Happy Earth Day! I continue to make my way through the final stretch of this year with May just around the corner. If I have been counting correctly then I have 48 teaching days left this year? There were definitely days earlier in the school year that I did not think I would ever make it to this point! Ramadan starts in June. We have half days and teaching is from 8:30-1:30. I doubt any of my kids will be fasting because the second after they eat snack they ask me when it is time for lunch because they are hungry. However I have heard that attendance does go down during Ramadan for those that do fast during this time.
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| 2 more days until Game of Thrones is back! |
School wise we just had our second field trip of the year. We went to Al Wakra Park for Earth Day and the teacup humans were required to bring egg shells, egg boxes, and water bottles. April has been nice and all because I have seen more rain this month than I thought I would during these 2 years but it has started to heat up again. Imagine that, the desert getting hot again. Our field trip yesterday was no exception. The kids were great in the beginning and I am glad I got a class photo in the beginning because by the end of it some of them were absolutely miserable and just wanted to go back onto the air conditioned bus. Some tears were shed and I gained some upper body strength from carrying a child around. I can't blame them because I was not the happiest camper either. That park needs more trees and more shade! Some of their favorite parts may have been sitting on the bus singing Alice the Camel.
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| See there is some green in Qatar! But mostly there is tan. |
School wise things are good. Each week I try to do some kind of craft with them. Here are some pictures of things we have worked on. The main things we have worked on are number pairs/number bonds that equal up to 10. I had them trace and cut out their hands. This is always amusing to watch because some of their hands when they finish tracing look like baseball mitts. And they always want me to cut them out for them and I have told them nope. Do it yourself. Time to get ready for grade 1. They manage to get through it and they turned out pretty cute!
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Underneath their hands they had to write the different number pairs that equal 10. I saw another KG2 teacher had this
as her bulletin board so of course I had to steal the idea. Teachers are kleptos! |
Leading up to the field trip all week we talked about Earth Day and how we can reduce, reuse, and recycle. Sadly you do not see much recycling in Qatar. I have yet to see a single recycling bin here. But we talked all week about turning the lights off when you are not in the room, using less water, and other things like that.
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| How adorable are their Earth faces? I know we aren't supposed to put stuff on the walls... I've kind of given up on that at this point. They wrote down their promises for how they would care for the Earth. |
Weather wise April has been pretty awesome. We have had some rain and some intense thunderstorms the other weekend. My friend messaged me and told me to go outside and enjoy the light show and Doha did not disappoint.
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| The light show! Truth be told I did not see this particular lightning strike.. thank you internet! |
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| Middle Eastern sunrises and sunsets are some of the most beautiful ones I have seen in the world. You truly do get to see that red sunset or sunrise out here in the desert and it is amazing. Nothing compares. |
I bought my ticket to come home for the summer! I had to do some calculations when planning because in order to be exempt from taxes I can only be in the US for 35 days. July 12 is the magical day! Technically I will be home for 42 days... so I am planning to hang out in Canada for a week. What the exact dates will be I am still figuring out. I am hoping to travel somewhere in the beginning of July before I come home. Only time will tell! Since I will be spending my 35 days home in the summer, this means I will not be coming home for Christmas. This bums me out a little but if everything works out with what I am planning for, it will probably be one of the most memorable and incredible Christmases of my life, even if it is away from home.
Not only have the students been learning and had a lot of growth but apparently I have too! I was feeling guilty thinking it made me a bad person or bad teacher because this month I have not been bringing my work home with me as much as I have in the past. Well that is because I have learned to adapt. Typically in the beginning the year, mainly before winter break, during my prep breaks I was not doing lesson planning. Usually I was completely and utterly exhausted and would stare at my laptop dumbfounded wondering what I should be preparing and where I was supposed to find energy to prep for lesson plans. Now it seems I have learned and found the energy during this time. One of the other KG2 teachers once told me "You will be amazed what you can get done in 20 minutes" and it is so true. Yay for adapting and not having to always bring work home with me! Now I have become one of those teachers that brings their work bag and laptop home with them... and it sits in my bag untouched while I pass out in bed early like a grandma. Less than 50 days to go... we are nearly there! Now for some teacher memes to make you smile:
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| November is a rough month teachers. Get through that and you are a superhero! |
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This is been me for the past week... and I venture this is what it will be like in
May-June. The kids are starting to get ready for summer to get here! |
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My teacup humans have yet to understand this concept and probably never will.
No matter how many times I tell them we are all going to the same place... they still
fight over those first few spots in line! |
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