A Walk in the Park

  
***I have a ton of catching up to do on this ol blog......but the thing is life keeps happening and my list of "to blog about" keeps growing. So I figured I might as well blog about something even if it is not at the top of my "to-do" list.

Work has been a drag. Being a teacher can really suck sometimes. The work load lately has been heavy. It's the end of a term for our older elementary students. Which means reviewing all of this terms material, making review worksheets, term test, then my least favorite...report cards! Ahgg. I HATE writing them. I won't go into it but they are more complicated then back home, its not a fill in the bubble, click a comment to add. Every single student gets a personalized comment that is no less than a paragraph long for each subject, from each teacher. It it a miserable task for me. Anyway....then at the end of this month it's term test for the first graders too. And to add to the fun this month....drum roll please....we got  four new students in pre-k! They are only Korean age 5. Which means in North American age they are between 2- 4 years old, depending on their birthday. I haven't seen their paper work yet, but I imagine one is 3 and others are 4. We build a whole new class for these little darlings.

So... Joe and I decided to take the kindergartners for a mini field trip. Getting out of the building after a long week was perfect. We have had a beautiful fall so far but it will be getting cold really soon. Winters are long in Korea and we knew it would be the last time we would be able to get outside with the kids until next spring. The weather was perfect. Cool, crisp air, sunny and dry. It was a picture perfect fall day. There is a great little park near the school that has a pond full of fish and the path to the park is lined with trees with the leaves changing colors. We had about 90 minutes to get to the park and back. Not an easy task with 20 small children, but do-able. We set out walking, then moved to speed walking, then when I noticed we might not make it back in time for the kids to catch the bus, we ran.

  

It's hard to see in this picture but Joe is carrying/running with Matthew. Matthew is by far the heaviest Kindergartner we have. He just could not keep up with the others, so Joe scooped him up and ran with him.  Matthew told the other kids he was flying. The next day Joe was sore. 

 

 I packed a small bag of Eddie's dry dog food so we could feed the fish. We were lucky enough to have some ducks come by and we got to feed them too. The kids LOVED it.

Steve- "I'm so tired, I can't wait to sleep on the bus" 

 Jayden got something stuck in his shoe. He stopped and refused to move until the issue was resolved. Of course that meant it was the perfect time for a picture according the Vicki, our photographer for the day. I swear nothing happens at BIS without a camera within reach. Joe and I didn't even think any of the Korean staff would go with us. Unfortunately as soon as we loaded up into the elevator, Vicki squeezed it. She doesn't really speak English, all she said was, "For picture", then held up the camera.

We all had a great time. We ran and played. I had the kids collect leaves for a future art project. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

November Field Trip

Every month at BIS the Kindergarteners get to go on a field trip. The teachers take turns going along. In our past experience field trips have been a great opportunity to get to know the kids in a very relaxed setting. Joe and I were excited that not only were we going to go on the November field trip, but that we would also get to go together.
Joe and I are known at BIS for being very strict. Joe is the consistent, even keel, mellow teacher. I am a bit more dramatic, loud, and I wear my emotions on my sleeve. On field trips Joe and I are put our "teacher hats"up and just play.

November's field trip was to a chocolate making store.
The kids were really excited! Joe and I had been on this field trip before, but it was our first field trip with this group of kids. Joe and I were really excited to hang out with the kids outside of school.

As per usual, I was running late, and we arrived just in time to get on the bus to the field trip. In the past Joe and I were not allowed to ride on the bus together. (in the past couples at BIS would be inappropriate around the children) It was fun to be on the same bus. It took about 20 minutes to get to the country side store.

When we got to the store/factory the kids were shown a short slide show about where coco comes from. This was done all in Korean. Joe and I just stood around and watched the kids get excited.

When it came time to making chocolate, the kids all got to make molds of dark chocolate. Each kid made about 15-20 chocolates to take home. They were all packaged and put in their backpacks.

Angela

Matthew

Sean

Brian

Alex and Erin-Na

Angela. she was SO proud of her little chocolates!

Andy....

Hard at work

After we were all done making chocolates we gathered to have a pick-nick style lunch. Because BIS is a private school the parents often send the kids with TONS of food to share with the teachers. At one point seven or eight of the little boys were trying to feed Joe different kinds of kim-bop (kind of like a California role, veggies, meat, with rice, rolled with seaweed) Jamie's mom won the award for best kim-bop, meat and rice. Jamie doesn't eat vegetables, him and Joe have that in common. :)

After lunch we had about an hour to kill. It was too cold to go outside and play and the room we were in was way to small to run around. For a few minutes Joe and I were at a loss. Neither of us had any quiet games we could play.....so after about 5 minutes of the kids getting a bit out of hand Joe and I pulled out our old iPhones and let the kids take turns playing Angry Birds. We ended up dog-piling, Joe had a group of kids on his lap and I had the others with me. We took turns trying to earn 3 stars on each level.

Neither of us are going to get "Teacher of the Year" awards after this field trip, but it was fun for us and the kids.

Dorothy, Eugene, Angela, Jun, Daniel and Erin-Jo

Dorothy (I swear she is happy some of the time) Angela and Jun

Joe has a few more pictures on his phone that I need to get. But as you can see, we all had a pretty good time.