind your students to be bucket fillers



Have the students decorate and create their own buckets.



At the end of the day have the students write little notes to each other and put them in each student's bucket!



Help your students understand RESPECT!


Here are a few of the student good behavior awards







So much more that is not shown here!

 Just click on the picture below to go to the product at my TPT store




Blessings!

Monday Made It


I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics' Monday made it! :)

This was actually finished last week, but I missed Mondays Made it because of power outages! So, I have been working on classroom organization this year. I wanted to make something cute to hold my pencils, pens, and sharpies. If your students are anything like mine, if you have resources in your room they seem to "disappear" out of thin air. I always tease my students that we have a little dwarf in our classroom that steals our pencils, erasers, and markers whenever we leave the classroom. Unfortunately, we have not been able to snag him yet! So I decided to make my own stash of supplies. So I went for a cute chevron theme with "stache" as a play on words!


Crystal Light can be found at most import stores here in Delhi! Which is amazing. We buy quite a bit of it to quench our thirst and desire for lemonade during the hot months. So, I decided to use one of the old containers to hold my supplies.


Second I used Ashley Hughes' free download of  Chevron Digital Papers 


I chose pink, green, and blue for this project!



Then I added some frames to layer from Mercedes Hutchens and some mustaches from zip-a-dee-doo-dah




Here is the finished product! I love how it turned out! Now that sneaky dwarf will surely steer clear of my precious "stache"!

Blessings!

Saturday 10 August 2013

Saturdays Snapshot

Sorry that I missed last weeks snapshot! Things have been crazy! I am about to jump in bed (it's almost 2 am here) but I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss this week's snapshot.

I love transportation here in Delhi! This picture was taken by the Kindergarten teacher at my school!
Thanks for dropping by!

Thursday 8 August 2013

MIA


These last two weeks have been insane! Between all the power outages, school starting, Wesley having a stomach bug, and Kris having a sinus infection,  I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I have been wanting to post for quite a few days but have not had solid internet to do so! I guess I am going to have to save my Monday Made It for next week!

School started on the 1st of August. I have twelve awesome students. Five Korean, two Indian, four American, and one Dutch. They are a very enthusiastic group of kids and I look forward to watching them learn and grow.

Here are a few snapshots of my classroom :)

This year I did forest theme! :) I love how it turned out!

Calendar! :)

Classroom Jobs


Classroom Management Plan. Each students has a computer that says "Ready to Learn." If they are making good decisions they get a green computer screen that says "Making Excellent Choices." If they are making bad decisions they get a red computer screen that says "Need to Make Better Choices." 

Task Cards! Most of them are from Rachel Lynette of course! :) I saw the idea of putting them into over the door shoe holder on pinterest. It works wonderfully in my tiny room! :)

This year I have one computer for listening to reading! HURRAY! I am so excited about it. The kids really enjoy being able to sit at the computer too.


Early Finisher's Boards all set up! The kids were beyond excited to try these awesome tasks!


My CAFE wall for Daily 5

Welcome Banner I got from Amanda's Parties To-Go It looks so cute!


I put each of my student's name on a little pocket! 


Stationary supplies organized and ready to be put to use. 

Classroom Store



Classroom Rules (Sorry it is so blurry. Bad lightening in my room and cheap camera!)


Tiny Sterilite container for my tacks, paper clips, and safety pins! 

More photos to come. It took an hour to upload these! *heavy sigh* 

I must head off to bed now.

Blessings! :)

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