Happy Thanksgiving!

With exams quickly approaching, every class period has been devoted to revision of topics from the entire term. Although the students have been doing a better job with working efficiently and cooperatively, I know I can’t expect them to sit and do work for the entire day. They need to move around and let their creative minds work otherwise they get very antsy, very quickly. To help with this, I’ve scattered each day with a new mathematics activity to continue to promote Mathematics Month; as well as some Thanksgiving activities in an attempt to help them understand how we celebrate at home. Last week, I showed them how to construct their own Mancala game boards and taught them the rules of the simple partner game. It turned out to be a huge success and now every time there is a little down time at the end of a lesson, many of the students beg to play. They’ve even made it a contest to see who can “beat the teacher at her own game.” So far I’ve only lost twice, but they’re really starting to get the hang of the game and even devise strategies. This has been one of my favorite ways to observe their developing minds at work.

Another activity in which they exceeded my expectations was with my ‘Thanksgiving Quilt’ lesson. The students were asked to express themselves any way they wished (i.e. essay, song, poem, letter, etc.) and explain the things they are thankful for. I made sure to have them write a rough draft first, which helped them catch spelling and grammar errors. Then they transferred their words to the final paper and mounted it on colored construction paper. We hung the finished pieces on the wall outside the classroom in a quilt pattern and within minutes I was getting compliments from the other teachers. Despite the headaches I sometimes come home with from all of their rowdiness and quarreling, these students really are good kids at heart and are thankful for some wonderful things.

Furthermore, I was stunned when they asked if I could stay after school for “lessons.” From what I understood, lessons were various extracurricular sessions that certain students stayed for after the bell. I had heard about math, language arts and even karate lessons, but never took the time to investigate. Not wanting to let my kids down, I stayed back with about twelve students and went over whichever types of math problems they needed extra help with. The smaller class size made it much easier to maintain their attention and work through the problems a little more quickly. Since that session was impromptu and some of the students could not stay without asking permission, I agreed to hold another lesson the following day and every subsequent day until exams begin next week. Hopefully the extra thirty minutes of help each day will prove beneficial.

On Thursday morning, we took a class field trip to the Gros Islet Secondary School for the Grade Five District-wide Mathematics Competition. Each of the eleven schools selected two student representatives to compete for the chance to move on to the national round. I ended up volunteering to be the blackboard scorekeeper on the large stage with all of the contestants. Although neither one of my students did well enough to move on, (the winner only got one question wrong!) I still felt so proud of them. I can remember how nervous I used to get during mathematics and spelling bees in grammar school and I give them a lot of credit for getting up there in front of so many people. The best part of being on stage for the whole competition was that I was in the perfect position to see the rest of my students eagerly working out the problems in their heads and cheering like crazy whenever their representatives got the correct answer. I couldn’t help but smile and be excited for them, too. There’s nothing like a genuine smile of a proud little kid.

Even though I had to teach on Thanksgiving while the rest of you were watching football and getting ready for scrumptious family dinners, I’m not as jealous as I expected to be. Of course I miss home and send my good wishes and love, but I continue to enjoy myself here and am truly thankful for being given such a wonderful opportunity. Thank you to all of you for your thoughtful and supportive comments or even just taking time out to read these lengthy posts. I hope you can picture me smiling right now as I think about home. Oh, and please enjoy an extra slice of pumpkin pie for me! :)