I was able to get a lot of personal things done, but you know how it is for us list-makers. When are you really ever "done"? (I don't even have children, hobbies, or athletic interests as an excuse to NOT get my list items crossed off.) Oh well. That's why it's called a holiday, right? Whether or not anything productive gets done shouldn't be important.
Since I have been back to work, our class enrollment has been growing. We have 23 students in all, 19 being the most at one time, three days a week. We may just hit the maximum for all five days by summer. My partners are terrific and we are slowly but surely getting the toddlers on a routine. Thirteen of our students have been in the school for a year already, but we have 10 brand new students without prior daycare experience. Several of the new kids are already speaking Japanese. This means that in addition to detachment anxiety, we have to deal with realized language barriers. I predict that the ear-piercing, shriek-type crying won't subside until July or August when we start having pool play time.
I have made peace with my craft anxiety. I decided that I just don't have the energy to lament my lack of Japanese-style paper engineering prowess. (Yes, there is such a thing. I have been researching it for the last few weeks.) The craft magazine that is kept in the staff room has (imho) craft ideas that look like a cross between origami, kirigami, and martha stewart projects...and they're all eco-friendly. I basically work with craft Macgyvers whose entire lives have been immersed in art thousands of years old, right down to the food their mothers first sent them to school with: the almighty bento!
Now how's an island girl who brown paper bagged it (with a flip top can drink wrapped in foil--thanks mom) to every field trip gonna compete with that? I'll tell you the answer: I'm not. But at the same time, I find it hard to focus on Circle Time (my main responsibility...teaching time). I wing it most days, but I want to really learn and plan better execution and at the end of the day, I somehow feel this means making (or buying) more gadgets...like finger puppets, or puzzles. For example, someone hand made 9 mailboxes as a shape matching game. The kids must "mail" the correct shape into its mailbox. Cool, huh?
NOT cool. Someone MADE this. They had to cut 9 kleenex boxes, wrap them all with red construction paper, draw the Japan Post emblem on each box and cut a mail slot, cut/color/tape our curriculum approved shapes onto each mailbox, then tape each box with clear tape to make it last. Another more recent example: my partner made 10 flowers to teach colors--each flower is a different color (okay) and shape (what??). Each flower has 4 pieces (flower, stem, leaves) she cut individually. Each flower has a word label. Each flower is laminated. One more for ya: My other partner helped create jumping steps. These are 16x16x4 boxes stuffed with paper, covered and decorated with numbers, letters, pictures, etc all hand cut/colored. She made 5 of these steps in less than 2 hours total.
Anyway, as I work on strengthening my craft speed and stamina, I will post pictures of the magic that is my classroom because of my awesome partners so you can actually see what motivates me everyday. These are wonderful skills to pick up, though. And crafting is a great excuse to avoid studying Japanese. Hope all is well with you in your neck of the woods.
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