Because a HERO was there..........

"Because a Hero was there......

in the HEART of a teacher who cared

enabling the child to become much more......

than he ever imagined....... or dared."

I've often wondered if I truly am worthy of becoming a teacher.I knew I was called for it. But sometimes, I get frustrated with myself when I get impatient with my students and say things I am not supposed to say. I often forget that "Misbehaviour is an opportunity for teaching and learning." And that my role is not just to teach but to fill up the missing pieces or fix the broken ones in my students lives as they come like a mystery box with puzzle pieces inside.

In school love and kindness should always rule! But lately, I often failed. I am guilty of doing things that I ask the children not to do. I tell them not to shout but I myself shout. I tell them not to hurt their classmates but I myself get to hurt them, not physically, but emotionally when I do not watch my language:-(

In school, children are suppposed to feel safe, unthreatened, not afraid to try.And I wonder often times if my children just follow me because they understand that it's the right thing to do or they're just really scared of me.I wish it's the first one.... it will break my heart if it's the latter.

In school, teachers are supposed to be a model of good character, respect and encouragement for one another. But when I come to class unprepared, I lose all the respect that I already earned not just from my students and colleagues but from myself.

In school, we don't always dictate and tell our students what they should do.We need to give them the freedom to choose and decide what they want to do to be responsible and learn to think on their own.They need to discover the joy that comes from learning something new! EUREKA!

Oh well, teaching is truly not an easy journey but a very meaningful one.It is for me:-)

As a teacher, I do commit mistakes, a lot of them actually... but I try my best not keep on repeating the same mistake.

And yes, I may get very impatient sometimes, but I love all my students. Every single one of them even if they do not belong from my own class because for me "Every single child is important to lose!". They're God's gift to me. And I know that inspite of the stress, conflict, misunderstanding, discipline issues etc, my students know that standing in the midst of their classroom is a teacher who cares.......

The Climb

*sang this song in school with my student Renette

The Climb

How often do we have lessons in life that we are not allowed to get up and walk away from? Lessons that feel like they are holding us back from the wide-open world that awaits us as we gaze out that window on a warm sunny day. Yet, by staying there and taking the time to learn and grow we later realize how important those lessons were in preparing us with a greater understanding of the world beyond our doorstep, beyond anything we had yet explored.

How often do we realize that it is not about reaching the peak but the journey you had to go through as you reach the peak.

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

Original Song by: Miley Cyrus

An unexpected event!

Today, something really unexpected happened in my class. Teacher

Yang and I brought K1 and K2 for outdoor play in the morning. Then

after awhile, we transferred to a covered court to play tag games, race and play some group games. We were very much into our games when suddenly the rain began to pour. One of my kids, Ethan, asked me, “Teacher, is the rain dirty or clean?” I told him, "It depends. Rain water can't be used as "drinking water" as it is not potable but if you want to bathe on it, then you can. However, you still need you shower right after as rain water contains acid that might not be good for your skin".

Probably contented with my answer, Ethan together with my other kids

watched the rain as it heavily poured down from the rooftop. Some of

them started to catch the rain with both their hands but teacher Yang and I never bothered to stop them as we wanted to satisfy our children's curiosity. Little did I know that these curious little creatures will get too curious that when one of them started to bend her head and catch the rain water falling from the rooftop, everyone else's followed! Whoa, I can't believe it! It was too late when I realized that almost all of my kids were already out bathing under the rain IN THEIR UNIFORM!!! *panic mode*

At the beginning, I really wanted to scold them, but

when I sawhow happy they were, jumping up and down, dancing and

playing under the rain, I told myself, "nah,,, let the kids experience

what it is like to bathe under the rain!". LOL

While watching my kids, I realized it was partly my fault why they got so curious about the rain. I remember one afternoon, I had a lesson on weather and I shared with my kids what a wonderful childhood life I had. I told them that when I was a kid, I used to bathe in the rain all the time. It was really a wonderful feeling! I also encouraged them that

when they get the chance that they should try it, a once in a lifetime

experience I must say. Well, guess what? they literally took that

"chance" with me this morning! :-)

I wanted to feel guilty as I write an apology letter to all of my parents with what happened. But at the same time, I felt happy for my kids. I know in my heart that they may never get to experience it again. All of them told me that it was their first time to bathe in the rain and so with all smiles I told them, "THIS IS THE FIRST AND LAST TIME YOU WILL EVER DO THAT UNDER MY CLASS OKAY?" And we just all laughed together.

Week 5: Spelling

The results of Week 4 spelling is frustrating! hu, hu, hu :-(

Maybe because we did it on a Monday.I was out having training last week and so the children probably forgotten what they learned over the weekend.

Oh well, let's see how things will work out this week.

Here is what's in for friday!


1. invites

2. wear

3. skirt

4. blouse

5. socks

6. shoes

7. ribbons

8. clothes

I Love You Teacher Ana!

I was on training yesterday and so my kids didn't see me in school. I did tell them about it and so they didn't really look for me. However, when I came back this morning, one of my K1 kids, Bing Heng, handed over a paper to me. I cannot explain how happy he was as he handed to me this little piece of paper which had the sweetest thing in the world written on it. It says, I love you Teacher Ana! As I said thank you to him out loud, he was just so thrilled and was jumping around telling everybody that he gave me a letter.

Now, I tell you as a teacher, it is such joy to feel loved by my students. And these simple letters or "presents" as some of my kids say are treasures to me. I actually received quite few almost everyday and yet I will never get tired of accepting it with gratefulness in my heart. I always show my kids that their teacher will never ever reject any of their work in any way because I love them and I want them to believe in themselves. I want them to know that their efforts are all good and I that I appreciate them.

