Pictures from my 3 Cities Adventure!

Three cities one weekend!

Catch up Blog

Ok... I am determined to get back on track with my blog. Last week was a very long week. It all started because our weekend was extra long due to the lack of sleep. Yes, I realize the lack of sleep was a personal choice but it was well worth it.

Last week was busy in school but it was productive, we really started getting in to the curriculum and I loved it. By the end of the week my mentor teacher and I were coming up with great ideas. We decided since we are getting behind in the reading we are going to break the kids in to groups and we are both going to take a group everyday that way it is more one on one attention. We have been working with some of our kids that have behavioral problems and they seem to be getting better.

Both my mentor teacher and I have been reading part of a Behavior Management book that has been very useful and interesting. I think I am going to buy a copy of the book for myself. It talks about how we need to help teach kids how to problem solve at a young age. Kids in the younger grades usually have simple problems and we usually just tell them the answers like if something spilled we tell them to go clean it up. Instead of telling them what to do we now say we have a problem and have the kids identify the problem and come up with possible solutions. It seems to be working well and the kids are enjoying it. They feel more included in the classroom.

I have gotten in to a routine to have my lesson plans done for the week ahead by Wednesday, that way I can write the parent newsletter on Thursday and have it ready to send out of Friday. Overall, I have been taking over more and more of the class.

My mentor teacher was gone today so she told me that I was in charge and that if I needed help to ask the sub. It was great and I did everything except for the read aloud. But, my mentor teacher is going to do the read aloud everyday to give me a break after lunch. I know that seems silly right who needs a break after lunch, well I do because I don't get a full lunch. The administrators want Cherise and I to get the full experience and so we have to either do lunch monitoring or recess monitoring so we only get a 25 min lunch. So my mentor does the read aloud so I can have another 25 minds to work on stuff finish my lunch and get ready for the afternoon lessons.

Today went amazing! I loved being in charge of the whole class and the kids were very responsive today. I love being a teacher. I also had a parent come up and talk to me to tell me her daughter just got a retainer that needs to stay in at all times and then she told me that she was sad I was going to be leaving in December because she thinks I am a great teacher and am really doing well with the kids!!

Well I think this is long enough and I have caught everyone up to date.

Oh I forgot about this weekend. Well it was a low key weekend! We went downtown on Saturday to the market and got fresh produce. Then we went to dinner with two other teachers and watched a movie and then on Sunday we went to the commissary for groceries and then I went and worked in my classroom for a few hours.

Miss you all xoxo!

Three Cities in One Weekend

Wow... Sorry this blog has taken me so long to write. I have been catching up on sleep and getting healthy again after a long, crazy, whirlwind of a weekend! We did three cities in one weekend! It was fun but a lot to handle!

We started by having a busy Friday afternoon running errands then we were going to meet Sandy downtown her friends were in town and their nephew who we were going to meet up with. The nephew has lived in Europe a lot and would be someone safe and fun to travel with. The plan was we were all going to go to Oktoberfest the next day.

Well Cherise and I started a quiet little evening with a yummy German dinner and well, we thought it was a great idea to split a bottle of wine! At the time it was a great idea... looking back at it, I think we may have been wrong. One thing led to the next...haha and needless to say we had a great night and early morning! By the time we made it home we had about 1.5 hours to sleep before getting up and getting ready for Oktoberfest!

We were still having a great time by the time we got to the train station with some other teachers.. We went to Oktoberfest which was an experience! We got to see the parades which was really neat(check out the pictures and videos). Then we went to try and get in a tent which was impossible. And if you don't get in to a tent and at a table it is nearly impossible to get a beer. We finally got to get into a tent but was unable to get a seat. It was amazing to see the ladies carry so many beer steins at one time! Over all it Oktoberfest is one GIGANTIC fair with beer tents and lots of beer.

After Oktoberfest we hoped a train to where our new friend Dominic lives with his Aunt and Uncle in Landshut. I was so pretty there! We had a great relaxing time. We were treated to homemade weiner schnitzel and were taken out on the town for a calm late night! We were exhausted from only having an hour and a half of sleep.

We finally made it back to Bamberg and started out laundry which was an all night hassle. There were many issues with the laundry and we finally had to hang wet laundry around the apartment and only got about 4 hours of sleep. Needless to say it has been a long week!

Kepp Checking

I know I am behind on my blog! I will post another one or two by Saturday!!

Had an AMAZING teaching day!!

The kids were listening today and everything was going great! Then my mentor teacher told me that one of our neighboring teachers told her how I am the best student teacher Delome has had and that I am so great with the kids. He thinks that I am very passionate about what I do and is a great asset to this school. It made me feel great and reinforced that I am doing a great job, even if I make the kids cry from time to time. I only make them cry when I tell them they have to give me one of their certificates because they didn't do what they were suppose to! I just wanted to share my happiness with everyone! Now I am off to shop for a traditional outfit for this weekend! Opening weekend for Oktoberfest!

