Day 28: Religion

Religion.
This is something that is labeled as "better safe than sorry." So most teachers just don't teach this. But here in Norway they do teach it. They have two hours of religion a week where they learn about different religions.
Today I got to teach about my religion. I got to tell the students all about what I believe, when I go to church, where I go to church and other things like this. I was not teaching them to convert them, but rather to inform them. The more students know the smarter they are. The more they understand the better they will be able to accept other people they meet who may have different views.
The study of religion is one thing I wish the United States would adopt. But I guess I will have to keep to the casual mention rather than an entire lesson.

For English today I did mad-libs with the students. It was how to talk like a pirate. This is the story we ended up with:
"Ye can always pretend to be a bloodthirsty DESK, threatening everyone by waving yer CRAZY sword in the air, but until ye learn to GO like a pirate, ye'll never e UNDER accepted as an authentic LADY. So here's what ye do: Cleverly work into yer daily conversations BLACK pirate phrases such as "Ahoy there, PIRATES," "Avast, ye GIRLS," and "Shiver me SANTAS." Remember to drop all yer gs when ye say such words as sailin', spittin', and fightin'. This will give ye an ARM start to being recognized as a swashbuckln' baby wipe. Once ye have the lingo down pat, it helps to wear a three-cornered MAN on yer head, stash a LIVER in yer pants, and keep a NOSE perched atop yer EAR. Aye, now ye be a real pirate."
One student asked me "What does swashbucklin' mean?" that was an interesting question to answer.

In the lunch room the sun was in my eyes. I said "Look! I can see the sun!"
One of the other teachers looked up suddenly and said "Something must be wrong."

Day 27: Interview with a Celebrity

Ronny asked me if I would be willing to let the 5th graders interview me in English today. I told him I should and asked him if he wanted me to dress up at all. His suggestion... was great!

Me as Anna and the 5th grade class

Ronny had told the kids that they were going to get to interview a celebrity straight from Hollywood. When I walked into the classroom, you should have seen the kids faces. They knew it was me, but they couldn't really get past the fact that I was also Anna from Frozen (or Frost as it is known here). They asked me all sorts of questions, and I answered them as Anna. This lesson was really good for the students because they wanted to ask the questions. They had to come up with the questions first and then ask them, and nearly everyone asked the questions.

This is something that I want to have in my classroom. I want to have different characters, fictional or real, come into my classroom. So I am going to need a lot of different people willing to help me with this. My mom has already said she was willing to help me. When I was little my mom had a friend who would dress up as different people for my birthday parties. I loved having her come. We could all dress up with her and we loved it. 

I also taught the 7th graders about adverbs. Once again, I found a very annoying song to help them remember what an adverb was. Then we made a anchor chart of adverbs so they could remember them later. 

Day 17: Music in my Soul

It was strange to go to school today because yesterday I did not go. But today was my music day, and so I was happy.
I love to sing and to share that with my students is wonderful.
I was asked if I could make a large heart for an exhibition that Valen school is doing at the Husnes library. I am pretty excited about, and very glad that I have the opportunity to create something for this.
The students of my school are all learning a dance and will be performing it soon, though I don't know when. They had a practice outside today and it was so cool to see all of the students dancing, the first graders through the 7th graders. The 7th graders tell me that they don't like the dance, but they were obviously enjoying themselves.
I also played some football with the kids during recess, they loved it! And I did as well. Though playing with the 7th graders is a little intimidating because they have all been playing for ages, and me... well I was on a team once when I was 10...
During 5th grade music there was a substitute teacher. When I say substitute teacher, I don't mean like we have in America. One teacher was sick, so they fenagled the teachers around until they could get one to cover her classes. This works out well here because everyone works together to keep the students learning. Anyway, the sub didn't really know what he was going to do for music. I told him I had some songs ready that I could teach if he wanted me to. The look on his face was so relieved. So we went over the songs that we learned last week and learned two new ones. I think their favorite was Da Moose Da Moose. I love that song, and they loved doing the voices and the actions. I hope they like all the songs, but it is cool to have a favorite.

Day 5: A Little English, A Little Polish

Today I got to be in three different classrooms. 3rd grade, 4th grade and 7th grade. I would have also been in 6th grade, however they were just refreshing on how to get online to do a test and that is pretty much the same everywhere. 

In 4th grade today I got to help kids figure out what to draw. That was fun. I showed one student how to draw fire, another how to draw a flying carriage. Not too shabby. 

In 3rd grade we learned the names of fruit and berries. According to the Utah Core Language Standards these kids are in the Level 1 category of speaking when it comes to everyday objects. They can't have a conversation with me. But they can listen pretty well, though they don't understand everything. 

Then to 7th grade. By far, this was my favorite part of the day... okay second favorite part. The kids talked to me and asked me questions. They gave me foods to try and told me about what they were writing reports on. It is very refreshing to be able to talk to people. I never knew how difficult it would be to not be able to communicate well with everyone around me. 

My favorite part of the day recess. I know, typical answer. But today there was a good reason for it. Last week I had promised the 5th grade girls that I would paint their nails. And today was the day we had decided to do it. I brought my nail polish and they lined up to have their nails painted. But it did not stop with the 5 girls I promised. No, some of the boys wanted their nails painted, and then the 3rd grade girls and then some 4th graders. There seemed to be a never ending line! I told them I would have to do more tomorrow. And that is true! I also need to bring my acetone so they can clean their old nail polish off first. I won't do it for them though. They will have to do it. (I don't want to ruin my nails!)

Some things I noticed today, or rather have been noticing but stood out to me today.

- Everyone talks over each other. Whether it is conversations going on in an X shape, or someone interrupting and talking first. It is all fair game in Norsk. And no one seems to be offended by it. Which I appreciate that they aren't offended, but I think I would rather just listen to one person at a time. 

- Mental math. Most of the math I have seen here has been mental math. The students solve pretty large addition and subtraction problems (in 4th grade) in their heads. Pretty awesome. 

After school the other student teachers and I went and played football (soccer) and basketball. I had so much fun! and it was nice to get all of my energy out from the day of sitting and standing at school.