A School Day/Week

Monday and Wednesdays I tutor a student that has siblings that go to SCS, but he does not. He speaks Spanish (though I've been told he's fairly low), and I'm teaching him English. The 1st  semester I did a lot of paper/pencil vocabulary worksheets (which he actually likes doing). The last couple of months I've been doing a lot of bingo games with speech sounds-- and then asking/forming/answering questions/sentences. I've been trying to remember what the speech teacher's I've worked with have used, and use some of those type of activities. We do an activity and then he has a few minutes to watch these videos on Youtube that I found-- Dream English Kids-- Usually I leave there with having the songs in my head! LOL

Wednesday-- The other SST is gone the rest of the week (and possibly some of next week), having surgery, so I am helping out with her students. Two of her students are in my room taking a Math test, while I have my two students out in the hallway doing independent work and practicing fluency. They are given a passage on Tuesday (I don't see them on Monday's), and then every day they practice reading the passage for a minute, but continue reading the rest of the passage. Normally I'm the one that listens to them read, and marks the words. I decided to have them listen to each other, and mark if they missed any words. My students's thought it was fun to be in charge of the timer-- and also to be in the hallway-- something different I guess!

Thursday-- somewhat of a normal day-- though there are subs in 5th grade all week-- there is an exchange program in 5th grade with another magnet school in the Philadelphia area. Ten 5th graders are spending the week here, and then in April, several SCS 5th grader's are going there for the week. The exchange students go on field trips about every day, and one of the 5th grade teacher's is gone every day. Sometimes it makes communication a little fuzzy, especially with the student's b/c you don't always know what's going on!

Friday-- usually chaotic/busy normally, but with Arianny (SST) gone, I'm giving tests to her kids, so it's even more busy.
8:00-8:30--- Spelling/Phonics Test/1 minute Fluency/DIBELS --1 minute short vowel nonsense words/trying-to-get-them-out-the-door-but-they-like-to-chat-conversations (though they are a lot of fun to talk with).
The majority of the time, my  student's I have at 8:30 show up when I'm trying to finish up with them-- mostly b/c they are so chatty....
8:30ish-- 3 Student's show up for Bible Verse test-- I end up needing to print the Bible verse test and the reading test for them. I can't remember how long they stay, but one of them stays till 10:00ish (I think),  and has to come back during Study hall at 10;50 to finish, as well as take her spelling test.
8:45--  1 student shows up to take his Reading test. I read the test and questions aloud to him. I'm in the middle of reading the Reading test for my 3 student's (which I don't always need to read to them, but today I do), and thankfully his teacher's has a student teacher, so she takes him to do the test.
9:15-- Arianny's three student's show up to take their Reading test (they're in different classes/sections)-- they leave at 9;45, and one of them has to come back during study hall to finish.
9:30-  student shows up to do a Reading Assignment. The student wants to do the assignment with Ms. Siri-- she speaks fluent Spanish, and it helps him when she can clarify things in Spanish. I send him back down to class.
9;45ish-- student shows up for Bible Verse Quiz, spelling test, fluency (the room is actually empty then). She finishes, and then comes back to do the same Reading assignment. After doing the assignment, realize that the other student  needs an easier reading passage, so I print out an easier one from Reading A-Z.
10:50- student's come back to finish Reading Tests, Spelling Test, and Bible Verse Quiz
11:30ish-- Lunch- YAWAY-- I love their sandwiches-- they deliver to school!
12:15- 1:30ish student- Spelling/Reading Test, Math/Prefixes worksheet redo.
12:30ish-- Two students show up for Reading test-- thankfully MS Siri can take them for their test.
1:30- SST meeting with SST supervisor and para's. Chit Chat about SST stuff,
2:30- back to my room!! Finish planning for next week-- usually I start planning for the next week on Thursday's-- I have 3 student's that I do their spelling lists for-- and I use edhelper.com to type their lists -- and then have another student that I type out the words for, and uses the worksheets from Edhelper to practice the words. I have 5 student's that practice fluency every week, so I find passages for them on Reading A-Z. Two of the student's aren't able to use the Reading A-Z passages yet (too high), so I have Dolch passages I found for them. I have a new SST student now-- and they will require an alternate curriculum, so I also was starting to do some planning for them. 

It's been raining a lot this week, and Friday it rained all day--which seemed to add to the chaos (though I actually like the rain). I've been told that in February it does rain some, but not usually this much. 