Pictures from this weekend! and Tonight!! Sweats and New HEELS!!:-)

Bamberg Weekend Classroom and Aparment

Weekend in Bamberg

We decided to stay in Bamberg and explore this past weekend! Friday night we had margarita’s with some girls on post and then Saturday we slept in for a little bit before going down into Bamberg. Bamberg was a crazy busy place, fresh flower, veggies, and fruit markets everywhere. Then we met up with Cherise's friends that are in Germany for a few weeks it was fun!

Saturday night we went out to experience the Nightlife in Bamberg which would have been a lot of fun if we knew where to catch a taxi home but unfortunately we did not know so we had to ride home on the last bus at midnight. We only had time for one beer :-( but it looks like it will be a lot of fun and be another adventure to come! Needless to say the night did not go uneventful. When we got on the bus this VERY drunk man started to talk to us and was excited we were Americans. He kept attempting to talk to us but it was difficult to hear him, due to the immense amount of slurring. Cherise and I have yet to go somewhere where everything went smoothly. We were so use to the bus stopping at every stop during the day that we forgot to hit the Wagen Halt button (oopps)... Well since we didn't hit the button the bus drove right by our stop so we had to ride the bus to the next stop and had a long walk home haha! Leave it to us.. oh goodness.

On Sunday we got up early and decided to ride the bikes we are borrowing from some friends. Oh course that was still not an easy task, because my bike tire kept going flat so we went to the shoppett and filled up the tire up and decided to attempt to go across base and get some fix a flat stuff. As we stood in front of the bike section we decided to buy fix a flat, a new bike tube and a pump to have with us while we rode. We decided since the new tube was like $4 it was worth it. When we got out side we realized that neither one of us have ever changed a bike tire tube by ourselves. So we sat on the side of the street and attempted. We were doing a good job until we thought we bought the wrong size tube and then we got confused, until a gentlemen walked us to us and first laughed but then help us fix the tire! He walked us through the process!! Yah we were so proud of ourselves! After going to the commissary to get food we tracked back across Post unloaded our groceries and made lunch.

Shortly after our lunch we headed out for another bike adventure. Sandy one of our mentor teachers about this trail to go on to a neighboring town. We headed out not completely sure where to go. So we went on this rocky path through the woods. and finally got to a real path now the question was left or right. We choose left assuming it was right until we got to a spot where it look liked the trail ended so we turned around and headed back the other way. Needless to say we were right the first time. So we turned around and it was all slightly up hill. 45 mins later we arrived at the Keller and had a nice cold beer. Then we turned back and returned home! All in all we rode 10 miles on Sunday and today (Monday) I am feeling the after math my bottom HURTS! Well I hope you enjoyed this long chaotic blog!

Over Out

Who ever thought teaching was a piece of cake...was DISHONEST!!

Well, we just finished week two of school and lets just say the honeymoon is over! The first few days were fun the kids were cute and they were behaving! I was excited to be in the classroom! I was teaching a few lessons here and there and I was still just trying to finish catching up on all the organizing and paperwork before open house.

After open house I felt relieved. I felt that things were finally organized and going well! My mentor teacher and I felt like we had a great class with a few troubles here and there but we were going to help those students! We wrote a few notes home and made a few phone calls about our concerns for the students and the parents seemed to respond well! They like the early communication, and liked the idea of staying open with one another to help the student succeed!

My students are very emotional and they cry all the time! I am not a mean teacher but some how I have made at least one if not more students cry everyday. As my dad says be nice to the little kids. I told him if they follow the rules and what is asked of them, then I would have to take their certificates away. (Certificates are given to the students when they are doing a good job! Every two weeks they get to use their certificates to buy things from the prize area). And I know I am not mean because as soon as the kid is done crying they come up and hug me and tell me they love me! Being a teacher is so rewarding!! (most of the time).

It was a positive week until THURSDAY then the NIGHTMARE began. We have kids who continue to be dishonest about everything, we have student that cries everytime she does something wrong and gets caught. We have two boys who have been fighting with anothr little boy in the classroom and on Thursday one of my students ended up with a HUGE bump on his head and since it happened ont he playground the Principal was involved trying to solve it. My mentor teacher and I are some how trying to teach while all of this is going on and then the nurse need to talk to me because something disturbing happened with one of my students and we are very concerned about him. Needless to say it was near impposible to teach anything at this time. Half the kids were learning while the other have were doing what was stated above. I spent my time trying to deal with all the formentioned problems and make a behavior log for all the students. It was a very stressful afternoon. Right before the stress started I was drawing a bird with the student one of my better drawings and some little stinker told me my drawing looked fun :-( but then the rest of the kids kept coming up telling me they liked my drawing and it was pretty!

Friday was a new day and was a little more low keyed...Thank goodness! I have two studends who are very good at German and are helping me learn a few words! On friday they taught me Ich liebe dich which means I love you. All it all my kids are super sweet but have their stinker lets stress Ms. Thompson moments!

