Week 4

So I just completed week 4. I cannot believe how time is flying. Quite amazing! I have been extremely busy with school, lesson plans, and traveling...so that could be a factor.











Here are some pics of my house. The one on the right (I have them backwards) is the front of my house. And the one on the left is the right part of my house. I would change them but it takes forever to upload these pictures. Sorry! You will have to use your imagination. The room that sticks out there, behind the car, is my room! I am in my own little oasis, off the rest of the house. I even have my own bathroom! So...I guess I am not that anxious to get home :)

School, I love going to my school. I am finally managing and juggling all three classes that I am in. A huge factor in this adjustment for me was the girls. All three classrooms are full of wonderful girls. They treat me with so much respect, always are listening, and willing to help me with any questions I have. I suppose it helps that I am from America, young, and not the same teacher that they have had for the past 3 months. But it is still nice to have all of the attention that they give me.










So here are my first class girls. Aren't they adorable? I agree. We just finished our 3 day project of creating pigs. They were so excited and proud of their pigs. It was quite the process. We had to collect magazines, and then search for pink in the magazines. Then the girls ripped the pink paper into small sections and glued them on their paper plates. They turned out really nice. They also insisted that I take a picture of them with pig faces. They are the cutest little porkchops! Although, I walked out of school each of these days with glue all over my clothes. It definitely was a messy art project!











The left is a photo of my 1st class girls hard at work. This week we discussed and identified people at work. We thought of many different jobs that people have, how those jobs help us, where these jobs are located, and so on. They thought of so many, I was very impressed! They also loved discussing what their parents jobs are, and it was funny to hear how they interpret their parents occupations! We also did a mini lesson on the sun, earth, moon, and stars. I taught them the different sizes of the objects and shared information about each of them. It was amazing how intrigued they were. Although, the solar system and how huge everything is, is a very large concept for them to grasp at such a young age. I taught the children money, but I had to teach myself about euros first. The other teachers and the girls that I am living with were a huge assist to this! I also did a Thanksgiving introductry activity by making turkeys. You will find our final project above and to the right!











Again, here are my Junior Infants hard at work. Their classroom is obviously full of color and art projects. The hand prints that you can see was an art project that I bravely took on. There was lots of paint everywhere, but they turned out wonderful. I will be cutting them out to make one big mural. I will show that at a later date. The Junior Infants do not have a class photo because they felt it was unfair to leave out a girl that was absent. They are so funny! Kind at the same time. They are a busy group of girls and I am constantly on my toes in this classroom. They kept me busy this week with reading big books, talking about healthy foods and bad foods, learning the letter p, and talking about the seaons. This class is probably the biggest challenge for me, yet the most rewarding! I have never worked with children this young in a classroom environment and it amazes me how much attention EACH of them needs! Yikes! I do love it though, not sure if I could ever teach it full time. But the times I am in there, I love it!

My fourth class girls are camera shy this week. I am only in their room 3 times a week for about 45 minutes each time. Of course those days I did not have my camera handy. They are a large class, which also need A LOT of attention. They are excellent for me and there is never really any discpline problems. I find that the girls work very well independently. I have done some group work with them, which they seem to enjoy a lot. I have not seen a lot of group work done in Ireland. Teachers will teach a lesson, and then the students will do their work. We did a science experiment with partners and they loved it! I also taught about changes that have occured over hundreds of years. They found it very hard to believe that there was a time when there were no computers, televisions, or phones. I found it hard to have the girls think of what people did before those times. I think they thought that I was completely nuts and that the American girl did not know what she was talking about :) But they are a lovely group to work with and always make me feel so welcome!

Next week will be extremely busy with Thanksgiving lessons to teach, an observation from Neville our supervisor, and my family is visiting. This week was great, and I can't wait for next week!