I went to another swim meet today-- this time at Pucamaima-- which is part of the college here. It's and Olympic-size pool. I've watched swimming a lot on tv (mostly during the Olympics though)-- and it's been a lot of fun to see swimming live. Though I had to ask the security guard to tell the taxi people to explain where I was at -- Saying "Pucamaima, La Piscina" (pool) evidently isn't descriptive enough for them to know where I'm at! (I have a number that I call to get a taxi-- I've gotten pretty good at 'Necissito un taxi-- I need a taxi-- La Espinola/Thomas I (Uno)!) 

February Update

This week seems to have been exceptionally busy at school, but it hasn't been too stressful-- at least so far anyway. I haven't had as many of my usual breaks in the day (and out of the ordinary things that I usually work on), so it's made for a lot of last minute working on modifying tests/planning, etc. I usually know what I'm doing with my students everyday (unless I have interruptions or a student doesn't happen to show up--- my 5th grader's have the responsibility of coming on their own, and sometimes they forget...) , but if my students need something in-class-- a test modified, assignment, or to try to schedule a time to take the test(s), I may not know without much notice, so I've gotten pretty good at just "going with the flow...."  Today one of my 4th grader's took a S.S comparing the Midwest and the West (Southwest). They learn about all the regions of the U.S. It feels rather strange to be teaching/explaining about the U.S. when I'm living in a different country! But the kids also get Dominican Republic history-- I think in 4th and 5th grade (and I think upper grades as well). This morning I had another 4th grader that had both a Bible test on Solomon that she took at like 8:15 (after trying to help her teacher get the Science test printed for over an hour...), and then an open book Science test on electricity/lightening she took 30ish minutes later. Normally she wouldn't have taken both tests that close together, but with scheduling, sometimes it ends up being that way... 
The school has someone that does DIBELS testing for the students (1 minute fluency --reading a passage, and then retelling what they read)-- She uses a room that is close to mine-- so when she's here, I see her quite often-- She had to train some teachers how to administer DIBELS (and wasn't used to training teacher's how to do it), and though I hadn't planned on it, I helped her find some video's to show the teacher's, and sat in on the hourish training. 

I got a referral for a student few weeks ago, and was working with her teacher on starting some interventions with her (I love Explode the Code!... The student is working on reinforcing short vowels, along with what the class is doing)-- then last Wednesday met her parent's to sign for testing. She's an interesting case-- struggles with phonics/decoding (ELL also), and found out parent's took her to a neurologist and then did a sleep clinic-- she doesn't go into REM sleep, and therefore doesn't have good short term memory retrieval (I think that's the explanation anyway). Parent's are going to another dr for 2nd opinion--- looking to whether they want medication or not, b/c of side effects. I started testing her this week-- it's with an assessment that I wasn't familiar with, but wasn't too hard to administer. We give the Detroit Test of Learning Aptitude (DTLA), Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT), and the Key Math-- and then I'll probably do some other informal tests as well. 

Besides her I have another student who's in 3rd grade that we signed on Monday to do testing with--I haven't started her yet... very low in reading comprehension and math, and really needs her own curriculum... doesn't have ELL services, but English Language Learner services wouldn't help her anyway. 

I still have several other students that I will most likely get referrals/permission to testing. We actually may have to close SST, and put the qualified SST students on a waiting list until next year, b/c between Arianny (the other SST teacher) and I, we just don't have enough time in our schedule to keep adding students. It has been really nice to be able to pull materials/resources that I brought back with me during Christmas. There are still times where I wish that I had other resources that are sitting in my parent's basement, but I know that I just have to make do--- or I have to try and find an electronic version.... :-) LOL

Last Saturday I watched one of my student's compete in a duathalon-- run/swim/run-- and she came in 1st. This was something separate from what she normally does-- and this was the first time that she's ever done a competition like this before. This weekend her classroom teacher and I are going to go one of her swim events. 

Tonight (Thursday) we have another Open House for parent's. As a sped teacher I'm used to not having parent's come see me, so it's usually a chance for me to catch up on things-- but by this time  of day my brain is fried... so I'm working on a blog post.... :-) 

The last few days (to me) it has felt warmer than it has been (upper 80's)-- I feel like I've been sweating during the day-- which hasn't been the case for several weeks (months)-- though I've been told that these days are just more warmer than usual--- it's usually not into the 90's until Aprilish. I've noticed at night that it hasn't been as cool, or when I wake up in the morning. Today it rained off and on during the day, which made it humid throughout the day.

Valentine's Day is celebrated here (they go all out for it, I'm told...), and tomorrow there will be a lot of classroom parties going on. The kids get to wear red, pink or purple shirts if they want, instead of their uniform shirts.

This last week I've had some new experiences here--
Last weekend I attended a Women's Retreat in Jarabacoa with the theme "Letting Go."