Hopefully next week won't be as bad! Starting tomorrow I will be teaching the students Math and Health. Then I will start to take over science and reading! I am lookig forward to next week and my goal is to not making any kids cry!

Mailing Address Just In Case

Hey everyone! I thought I would put my mailing address on here just in case anyone wanted to send me a letter or whatever! It is:

Kyla Thompson

USAG Bamberg

CMR #459 Box# GD

APO, AE 09139

Pictures from Berlin

Berlin

Berlin....What an Experience!

Aye Aye Aye Those damn Aussies!

Well we got in to Berlin late Friday night and decided to just go straight to the hostel and get some sleep. It was crazy everywhere we looked there were people drink on the streets in the train everywhere! We could tell this place had a big nightlife, but we felt we needed to be rested for the next day.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast and then set out. We decided to do a walking tour of Berlin, but we had two hours to kill before the tour began. And since we were right by the zoo and aquarium we decided to go. It was spectacular. As we read in one of our travel book it was Germany’s oldest zoo and aquarium located in the center of Berlin. It is the largest animal park in the world, boasting some 14,000 animals and over 1,800 different species. Needless to say this was my favorite zoo. The animals were super active and fun to watch. Our favorite was the Hippopotamus’s they even came to the window to say hi to us (check out the pics).

After the zoo we went and found our new favorite food the currywurst and we met the tour guide and went on our way. The sites that we saw were unbelievable, it was nice to have a tour guide because it connected history with real life and it gave us a chance to learn more about the history. It was a 5 hour tour and we took lots of pictures. Make sure to check out the pictures because they are going to have descriptions that explain what they are.

One thing that I was shocked about was the see part of the Berlin wall. My initial reaction was that it? It seemed like such a simple wall. Then we learned it wasn’t the wall that was so horrible it was the dead no mans land between the inner and outer wall. It was a power piece of history and very interesting to see.

We decided we wanted to go experience the nightlife and decided the safest way to do it was with a tour. We went through our same tour company and did the nightlife tour, it was VERY interesting. We met a lot of different young people with lots of different nationalities. We had a lot of Aussie’s (Australians), a few Kiwis (New Zealander’s), some Scotts (Scottlander’s) and three Americans. We started the night off with a beer on the streets then continued to 4 bars and a club. We decided it was time for us to go home because our Aussie friends were starting to get a little forward so we went to the train and waited.

While waiting for our train we had more interesting people. These two German boys came up to us and kept trying to get us to go party with them. We were like nope sorry we are all partied out. We were so concerned to make sure they did follow us that we accidental got on the wrong train. About 4 stops later we realized that we were on the wrong train, so we got off went back to where we started and tried again. This time we knew what to do. The adventure did with the wrong train, when we finally did get on the right train we had a girl start puking by one of the train entrances (she had a little too much to drink). It was funny watching the people start to walk back to the back of the train and all get grossed out and walk to the front.

Needless to say, we made it home safely about 330am and went to bed. Now we are off to explore Berlin’s museums.

The few museums we went to were absolutely amazing! We took lots of pictures! After a few museums then we went to Berlins capital and got to walk to the top. Lastly, we went in to the Catholic Cathedral It was beautiful, there we were able to go all the way up to the top through a small stairwell. I wanted to turn around half way to the top because I was freaking out about how high up we were going. I stuck it out and made it to the top it had a great view over Berlin.

Overall, Berlin was a lot of fun not a moment was wasted, but you cannot see all of Berlin in one weekend. We are now on the train and I just got done correcting my kiddos math papers, now I am thinking it is time for a nap!

Bamberg

Yah! I finally able to post pictures from Friday of our tour of Bamberg and a few from our train ride!

Bamberg

First Days of School

Why Hello!!

So I absolutely love it here! :-) And my first day was great, the kids are wonderful for the most part but they are so cute and so sweet! We have 18 kids but one kid has not been here for the first two days so we might only have 17. They are all different types of kids and they are entertaining.

The first day was a half day and I mostly watched, but I did go over some of the rules with them. Then today, I interacted with each child, I was checking their school supplies to make sure they had everything. Then after lunch and recess I got to read story with them. We did inferencing about what we think is going to happen next and what exactly was going on in the pictures. I only read a few pages and told them we would have to wait till tomorrow to find out what happens the loved it. Then we worked on reading and writing, the first few lines of a poem.

As for things out side of school Cherise and I had a total girls night! Right after schoolo we went to the phone and internet store only to get annoyed and find out that we are not not schedule to have the phone till well today and the internet ont he 3rd (GRRR). Oh well right. So then we went home and decided to indulge ourselves in some German culture with a Greek spin. We had a few beers and watched Mama Mia on sing-a-long version! :-) Yes we both realized we did not have much singing talent and we both decided it didn't really matter last night.

Overall, this is an amazing experience and it makes it more enjoyable to know how much love and support I have from everyone back home! Thank you for staying interested and reading my blog. We are going to Berlin this weekend so be sure to look for an updated after that and maybe before! :-) Pictures will be up later today or on THURSDAY ;-)