Cheese, Chocolate & the Children's Play

 

Christmas in Niger means I get to hang with the R family for at least a full 24 hours and when it's Christmas Eve that means there will be Cheese, Chocolate and a Children's play.  I didn't take any pictures of the cheese or the chocolate that was a part of our fondue Christmas Eve celebration but I did take pictures of the Children's play.  Due to a last minute migraine, there had to be some minor adjustments to the roles but these kids are pros and the show went on.

 

The angel visits the shepherds.

 

 

You've got to love Carrot Top, the wise man.

 

 

Moe, the rabbit. filled the role of the Baby Jesus.

 

 

And the cast takes their bows.

 

 

I'm so thankful for the gift of this friendship at Christmas and every day, for that matter! 

 



Signs of Christmas

Here in Niger there aren't that many visible signs of Christmas...no snow, not many twinkling lights or Christmas trees in windows but one sign that Christmas is on its way is the Christmas program our elementary children usually put on.  This year it was called, "Signs of Christmas."

Under the direction of my friend Bev, they did a fantastic job! 

 

One moment that made me want to bust out laughing was when this cutie got up to say her line along with several others.  After she finished, she took the time to pose for some pictures and threw up the victory sign just for good measure right in the middle of the program.

 

 

The little girl holding the purple bundle in the middle was Mary and let me tell you, she took her job seriously.  There wasn't a chance that anything bad was going to happen to Baby Jesus!

 

After the program, one of my students took it upon himself to write down the words to one of the songs they sang.  Can you figure out which Christmas carol it was?

 

 

Pretty sure this was the first time I've ever been asked how to spell virgin by a First Grader and I have to say I love the fact that it says, "Sleep in Heavenly Pees."  Oh my!  I have no end of entertainment when reading First Grade Writing!

 

Sleep in Heavenly Peas, friends.

What Are They Doing?

What exactly are my students doing?  

And the answer is - praying.  At the beginning of the year, when we had our prayer time I had one student who would get down on his hands and knees and tuck his head down while we prayed.  Over the months, one student turned into a few and before I knew it prayer time looked like this almost every single morning.  I have a hard time hearing what they are praying but God hears every word. :)

A Tailor Made Super Hero

Contractions have been cropping up all over the books my students have been reading.  Without a little direct instruction, First Graders have trouble reading contractions properly so I decided it was time for some lessons on the topic.  There are lots of great free resources out there for contractions but I have to say Captain Apostrophe caught my attention.  You can click on this link and be whisked away to another blog where you can find a great little story about how Captain Apostrophe has the power to join two words by swooping in, knocking out some letters and then flying high and hovering above the new word.  I wasn't in love with the look of Captain Apostrophe so I sought out another image. 

When I came across this one, I was pretty sure he would be a hit with all the boys but particularly Blue Man, my little friend who is desperately in love with the color blue.  So who should appear in Blue Man's writing several days later but....

Dun Dun Dudun....Captain Apostrophe!

 

Did I call that or what?

 

Now clearly, I have got some work to do on how you actually use apostrophes but hey, at least one person is enamored!  Speaking of work to do....

 



 

I should probably teach my writer's how to spell "write" so that we don't have to be "ritting stores" during "Whiters Workshop".  



Coming to a Mailbox Near You

 

Someone's been making Christmas cards...



Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash and other Rhyming Fun

The concept of rhyming seems to be particular difficult for my little English Language Learners this year.  So recently I took a couple of weeks to try to move them in the direction towards grasping the concept and being able to produce rhyming words themselves.  I happened to have on hand Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash in big book form. 

 

And who doesn't love Mrs. McNosh?  She's certainly not a traditionalist when it comes to doing the laundry.  Everything from the laundry to the mail to the turkey is fair game for a good washing.  As stories go this one is great fun with lots of vocabulary and rhyming practice thrown in too.  Here's a little preview of the story done by one of my students. 

 

I love the view of Mrs. McNosh in the top box.  Too cute!

In searching the web, I didn't find many resources out there to go along with this story so I made up a rhyming activity myself.  This is my first attempt ever to attach documents to my blog and my hand drawn pictures pale in comparison to all the cute clipart out there but the kids had fun so maybe yours will too. 

Feel free to print and enjoy the following activity.

For those who might be looking for some ideas for fun ways to practice rhyming with their students, there were two other group activities that we did to practice making rhyming words that are worth mentioning.  Let's call the first one Rhyme Around the Room.  I placed quarter sheets of poster paper around the room with one word at the top.  Groups of students were assigned a paper.  They used the marker and wrote as many rhyming words as they could think of in about 30 seconds.  After 30 seconds were up they moved to a new paper, read the words added by the group before them and then continued adding new words of their own. 

 

We'll call the second game Rhyming Encore.  The students were once again placed in groups and given a white board and marker.  I gave them a word such as "fish" and then the groups had to write down a word that rhymed with "fish."  As soon as they had a word they could share it.  Play continued until a group repeated a word, gave a word that didn't rhyme or wasn't real or couldn't think of any more rhyming words.  At that point, the group with the last valid word got a point.  



Just last Friday I was walking with one of my students at our Track and Field Day, our minds about as far away from the classroom and rhyming as they could be.  This student happens to be one of the ones who has had the most trouble with this concept.  He was playing with words as we walked and suddenly he came across two that rhymed, "Mat and bat - those are rhyming words!" he exclaimed.  Even if he didn't win any races, throw the farthest or jump the longest, that was a moment worth celebrating.  He understands the concept of rhyming!

Library Love

As I shuffled through one of my student's writing folders, I found a little love note tucked inside.

 

It's a sentiment shared by a great many Sahel students.  We are blessed with a spacious and inviting space, over 18,000 books and one amazing lady who has invested a great deal of money each year in providing us with new books. 

 

 

And then there is our librarian...

 

 

And boy, does she ever know how to create anticipation and invite participation! 

Before you know it you'll be paddling through the wilderness,

 





joining the army,

 

 

building a robot

 

 

or exploring the depths of the ocean.

 

 

Is it any wonder this place is the recipient of adoring fan mail?