Here at school ....

We've been working for six weeks now so I thought I'd write a little post about how we're getting on at school.

I (Ruth) am teaching Kindergarten 1 and 2 so am doing a lot of singing and colouring in and communicating mainly in hand gestures and flashcards! One girl in K1 has cried every day since the start of term - she must be exhausted! They are great kids though and very cute. Altogether I teach 530 children but there are two main classes of 25 that I see every day and so have got to know well (the other classes I only see once every two weeks.) I have a different topic each week such has five senses or fruit. 

Matt teaches more of a mixture but his main class is Grade 2 who he teaches for English five times a week and Science twice a week. He also teaches Maths to Grade 1 and Art to Grades 3 & 4. This means he gets to know a lot of kids which is cool although Grade 2 are definitely his bezzie mates!

Teacher Matt's Science experiment!

Five senses was a great topic and the kids thought it was hilarious - tasting different food and touching mystery boxes (the one with ice in was a hit!). I particularly enjoyed their faces when they tried lime!

Pinterest has been an absolute lifesaver. I had known about it for a few years but not really used it until I needed ideas for lessons. There are some amazing ideas there and links to great teacher blogs - it's wonderful how many great teachers share their ideas and resources online1

At least one song for each topic is completely essential and I was struggling for 'fruit' so I changed the words to 'Cauliflowers fluffy' :

Watermelons juicy and all the limes green

Pineapples sweeter than any I've seen

Mangoes yellow, coconut white

All grow steadily day and night.

Bananas are ripe, apples are red.

Oranges are orange - yes that's what I said!

All in all, we've really settled in to the work and we're nicely set in our routine. Nakhon Sawan is just beginning to feel like home. Of course that means we need a break! Next weekend we have a perfect opportunity as it's a long weekend. We're off to Chiang Mai, Thailand's biggest tourist destination after Bangkok and the Southern Islands. We've heard great things about the history, culture and the food so we'll be back with more soon!