I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable I am an original.

Hello friends I hope you all had a fantastic summer! I definitely made the most of mine and tried to visit as many people as I could. I felt like a celebrity- people were so excited to see me! It was so great being back in the States. My highlights include a trip to Canada with my sisters, our first ever and soon to be a continued tradition of sistercations, driving as much as humanly possible, and shopping at Target and the Dollar Store to load up on supplies to bring back with me. The Target dollar section always manages to pull me right in. My sister's dog got plenty of walks as well because I was ecstatic to be able to walk along sidewalks and be around my pets again.

True story. Ok I didn't spend THAT much but all I came in to get was name tags... and I left with a cart filled with school supplies. Resources are low over here in the desert so I knew I needed to stock up!

This first week of school definitely had it's challenges, but in a different way. This time I flew back to Doha knowing what to expect. I am familiar with the school. I know how to get around Doha. I already have the necessary things to survive in this country AKA my residency permit, my QDC license to get my essential adult beverages and pork products, and I already know a good chunk of the teachers there already. I was eager to get my class list and see who I would have in my class from the previous year. I ended up with three of my teacup humans from KG2D.

Now I will be honest. I had a bit of I guess what you could call an identity crisis on the first day. I got a restless night of sleep, anxious and eager about the first day back. Then I met the kids and I got a giant case of 'what have I gotten myself involved into what was I thinking changing my grade level'? Plus after getting all these new kids and seeing my kids from last year in the different classes thinking to myself 'why didn't I loop so I kept the same teacup humans for this year too?' I left for the day feeling discouraged. I was having doubts about moving to grade one and missing KG2 because it was familiar and had been through a year of it. But you know what? I pushed myself far enough out of my comfort zone by moving out to this sand pit, and I told myself that I wanted to gain experience in other grade levels. I have a gift to give and I need to ensure that I am spreading it to as many teacup humans as possible.

My front door! Last year it was stars, this year it's legos. You have to keep it fresh!

 My motto at GEMS has been to learn by doing. People who have met me know that I am not the most outgoing person in the world. Well once you know me I can be. But we all act differently depending on who we are around. So I continued to push myself to try things. I was debating with myself what I would do when the kids first arrived because I didn't want to do too much stuff that I did in kindergarten in case it was too babyish for them since they are a bit more independent now going into grade one. I am constantly scouring around Pinterest for ideas.

This right here is a prime example of learning by doing. I saw this either on Buzzfeed and Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I thought "Oh perfect! I can keep stuff in the pouches right on the backs of their seats like a book to read, a white board and marker for them to draw on if they finish early and are looking for something to do! Yeah except for the fact that where they tie in the front of the chair digs right into their little teacup human backs. "Miss Kellie this is hurting me!" and whenever they would get up the Home Depot aprons would slide up and down or end up on the floor. It was also hard to squeeze the white board in the aprons. "Miss Kellie I can't fit my board back in." These lasted 2 days before I took them off the chairs.

One of the main things I like to do in the beginning of the year is different ice breakers and games to get the kids familiar with each other. I refer to them all as 'friends' because I want my classroom to feel like a community and somewhere they can feel safe. I had a good morning song that I did last year, but I wanted to try something new. One thing I found online was this bumblebee song. I was hesitant at first thinking 'no they won't like it they'll think it's babyish.' But I did it anyway and guess what? They absolutely love it and we did it every single day this week because the kids asked for it. The chant is the following: 'Bumblebee, bumblebee, tell us your name! Say it real loud and we'll do the same!' We sit in a circle and I have a child say their name and then me and the rest of the class echo it back loudly. They sit there quietly in the circle eagerly waiting for their turn where they get to say their name and all of their friends echo their names. The most rewarding part of this activity was that the autistic girl in my class got involved. This was the first time that she showed interest in what I was saying. She picked up on the lyrics so quickly and was clapping and cheering along with us. I think it is so important to have a morning routine like this or have the students say good morning to each other. It really helps build a classroom community and helps the kids learn each others' names.

Setting my classroom up was interesting. I tried to organize as much as I could before I went home for the summer. But the funny thing that happened is once I stepped into my room in August, I seemed to have forgotten my so-called organization! I saved so many of the different word work activities I laminated and cut out from last year figuring I would use them this year... only to stare at it in confusion wondering what I had used it for in my class last year. Some of it I threw out... the rest of it is sitting in a plastic tub in one of my cabinets until I can sort through it in all of my "free time."

My room! I chose to go with the horseshoe pattern for my seating in order to ensure I had room for 25 teacup humans.