The women from the retreat were from missionary organizations across the Dominican Republic-- There were approximately 75 women in attendance, with both Spanish and English speakers. Saturday afternoon we had some free time, and I was able to visit an orphanage called Kids Alive. The location has several houses where kids from preschool to high school age live with house parent's. Some of the children have no family to take them, while others have been taken out of the home for various reasons. Each home home has approximately 7 children, along with biological children.

The Monday we got back I went with Michelle to PriceMart to help her buy food for a Haitian School that she helps support. The school was started about three years ago by a former SCS teacher (who is Haitian), who taught French there. His last name is "Eves," but I'm not sure of the correct spelling. As soon as we got out of the car, we were greeted by many children that lived near the school (there was no school that day due to the holiday).

The children started helping us unload the food, wanting to carry whatever they could into the school. I got my phone out to take a few pictures, and immediately they "swarmed me," wanting to pose for the camera, and for me to take pictures of them! It was so sweet! The building is a school during the week, and then a church on Sundays. 

Yesterday (Saturday), the other SST teacher Arianny, invited me with her to Santo Domingo to the college class that she teaches there (I was up at 5:15 on a Saturday!). She teaches at an English University where it is a private (I think) school during the week, and then there are college classes on the weekends. The class that she teaches is called "Online Learning." It is designed for students to become familiar with using Moodle (similar to Blackboard) platform. That day they were discussing Blended Learning-- their class meets part face-to-face time-- and the rest of the time using the Moodle platform. There were about 40 students in the class-- Freshman/Sophomores. (all speaking in English) It was interesting to hear the discussion-- it seems like such a simple concept-- but for them, this was something new-- most likely with the lack of technology they had in school (though the majority of them had cellphones and tablets/computers there). 

We were going to go to the mall afterwards, but b/c of the massive traffic jams, we drove back to Santiago. Arianny's husband drove us, and he is a pastor of a church in Santiago. He doesn't speak English, so Arianny interpreted for us. Araianny also teaches a class in San Pedro, which is about an hour further from Santo Domingo, and she invited me to that class as well-- it's an Early Childhood Language Development class, all in Spanish. I'm not sure if I'm going to go or not. We would have to leave even earlier!

I've been working on interventions for a couple of possible SST students-- I have meetings with their parent's on Wednesday to get permission to do the standardized testing with them. After that I will do standardized testing to see if they would qualify for SST services. I've always been one who likes the challenge of "problem-solving," so I have enjoyed coming up with strategies/plans to do for the students, as well as being able to help the classroom teachers. 

The first full of week of school has (almost) been completed. Having two days of school last week was rather nice in transitioning back into the school year. It was fun to catch up with my students and hear about what they did over the break-- one of my students went to New York City to see the ball drop at Times Square! Fridays are usually pretty busy with students having tests. I have two 2nd graders from 8:00-8:30, and then from 8:30-10:30 I may have 5th graders taking a Bible, Math, and/or Reading Test (which today they are taking all 3), a 3rd grader taking a Reading test, and two 4th graders taking a Bible and/or Math test. Thankfully I also have my wonderful aide Ms. Siri to help balance it all out! It's also when having a lot of flexibility (and patience) comes into play.
Besides being able to see my family and friends over Christmas, it was also a blessing to be able to bring back a suitcase (and a carry-on) of school stuff! It's amazing what a difference having resources can make-- though I was doing well with what I had. I've had to rearrange me schedule a bit, but it mostly stays the same, for now. I'm sure it'll have to change some time this semester.

We have three days of school next week, and then we have a 5-day weekend! There is a holiday on Thursday and on Monday, so they gave us Friday off as well. I'm going to a Women's retreat in Jarabacoa with several SCS teacher's, Friday afternoon through Sunday.
The weather has been cooler in the mornings (though not in Nebraska standards!--then it would be balmy!)-- Temps have been in the lower 60's and you need a light jacket. Usually by mid-morning it is up to the 70's, and then high's will be in the low to mid 80's. There are going to be some days coming up where it could get to 90. Knowing that the heat will be returning, I take advantage of the cool weather as long as I can!
I signed my letter of intent for next year, and there was a small 'twinge' in signing it. I do really like teaching (As far as sped goes, I'm very spoiled, and it is so much less stressful) and living here (though sometimes what I wouldn't give for a Walmart/Target nearby....)---I will admit that I am still a bit 'homesick' for Nebraska/Kansas, probably a bit more now than when I first came here in July. But I know that this is where God wants me to be-- And I'm committed to what I'm here to do.

