strykerk2

May 14, 20184 min read

Book Fairs are for Crying

Hello lovely readers!

We recently celebrated our Annual Book Week at Santiago College. I've always liked book week, I love the idea of spending an entire week celebrating books! On the final day, we always have a "parade" and everyone comes to school dressed as their favorite character from a book. Although it always turns into children dressed up as Disney princesses and Star Wars characters. This year I dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood. I had bought a cape around Halloween and didn't realize that it was actually a vampire cape, aka no hood. I improvised by wearing a red scarf on my head.

During Book Week we had a book fair in the library. I was looking at one of the books, didn't even lift it up, and the entire metal rack fell backwards. All of the books fell and one of them ended up separated from it's spine. The disapproving lady told me I needed to pay for it. I told her she had to be kidding, that it wasn't my fault. It turned into this huge thing and all of my students were very worried about me because the lady was screaming at me in Spanish. I ended up crying because I was overwhelmed (not in front of the kids of course). The lady was such a bitch and all of my co-workers came to my rescue to defend me, it was so sweet. In the end, I didn't pay for the book. The next day, that specific company was not at the book fair. Looking back, it's funny to think that a book vendor at a book fair made me cry. No hard feelings, I won the battle anyway.

^^Our first Writer's Workshop celebration

I have to admit that I'm sad to see summer leave. Fall is in full swing here. The leaves have changed and the temperatures are starting to plummet. And so begins that time of the year where my feet are eternally freezing. But such is life.

^^ The flea market is a goldmine for all sorts of crap you didn't know you needed

^^Earthquake drill

^^ This picture truly melts my heart. The boy on the left (now in 4th grade) was from my first class at SC. The boy on the right (1st grade) is from my current class at SC.

We recently went on our usual first grade trip to Kidzania. See my post from my first year to learn all about the genius behind Kidzania. This year, my group was a bit exhausting because they didn't want to spend their fake money to enter the different jobs. Many of the other teachers observed this attitude as well with their classes. It was frustrating because all of the previous generations were never like that. I've taught 4 generations so far in Chile and you can very clearly see an abrupt change happening, and in my opinion, not for the better.

We also celebrated our first class party. We always vote on how to celebrate, and the teachers always make their first choice sound spectacular. Never fails. This time? A PJ party!!

Laughable Moments:

While doing an addition word problem, we usually draw a circle around the picture to show that it's all together. We asked the kids, "how can we show that the dogs are all together in this problem" A student raised his hand and said, "Put a leash on them"
While doing the same problem, we asked, what do we need to add? "A tail!"
One of my co-workers asked me, "Kim do you have a silicone pistol?" I looked at her like she had 6 heads. We later discovered she was talking about a glue gun.
When my take-out food was ready, they called "Kit" to come pick up her food. At this point, I didn't hesitate, I knew I was Kit.
Last week I had to take an asthma test to see if I have asthma. I literally failed the test and was asked to practice and come back next week. I was so mad. How does one fail a medical exam? I thought those were the only exams you're guaranteed to pass. Turns out I was exhaling wrong. I asked the school nurse to help me with this problem. While explaining the situation in Spanish I confused the word for lungs, pulmones and feathers, plumas. So I told her "I don't have any more air in my feathers!" We all had a good laugh. (update: the second time I passed!)

^^ I was waiting to cross the street with my new trash can and a lady put her trash inside it

"Please don't eat your writer's workshop paper, we need it!"

^^ Oddly enough, these slides at daycares are only used as emergency exits and not for fun. I think it's a cruel and tempting policy for young kids

^^ A stray dog living his best life

^^My student's were copying my family example and she wrote "León" instead of her actual brother's name.

^^ My mom IS a superhero!

^^She buys me pizza on fridays

^^This kid definitely gained points for that one!

^^ During my hair appointment, the fuse blew 3 times. My hairdresser got so annoyed he took a chair, a brush and the blowdryer to the tanning salon next door. We finished my hair in the lobby of a tanning salon. For the trouble, I was given a discount and a gift card for a free manicure!