¡Deja que el mundo te cambie y podrás cambiar el mundo!

Let the world change you and you can change the world!

--Che Guevara

Friday, February 11, 2011

Reading Week 2011

Reading Week 2011 took place from February 6-10.  The theme this year was “Reading is a Treasure.”  There were lots of different events happening throughout the week in order to promote this great week and reading.

Below is a list of some of the different events:

* Bookmark Contest
Interested students were able to design a bookmark in the theme of “Reading is a Treasure” and submit it for consideration in the bookmark contest.  A winner was selected from each grade level.  The winners will have a READ poster of their own made and copies will be made of their bookmark for library visitors to take.

* Caught Reading
For the three weeks previous to Reading Week cameras were prowling around campus looking for kids, teachers and pretty much EVERYONE who was reading and then catching them on camera.  These pictures were made into a slide show that played during the course of Reading Week on the video display monitors throughout the school.

* Snippet Contest
What is a snippet, you may ask.  A snippet is a little bit of something.  In this case it was up to three lines read out of a well-known book.  There were two snippets each morning for the students to guess.  Students wrote their answers on a scrap paper and brought them to the library.  One winner was picked from those answers that were correct and received a free book.  Below are a few of the snippets from the week.  Do you know any of these books?
  • When they were near the other side of the river, the fox cried out suddenly.  "The water grows deeper still.  Jump on my nose!  Jump on my nose!"
  • "Won't this tree be a pretty sight when I have trimmed it later tonight?  But the top, oh dear, I'm so afraid, will have to be cut," sighed Miss Adelaide.
  • "Get off the bus!" I hollered.  My Gypsy Club invented that saying.  At one meeting, we decided we’d make up a cool phrase that would circle around the whole world.  We’d become so famous they’d put our names in the newspaper.
  • I looked at that tree.  Somehow I knew it was home, but I was not quite sure how it was home.  The limbs were high and not right for a tree house.  I could build a bark extension around it, but that would look silly.  Slowly I circled the great trunk.  Halfway around the whole plan became perfectly obvious.
  • Katie knew all about wishes—especially the kind that came true.  One of her wishes had come true – and it kept on coming true over and over again.
  • How are you? hummed a bumblebee, flying from flower to fower.  The little cricket wanted to answer, so he rubbed his wings together.  But nothing happened.  Not a sound.
  • Just then, the baby bird saw a big thing.  This must be his mother! "There she is!" he said. "There is my mother!"
    He ran right up to it. "Mother, Mother! Here I am, Mother!" he said to the big thing.
    But the big thing just said, "Snort."
    "Oh, you are not my mother," said the baby bird.  "You are a snort. I have to get out of here!
* READ Posters
READ posters, featuring all the teachers and administrators holding their favorite book, were plastered on the walls around the outside of the library.

* Guest Readers
Teachers could sign up to have guest readers come to their class to do a story time.  Guest readers included volunteers from administration, specialists, and PK teachers!  I was a guest reader in three different classes.

* Drop Everything & Read
Each day students were required to carry their books around with them.  Once a day, at any given moment they were told to drop everything and read for ten minutes.  A few of those moments were called during my classes so I was able to get some nice shots of students busy reading!
5th graders busy reading.
More 5th grade reading action.
Drop everything and read in 2nd grade.
2nd graders busy reading on the couch!
More 2nd grade action.
That's a nice reading spot!
Drop everything and read in 1st grade.
* Dress Up Day
On Wednesday, kids were encouraged to dress as their favorite character from a book.  It was so fun seeing some well known characters walking around school.

Hagrid made to school!

Too cute...
* BOB Finals
On Tuesday, the 4th and 5th graders participated in the Battle of the Books (BOB) Finals.  They had been battling for the good majority of the school year, but only seven teams made it to the finals.  A 5th grade team won BOB this year!   
One of the BOB books for this year.
Busy answering the question.
The spectators. 
One of the last questions.
Cheering for the winners!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Trip to the Desert

I have been in Doha for almost seven months and I finally made it out of the city and into the desert!  It was a such a beautiful day to share with some great people and enjoy the wonderful outdoors!

Here are a few snippets from our great day...

Kristin, Kari, and Julie
Letting some of the air out of the tires before we hit the dunes!
Go Qatar!
Getting ready to hit the dunes!
This is what I need to try out on my next trip...
Sand...
Just like Lake Michigan, with just a little more sand... ;)
YEAH!
The girls.
As you can see, these dunes see a lot of traffic.
Looking across the water at Saudi Arabia.
Thumbs up! 
Sandboarding is so much better than snowboarding.  It doesn't hurt when you fall...
The gang:  Scott, Julie, Kristin, Kari, & Stephan.
JUMP!
Julie playing in the sand.
Making the climb to do some sandboarding and enjoy the view.
The pro.
Relaxing and enjoying the view.
As we were leaving, it was getting very busy.
I still need to ride a camel one of these days...

Monday, February 7, 2011

Cross Country Pizza Party

Last Thursday, we finally were able to have our pizza party for the elementary cross country team.  It ended up being a really great lunch.  The runners were able to see a slide show of pictures form the season.  Also, they all received a certificate and a team picture for all their hard work and effort! 

I would have to say my favorite part of our party was not the pizza or even the cupcakes (though they were both a close second), but when we asked the kids what they liked best and for new ideas for next year.

Some of their comments:
  • "The running was the best part."
  • "I love to run!"
  • "Next year we should practice more than twice a week."
  • "We should run in the summer to help us get ready for the season."
  • "We need to train harder to build stamina and run faster!"
  • "We should run all year long."
At least when it was all said and done they liked running... :)

Giving their great incite...
Ideas for next year!
Enjoying the yummy pizza!
Cupcakes!
Some of the 5th grade girls.
Some of the 3rd grade boys and girls.
Receiving their certificates.
More certificates! 

Saturday, February 5, 2011

4th Annual Walk-a-Thon for A-CET

On Thursday, students walked the track for one hour before and one hour after school in honor of the students in Ethiopia who walk long distances to school everyday.  The students received pledges per lap from family and friends.  Last year this walk-a-thon raised 60,000+ QR!  The goal this year was 65,000 QR.  We are still waiting to see how much they raised this year... 

All donations collected will be given to Gumselasa Full Elementary School for continued support. Recently, 15 solar powered computers were donated to Gumselasa from another sponsor, and now they need a classroom to utilize these computers!

Check the school out:  http://a-cet.org/

It was great to get out there with the kids and run/walk for a great cause.  There were lots of family and friends also participating and cheering the students on!

I didn't get any pictures from the afternoon because I decided to get my run in at the same time...killed two birds with one stone.  I will say that I had some competition out there from some of my students.  We had some great laughs and fun racing around the track!