Michaella's Classroom

Come and look inside my classroom in Ch/na :)

My classroom is combined of two grades, 5th and 6th grade, all mostly from Ko. rea.  One student is German/American, another is American/Ko. re.an, (one or) two are Ko. re.an/Canadian, one is American/Chi nese and the rest are 100% South Ko.re.an.  Total of 19 students in all.   


There are computers in the school, used for their computer class and all teachers have their own laptops.  I have speakers and a projector to show videos, slides, power point or anything from my laptop in my own classroom.  My students love to watch educational youtube HAHA

We begin the day with popcorn pr. ay. r; that is I start and close the Pr.a yr and allow the students to freely participate as they feel.  We also Pr. on the hour each hour, and this is usually a short time, a mixture of being led by me or a student chosen by me.  How rewarding and humbling to hear the words I have spoken in their own person Pr. yrs!

When my students have exceptional behavior, I have a prize jar filled with their favorite candies and pencils; I'm still learning what my students like that is still affordable.  They like candy, what young tween doesn't?  When the class is VERY good, I let them have the last five minutes to play their favorite game:   NINJA!!!!     HI  YAH!!

Three of my 6th grade boys.  My handsome boys :)  Little stinkers is what they are, but VERY respectful!  "Yes Teacher"  is a sign of respect instead of Mr. or Mrs. Name, that is what some of them call me :)

My poster I made

I fought for this shelf when the front office got new furniture; it is my class communication  mailbox.    I even have one! You see at the bottom right?  Its a large envelop.  The front says "Teacher's Mailbox" but on one side it has a green strip of paper, to tell me I do not have mail.  The other side is completely orange and says "You have mail!"  Pretty clever huh?  I madeit up myself after a student said "did you get my note?"  After I realized I threw it away, because she left it on my desk on an exceptionally unorganized day... oh dear...  Yeah I had to fix this communication line, and my desk :D

There are always rules, but in my class, we have:
"Ways for teamwork success in room 212"  :D

Since almost my entire class is ESL (English as a Second Language), I decided to help them out in their writing by providing thoughtful transition words!  They responded "Oh thank you teacher!!"
Message me if you would like the master list!

As a bonus to get my middle schooler's talking and soaking up more words, I came up with Word of the day.  Does this add a ton of extra prep time and stress????  Yes it does!  But this has definitely gotten quite a few trying!  The WOD must be used in a sentence correctly, in any form, state the part of speech and spell it.  The student receives on tally mark for each day they succeed; after 5 are accumulated, they receive one bonus point on any assignment that is 99% or less.  The student may use it at any time or by the end of the quarter, for report cards.  Once used they circle with a big red marker indicating the point has been used.  Some love it, a few could not care less :D

Our bookshelf.  Those turned on their backs are books not being used but have no where else to store them.  They may be donated to an orphanage or given to the poor to collect money for the paper.  I just want them off my shelves!! The left side is where the students and teachers editions are kept; the right side is the personal library for our grades.  The schools' library is small.

These are sweet notes and origami gifts my students made for me when I was so sick!  I never missed a day of school, just one class because I needed a breathing treatment and the doctor was in that hour.  Of course the campus doctor leaves at noon every day so I made the loooong trek up the hill on a growing cold and windy day and back by the end of lunch time

I know this is big but I wanted to give you a close up if I could.  The right are limericks we did in reading during our Poetry week;
 the left is from Social Studies.  The students created a Yellow Journalism article.

My desk, part of it anyway.  I took trashed boxes and covered them in newspaper, taped them to the wall for my personal bulletin boards!  An actual bulletin board is boring so I got creative!  Like my table cloth?  It was an overlay curtain I found in my dorm room when we moved!  My prize jar is made from a can of tomato paste I bought, used and cleaned; I then dug around in the lost and found and discovered an old shoe bag, like for dirty sneakers I guess.  I washed it and covered the jar.  My kids love to make me origami presents; I keep all of them :D

Of course my "Quiet zone" is NEVER used because my children are An gels :D :D :D  HAHAHA  It has been frequented by my tweens as a place to cool down or serve their forfeited recess or silent lunch.  Of course it is set right next to my desk with a folder of communication questions; during this time away from others part of their discipline is to find verses they think will help them correct their behavior and words given to find their meaning in the dictionary like "privilege" "integrity" and "responsibility".  The paper is concluded with writing a paragraph on what they learned and a personal Pr a.yr to the FATHER.  If you would like this form in a file, just message me!

OKAY!  This is getting long, I am sorry!  I will end with one last picture.  This was taken of me on the last day of school.  Hello tired and washed out face after being in Ch / na for 4 months and surviving my entire first semester of teaching for the first time ever!!!!  Notice I am indulging on my favorite comfort food: 'Pingwah' (spoken in the third tone, falling then rising)  Again, I spelled it phonetically for you.  Guess what you just said??  APPLE!!!

I made it half of my first year of teaching.  Hooray!  PTL!

 

Now I need to get some pics of Doziers office and classrooms!  That will be in two weeks--> stay tuned folks!

Much love to all!

D  +  M