Not all superheroes have capes, some have teaching degrees.

I made it through my first week of teaching and I am still standing! Just kidding I am laying down after another exhausting day. Keeping up with kindergarten definitely takes its toll on you physically and mentally. The best you can do is stay positive and keep chugging along!

Iolinda and I after working hard all week! She helps me keep my head on straight =)

Iolinda my TA is from Mozambique. She gave me this awesome fabric as a welcome gift! I am planning on finding someone who can make it into some type of blouse or skirt. How often can you say you are wearing something from Mozambique?!

At the moment I have 15 students in my class and according to my roster will have a total of 19 students. There are so many little things that never would have crossed my mind until I experienced them firsthand. For example, snack and lunch time. Of course I expected to help my students with opening snacks and water bottles. However, you also need to take into consideration other factors like transition time to get ready for snack/lunch, transition time for cleaning up snack/lunch, making sure your kids are actually eating, making sure they are eating at a reasonable pace so that they have time to play outside since recess is right after. There is no time for sitting around in kindergarten as the teacher! I like to play music on the ActivBoard while the kids are eating and usually have to call out reminders to certain students to take another bite or keep eating. During student teaching we always played this Alphabet Sounds song by Barbara Milne during snack time. It is perfect because it goes through the alphabet naming different words that start with each letter and the sound they make. I highly recommend it for the little ones because they sing along and it helps them remember their letters and sounds more!

The kids like to play with the toy camels. Once they learned they could connect them together, I started to receive necklaces!

The boys accurately portray morning traffic in Qatar.

It looks like Thursday (the Friday of my school week) will be one of my tough days. Sunday-Wednesday the kids have a special (PE, music, art, library) but they do not have one on Thursdays. Fortunately the kids will start Arabic next week, and that will be nice because that is part of my prep time. I did not have many breaks today but it was a good learning experience for me because it helped me think on my feet of ways to keep my students engaged and focused. I like to throw in music whenever possible to give them brain breaks and plenty of opportunities to burn off the endless amount of energy they have. My Activboard has become my best friend and I love to incorporate it in lessons wherever possible- hooray for technology!

Some of their self portraits! You have to admire the details. Watch out for those teeth though. 

This wins the award for best on scale self portrait! And the coolest looking house ever. 

Some of us see ourselves as princesses..

And some of us need reminders that it is not a race and to always try our best!

Another thing I have learned- kindergarteners are unbelievably talented at finding any crumbs, string, or any tiny particles laying around on the rug at circle time. By the end of the day I have a nice little pile of string, play doh, and other various paraphernalia on my desk. I think I need to rewatch Kindergarten Cop in the near future. I keep thinking of that one line (besides it's not a tumor) "Kindergarten is like the ocean. You don't want to turn your back on it." Professor Mad Eye Moody is right. You need to have constant vigilance!

Fortunately none of my students has a parent that is a gynecologist or tried to give the class a bio lesson =)

I couldn't resist throwing in a Harry Potter reference.

Next week I start delving more into the curriculum. I am starting off with beginning Everyday Math and Handwriting Without Tears. I think it is best to start as soon as possible to keep my students engaged, and it also helps them adjust into your classroom routine. It's funny how things like making a line and walking down the hallway sound so simple- until you try to do it with a kindergarten class in September. Parts of circle time take time to develop. They are still learning each other's names and when I have them go around to shake hands and greet each other. You even have to do basic things like teach them how to do a handshake. It is best to break concepts down as simply as possible, step by step.

Mat Man is part of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. He helps students with body awareness, which will cause some changes in their self portraits as the year progresses. Students start to add more detail to their pictures. It also gives them some preparation and readiness for drawing and prewriting. You can also start building some of the different letters of the alphabet from parts of Mat Man. 

Model, model, model! Once my students see how Miss Kellie does it, it helps them grasp the idea. The toy cars are very popular amongst the boys and we have some issues with sharing. We talk on the rug about why it is important to be a caring friend. I also like to mix it up sometimes and show them what not to do. When I pretended to play with the cars and told one of the students to grab the cars from me while I played with them- the incredulous look on his face was priceless! One time I greeted one of my students by staring off in the opposite direction to emphasize why we have to make eye contact when we talk to our friends. Another time when one student was talking I started talking over them and then acted dumbfounded by saying "What? Did I do something wrong?" They giggle and correct me. I think they are more likely to remember it when one of their fellow peers gives an explanation.

One thing I know for sure is that teaching is never boring. There are constantly new challenges I face. All you can do is dive in because experience is the best way to learn. I am always looking for ways to step outside my comfort zone and grow as a person. It is so exciting and thrilling living in an entirely different country and culture. I don't know if this opportunity in Qatar will ever completely hit me. I still have moments here and there where I think to myself "Is this really happening?" I have students in my class from Egypt, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Indonesia, El Salvador- all over. I love all the diversity! The beauty of an international school.

Some words of encouragement from our Early Childhood Coordinator

There will be plenty more to come about my adventures here in the desert! I am ready for the weather to start cooling down- the humidity is no joke!