Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

Whew we are in the middle of March, report cards have been turned in, and parent teacher conferences are next week! 6 teaching days until spring break- not that I am counting or anything. I might be missing my family and absolutely unbelievably ridiculously excited to see them again! If only the cats could come along too.

Today I had an interesting start of my day. I was going through my morning routine with the kids talking about the calendar and counting the days of school. Then suddenly there was a loud bang and one of the windows shattered. I grabbed my kids that were sitting near the window that was crackling... it seriously sounded like Pop Rocks or Rice Krispies when you add the milk... and then got security. Some maintenance guys came out and broke off the window. Needless to say not much teaching was done because the kids were watching with fascination. When the sun shined on the broken pieces of glass it shined spots onto the ceiling, which the teacup humans found to be super cool. Fortunately it was a double pane window so it was just the outer layer of glass. I guess I just cross my fingers and hope the next layer of glass does not shatter next!

Snap crackle pop! This is what happens when one of your windows is
constantly hit by the balls kids play with at recess all day! 

Last week was pretty eventful. I still laugh when I think about one of the first expats I met who told me "Yeah it will probably rain 2 times the entire time you are here." Yeah we got plenty of rain this past week, thunderstorms, and some more flooding! It was even hailing at one point on our bus ride to school. Then one morning someone's pet tiger was loose on the expressway! Because why bother having a cat or a dog when you can have an exotic pet like a tiger right? No worries it was eventually captured again.

Check out these clouds right before it started pouring! 

I don't think Rajah makes the best pet... as Chuckie Finster
would say "Guys I don't think this is such a good idea!"

I have been getting more "artsy" in class and making more charts to hang up in the room for the teacup humans. As the kids always tell me "You're not a very good drawer Miss Kellie." but I try my best! I got some ideas off Pinterest. Pinterest seriously should count towards professional development. I spend way too much time on there searching for tips and ideas for lessons. And Teachers Pay Teachers. Seriously what did teachers do before these websites? Before the internet!?

They were able to recognize what the little 3D shape drawings were! A
step up from my laughable stick figures. 

Apparently Gus the Plus is another popular name teachers use. Maybe I will
try that next year! They crack me up though. "Linus the Minus is SO mean.
He is always taking away." 

Last week we had another spirit day and the theme was to dress up as your favorite character. I decided to go with a kid's classic and dressed up as Arthur the aardvark! I got all into it with ears and the shirt like the big dork that I am... and the kids thought I was a brown bunny. And I thought reading an Arthur book the day before would help them recognize me... nope! I ended up playing an episode of Arthur for them at the end of the day and they kind of got it. As for their costumes I had Darth Vader, 2 Spiderman (both were very muscular!), Batman, lots of princesses, a police officer, and Thor!

A-a-r-d-v-a-r-k! AKA nerd alert! 

It really is hard to believe that we are wrapping up the second trimester and moving into the final term. Sometimes it seems like so long ago that it was the end of August/beginning of September when I was setting up my classroom and then other days it feels like it was just yesterday I was just starting to get to know my teacup humans and what they were interested in. Now I sit here beaming with pride at them. But still giving them plenty reminders to not roll around on the rug, wrestle each other, and stop kicking and pushing each other at recess! I love my crazy energetic teacup humans. They teach me just as much as I teach them!

And now to end the entry with a beautiful sunset. Middle eastern sunrises and sunsets are seriously some of the most
beautiful ones I have ever seen. 

Stay tuned for England and Ireland pictures in the next post!