Blood, sweat, tears, and a few little green sprouts

Blood: we had our first dripping/gushing blood in K4C this week. Luckily it was only a bloody nose and it stopped fairly quickly. Bloody noses I can handle. Open gaping flesh wounds? Not so much. Praying we don't end up with any of those! 

Sweat: our morning recess is shady and cool, but lunch recess is like a little sauna. It doesn't help that we eat in an open air cafeteria so I'm sweating even before I get to recess duty, as even the shade at midday is somewhat miserable. My poor little kiddos are soaked after ten minutes. We don't stay out much longer than that and there's usually a gaggle of them following me around waiting for me to ring the bell for the last minute or two. They are sometimes resistant to drinking water earlier in the day, but no one resists when I make them get drinks after lunch! 

Tears: my morning drop off criers have pretty much stopped, but we still get some tears throughout the day from bumps on the playground or tired frustrating moments during wake up or things like that. No one has cried in time out yet, and I totally expected them too. My TA told me my time outs aren't scary, which they aren't supposed to be, though they seem sufficiently effective so far. Come to think of it, no one has gotten time out during recess yet, so maybe that's when the tears will come...

Sprouts: I've been getting more into gardening in the last few years and have enjoyed visiting my brother's community garden in New York and seeing what he grows at his apartment as well. So this summer I bought some seeds because hey, if he can grow tomatoes on his fire escape in New York, I should be able to grow them on my balcony in Bangkok, right? This week I planted tomato and radish seeds and they just started sprouting🌱. I'm so excited to get them into pots and watch them grow. And then of course, to eat them. I have some sugar snap peas too, but I wanted to try these first. 

Tomato sprout 

Radishes! Maybe not my favorite veggie, but they're supposed to be easier to grow than most of the others and I like them well enough, especially if they're from my own garden ❤️

The First Week

LOne week down, and so far K4 is everything I hoped it would be. My students are delightful. They range from shy and sensitive to spunky-spitfire independent, from well trained little listeners to 'what? you want me to sit down?'. Some look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them to draw a picture of themself, others have practically mastered the objectives of K4 already. They are excited, giggly, impulsive, silly, talkative, stubborn, eager, insistent, adorable, emotional, hilarious, and all the other things a 4 year old ought to be. When we went to the big auditorium for chapel yesterday, the chairs kept folding up on half of them because they aren't big enough to weigh it down. The little one next to me held her blankie. It's been awesome. 

I've been so impressed with how quickly they are catching on to the classroom routines. The one transition that we are really struggling with is entirely my fault and not theirs- we haven't yet found a "come in from recess signal" that is loud enough for them to hear during the craziness of lunch recess. They're great at lining up after morning recess, but it's much calmer and quieter then so they can hear. Well, that and some of them really don't like waking up after nap time, but hey, who does? 

As expected, the first week brought tears, snot, vomit, and blood, but it also brought lots of laughter and smiles. Their favorite activity is a brilliant "game" called Mokey See, Monkey Do. I say, "Monkey see, monkey do, I can ________, how about you?" and fill in the blank with all kinds of things- wiggle, jump, touch my toes, act like a dinosaur, etc.  The brilliant part is, the last line of the game is always 'line up' or 'sit quietly' or whatever else I need them to do at that time. For a movement break or a transition, it works like a charm :) 

There are things I miss about middle school for sure- the quirks of preteens and young teens, being able to send a kid to fill my water bottle for me, their independence, the five minutes between classes when I can actually use the bathroom- but plenty of my kids have been stopping by after school this week to say hi or waving vigorously at me when they see me on their way to PE, drama, or play after lunch (all of which require them to walk by the elementary building). They change so much over the summers that some of their names escape me when I first see them, especially those I haven't taught in a few years. I miss my middle school colleagues and the swagger of the 8th graders who think they rule the world, but I am comforted by a great K4 team and my new kiddos and being so busy during the day that it just flies by.  I'm glad I made the switch. 

As my days have begun to find their way back to routine, the homesickness has come too. Pictures of my family enjoying time in northern Michigan, videos of my nephew laughing hysterically, reports about how my Grampa is doing- while I want them and welcome them, they also make me miss people. It's the never ending struggle of my life and my job- my heart scattered across the globe. But as I sit with my tea and look at my balcony garden and the trees and city beyond, I know I am where I am supposed to be right now. God is faithful. 

Ready for K4!

8 months ago I sat in the elementary office talking to the principal, exploring the possibility of moving to elementary. When she mentioned that a K4 position would be open I knew it was for me.  Today we had our open house and I met most of my sweet kiddos. I can't wait for them to come tomorrow!  It's going to be such a fun year :)  

Classroom "before" pictures (what it looked like when I showed up July 23):

The classroom in progress...

Ready for Open House today!

Ready or not, here they come! And yes, I'm ready :)