Can you just imagine how Bing Heng for example would have reacted if I ignored his letter or if I just simply received it without even looking at it? He prepared for it way before I came to school and he kept it in his pocket and was really waiting for me to arrive.My gosh, I would have surely broke his heart if I ignored it or told him I'm busy. I will never let that happen.

I wish, all teachers and parents would also realize this fact: Kids want to be appreciated and loved! They need us to stop and listen to them when they want to say something. They need us to look and see their works. They need us to hug and kiss them. They need us to assure them that they are good and that everything will be okay.

When my kids say and tell me that they love me, I feel encouraged! It gives me a different kind of energy that I need to survive the day, to teach more and give my best. It tells me that I AM DOING GOOD and THAT ALL EFFORTS ARE NOT PUT INTO WASTE because my children, other than knowing their abc's and numbers know HOW TO SHOW THAT THEY LOVE AND CARE.

Week 4: Spelling Words

It's week 3 for our Spelling!

There were improvements from last week's result. However the scores are quite extremes. Half of my students got a perfect score while the rest got 3 and below. However, most of the mistakes were just a letter missing or letters got jumbled up.

Nice try K2! We will do better next week! :-)

Here's you spelling words fo this week:

1. talk
2. look
3. hear
4. hit
5. accident
6. yell
7. cry
8. punish

Arctic Hare

Today, as we continued to talk about Arctic Hare in K1, my boys did something really unexpected. I have no idea how they thought about this but I guess it's just the natural creative instict of kids.

My boys, cut some strips of papers, put gluestick on it and pasted it on their faces. They said they were Arctic Hares with whiskers! :-)

It was fun watching them do this kind of stuff and I really would like to encourage them to be as creative as they can, and so even if auntie was stopping them, I told them to go ahead and just wash their faces later.

I can't help but take a picture of them:

Remus, Javier and Shaqui

KEEP IT UP BOYS!

Week 3: Spelling Words

It's week 3 of our Spelling!

There were improvements from last week's result. However the scores are still very low. My only consolation right now is that most of them really tried and at least have written something. No one cried anymore! :-)

Let's try and try K2! I believe you can do it! :-)

Here's your spelling words for this week:

1. sad

2. care

3. happy

4. unfair

5. trust

6. work

7. park

8. walk

God bless! :-)

TEN TIPS FOR BETTER SPELLING

*got this from the web, might be of help for parents who are having difficulty in teaching spelling to their kids!

1. This may be the best-known spelling rule:
i before e, except after c
or when sounded like "ay"
as in neighbor and weigh
Here are some words that follow the rule:

IE words: believe, field, relief
CEI words: ceiling, deceit, receive
EI words: freight, reign, sleigh
Some exceptions: either, foreign, height, leisure, protein, weird

"CIEN words" are another exception to the rule. These include ancient, efficient, and science.

2. Here's another familiar spelling rule: "Silent e helps a vowel say its name." This means that when a word ends with a vowel followed by a consonant and then silent e, the vowel has a long sound. That's the difference between rate and rat, hide and hid, and cube and cub.

3. Have you heard the expression "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking?" This means that when there are two vowels in a row, the first usually has a long sound and the second is silent. That's why it's team, not taem; coat, not caot; and wait, not wiat. Remembering this rule will help you to put vowels in the right order.

4. Learn the basic rules for spelling with plural nouns so that you know whether to use s or es and how to make plurals of nouns that end in y or f.

5. In general, though, memorizing rules isn't the most effective way to learn spelling. Most rules have exceptions—and besides, you are best at learning words that you have made an effort to understand. A good way to understand a word is to break it into syllables. Look for prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Practice each short part and then the whole word.

dis-ap-pear-ing

tra-di-tion-al

After you break apart a word, ask yourself: How is this word like other words I know? Spelling the word traditional may make you think of spelling functional and national. Finding patterns among words is one of the best ways to learn spelling.

6. It's also helpful to try making up a funny memory aids. For example, do you have trouble remembering which has two s's—desert (arid land) or dessert (a sweet treat)? Remember that with dessert, you'd like seconds. Similarly, do you have trouble remembering how to spell separate? Remember that there's a rat in the middle.

7. Another kind of memory aid is to make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word can be used to make the spelling word. The sillier the better—goofy sentences may be easier to remember.
chili: cats have interesting little ideas
physical: please have your strawberry ice cream and lollipops

8. Make sure that you are pronouncing words correctly. This can help you to avoid some common spelling errors, such as canidate instead of candidate, jewelery instead of jewelry, and libary instead of library.

9. Put together a list of words that you find difficult to spell. Go over your old papers and spelling exams to track down these troublemakers. Once you've got your list in hand, see if some of the tips above will help you.

10. And lastly: Don't rely on electronic spellcheckers! They can miss errors—especially when you have used the wrong word but spelled it correctly. To prove it, we've taken a sentence and messed up all the words. And the spellchecker thinks it's fine.

"I might need some new shoes for gym," Harry told our Aunt Ann.

"Eye mite knead sum knew shoos four Jim," Hairy tolled hour Ant an.

Week 2: Spelling Words

I was quite dissappointed with the result of our week 1 spelling. But I guess it's because my kids find this activity as "something new" and they really have no idea what spelling is all about. And so this week, I am finding time to have some practice with them. Anytime I get the chance whether taking shower, playing games, free time etc, I would just ramdomly ask my K2 kids to spell a word from their list. I hope it helps!

Anyway, as the saying goes, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! So we will try and try.....

Here's our spelling for this week:

1. sad

2. care

3. happy

4. unfair

5. trust

6. work

7. park

8.walk

God Bless! :-)