Christmas Surprise!

About a week before Christmas break, I had some dear friends surprise me with paying for a ticket to go home for Christmas! I decided to just tell my brother, and not my parent's... I flew in Saturday the 19th, and it ended up that my parent's were coming up for the day on Sunday, for my nephew Dylan's basketball game. I was able to surprise my parent's when they walked in the door of my brother's house! My nephew's birthday is January 6th, so we were also able to celebrate his birthday. He's really into Lego's and I helped him (or I should say, he told me what to do...) with putting together his Chima Lego's. I also was updated on all the different Lego characters!

I drove 7 hours to southwest Kansas to visit my best friend and her parent's. I had a lot of fun with Alicia and Brian's two daughters Alise and Bell, who are 3 1/2 and 7 weeks. I lived in southwest Kansas for 8 years, so I still have a lot of connections to the area.

I got my fill of snow (and the cold), as my parent's had about 6ish inches of snow, and then at my brother's in Omaha, they had almost 9 inches. I will say, it was nice to be able to wear my hoodies and sweats... something I don't have to do in the DR! 

I flew back Monday, and last night our neighbor Darlene took us to across from the Monument to see the Christmas lights displays and parade. They've been doing it every night since December 18th, and goes till the 7th. The lights were incredible, with several mini shows of dancers and acrobats. 

This morning Sarah and I helped our neighbor Darlene with cleaning. About a week and a half ago, her apartment caught fire, and had total smoke damage. It didn't spread to any of other apartments. She is now going through her stuff, cleaning it, and then packing it up. She's leaving February 1st to go on Furlough, and then will be back in July-- but she will not be back to the apartment. :-( It will take a lot of work for her apartment to be cleaned. We will really miss having her across from us! Please pray for her, as this is a very stressful thing to have to go through! 

School starts tomorrow! 

Christmas Activities

This week has been busy with lots of Christmas activities-- Monday, my Bible Study group went caroling to some people from school. It was a bit strange to be going caroling when it was 81 degrees, but it made it a bit more enjoyable with the warmer weather! Tuesday was the elementary music program, and I stayed at school until the performance. The kids did a great job, as well as my roommate Kyla who had the 1st-3rd graders. Last night my aide Everg invited me over to her house for a meal-- it was an egg dish, served with yuca and avocado. It was so good!

Her mom, who was visiting from New York, and a friend of her mom's were also there. Neither of them spoke English, so I was able to practice my "broken" Spanish! --Though I get a bit flustered when I try to remember the words to say. It was fun to be able to hear them talk in Spanish-- I was able to understand maybe 25-50%ish of what they were talking about-- Surprisingly I don't get to hear people talk in Spanish a lot here. I hear English all day at school, and then go home to my English speaking roommates/friends. If I go out to the stores, sometimes I use Spanish, but it's not an every day occurrence. 

A random Nebraska connection-- one of the teacher's here, her parent's are visiting and they grew up in Nebraska! (Western, NE I think) They also have some family I think that are still in Omaha. They moved to New York 50 years ago, but it was fun to be able to talk about towns that I know about!

Tonight we are celebrating a friend's birthday, and then tomorrow is our last day of school before Christmas break-- we have a half day tomorrow. :-) 

                                         

Two weeks of school left before Christmas Vacation! Saturday evening, we decided to make sugar cookies and watch my favorite Christmas movie-- White Christmas-- and Sunday we decorated them.

I'm not going home for Christmas break, because with my brother getting married in April, I decided to go home then-- with it being more of a priority. :-) I've been away from home for the holidays before-- and I guess with being as self-sufficient/independent as I am, I'm ok with being away from my family during Christmas (or even Thanksgiving). (And because I know that my parent's read my blog, this does not mean that I don't like to come home for the holidays.... LOL) It seems a bit different year however, with being in a totally different country than my family-- or my friends in Kansas. I'm not usually one who gets home-sick, with always having lived several hours away from them, but I've always been within driving distance (4-7 hrs) of them. Lately, I have gotten a bit "home-sick" with everyone talking about seeing their families and friends over the break-- But I know that's just what comes with living here, away from everything familiar that I'm used to.
I am looking forward to though, being able to do some exploring here, having time by myself-- and of course having the warm weather right now (while I'm sure it's probably going to be freezing in Nebraska!!) isn't the worst thing in the world to have! LOL

This week is still a relatively normal week at school. Next week there will be music concerts and Christmas parties-- and then I think we have a half day next Friday. It is hard to believe that the school year is almost half over!!

                     

My Christmas decoration for my classroom--made by my aide's daughter... 

 

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