 The main part of my classroom that I was most excited to set up was a map. One of the coolest parts of my job is having such a diverse class. This year I have kids from the US, Canada, Qatar, Lebanon, Portugal, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Mozambique. Now getting the map to Doha was a hilarious adventure. I got it from Canada when I went there over the summer for a sistercation. I got the map from a discount store in Toronto called Honest Ed's. Some of the most asked questions in class, especially during Social Studies is "Miss Kellie where is Doha? Miss Kellie where is my country?" So I decided to buy the map for my classroom and label the different countries where my students are from. First I left the map at home and realized on the way to the airport that I forgot it as well as the keys to my apartment in Doha. I went back and got it and on the way to Doha had a layover in Paris, France. I was sitting and waiting for my connecting flight until we finally boarded. I realized as I got to my seat on the plane that I left the map underneath my chair in the gate where I was waiting. I raced to the exit and told the flight attendant my dilemma and she said that I could not get off the plane. She let someone else know and said they would look for it. I went back to my seat and then she beckoned me back and told me to bring all my things with me off the plane. By the way, people absolutely LOVE when you are moving one way down those narrow walkways to get off the plane aka against the flow of traffic of people trying to get onto the plane. Another woman led me back to the area and I quickly snatched up the map and waited in line to get back on the plane. Needless to say this map has definitely made its way around the world!

1A around the world! The map is from a discount store and Russia is labeled Russian Federation so it is a little outdated, but my teacup humans don't care and neither do I!

The first week of school was a whirlwind. Any teacher knows that. What's cool is that I can reuse some materials that I used from last year. Yay for not starting from scratch! Simple things like dismissal sheets, a Tell Me About Your Child sheet as a way to get some background information about the child, labels, etc. that can be reused again. I entered this year feeling more confident about myself. I now have a year of teaching under my belt. Yes I am still a newbie when it comes to teaching, but I have a slightly better idea of how things go in the classroom. And after trying different things for 180 days, I learned a lot during my first year. And I know I will continue to learn a lot during my next 180 days.

This is similar to one of the bulletin boards I did last year. They love to see whose birthday is when. The only change is that I added myself to the bulletin board! I decided to after realizing I had the same birthday as one of the girls. I could tell she was excited about it when I told her that September 12 was an extra special day because 2 people had birthdays.

One of the proudest moments of my education career thus far occurred today during dismissal. Dismissal is not exactly the most calm time of the day. In fact, I absolutely dread it. We are a new school. GEMS is in its third year and we are working on finding a system that works best. GEMS contains students from the grades Pre-K to 10. Now imagine the parents of grades 1-10 standing all over the front lobby of a school. Now imagine the teachers of those grades bringing their students down to that lobby for dismissal, in no particular order. It is a bit stressful to say the least. Thursday I took all of the teacup humans who are picked up by their parents from my class and one other grade one teacher. One of those teacup humans is my autistic girl. I have to hold her hand as she walks down the stairs because her coordination is not the best. I carried her down the stairs and we stood near the staircase because that is where the grade one teachers stand by. I have to constantly hold her hand or she will wander off. Sometimes I have to let go briefly to make sure I am keeping all the other first graders nearby and rally them all in. Needless to say my heart is always racing and my head is swiveling all over the place as kids suddenly run off towards their parents and gradually the number goes lower. I grabbed my autistic girl and pulled her close to me and she was playing with my name tag. She looks at the picture of me and says "Miss Kellie" and kisses my picture on my lanyard. It instantly brought the biggest smile to my face and all the anxiety ceased to exist. This sweet girl that I have only known for 5 days has already grown such a strong bond to me. It was an incredibly powerful moment for me.

Terry the head of our school has said time and time again that you have the power to make or break a kid. From the moment they step into my classroom at 7:40 to the moment they leave at 2:30, I am a role model to them. You need to shower them with praise. Encourage them. Show them that you care. Kids don't learn from people they don't like. I strive for the success of every single child that has and will enter my classroom. I have a big heart and love to make people laugh. Nothing brings me greater joy than to hear kids giggling as I am dancing or singing up there for them making a fool out of myself while they say "You are so silly Miss Kellie!" Put me in front of a group of parents for back to school night and I am sweating bullets. Put me in front of a group of kids? I turn into this silly, loud, crazy performer that will do anything to keep her kids interested in learning.

Eid Mubarak to my friends who celebrate! We are now on vacation until September 18 when school resumes after Eid Al Adha. It honors the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son. I plan to spend the next 9 days by relaxing as much as possible! I am excited to do desert camping and dune bashing for a second time and to spend some days by the pool reading and probably burning my pale Irish skin. That's all I've got for now friends. The first week back was a tough adjustment and I need some sleep! Stayed tuned for more about year 2!