Student Quotes

Disclaimer:  I am completely stealing this idea from Ann Durham.  She has a done a number of these posts, with the most recent being Student Quotes (#5).  They are utter genius and I thought I would share what students down at my end of the school have had to say over the months...

“I don’t get dizzy because my brain is so big it doesn’t giggle around.”
--2nd grade boy.


“I used to be a professional hockey player.”
--2nd grade boy.

“You look very pretty today.”
--1st grade girl to me.


“In the real alphabet it is supposed to be at the end.”
--1st grade boy talking about the zebra picture in the alphabet book.  In Spanish zebra starts with a C.

“Más o menos is so, so as in middle or 50-50.”
--4th grade boy's answer on a quiz in Spanish.  Just in case I didn’t get it the first time.

After asking a 3rd grade class what the yellow meant on the Venezuelan flag, one student answered, “Cheese!”

“Not yesterday, but yesterday, yesterday, yesterday…”
--2nd grade girl talking about her shoes.

“I hope the wind doesn’t blow my dress up.”
--1st grade girl.

“Oh, Ms. Houston you saved me.  I am so glad you said we don’t need our folders today because I forgot mine at home.  I am so relieved.  That is so good.”
--1st grade girl.

“I’m really bored. I need a beer or something.  I mean I’m really thirsty.  I just need a beer.”
--2nd grade boy.


“Come on Ms. Houston.  Go easy on us.  We’re just kids!”
--2nd grade boy.


“Ms. Houston you look younger today.”
--5th grade boy.

“Taking a sip of champagne does crazy things to you.”
--3rd grade boy.


“Ms. Houston, what are you going to be when you grow up?”
--1st grade boy.

“I have a werewolf inside me, spiders too.”
--1st grade boy.

“The tooth fairy doesn’t work on Fridays and Saturdays.  Those are her break days.”
 --2nd grade boy

“I went skydiving.”
--KG boy.


“I have a hot papa (potato) in my pants.”
--3rd grade boy.

“Don’t cry little one.  It’s just a joke.”
--2nd grade girl.


“That only happens to me when I run like 13 miles, but I’ve never done that.”
--3rd grade boy.


“I may be young, but I’m not dumb.”
--2nd grade girl.


“I think my balls burst.”
--2nd grade boy.


“I dare you to smell this.”
--2nd grade boy.


Student:  “Ms. Houston you look really young in that photo. How old where you?”
Me:  “13 años.”
Student:  “And they had color cameras back then?”
Me:  “Ummm, yes.”
A couple weeks later...
Student:  “Ms. Houston you're only 27 years old?”
Me:  “Yes.”
Student:  “Oh, so I get it now why they had color cameras when you were born.  You really aren't that old.”
--4th grade boy.

Action Unlimited Day 2011

Last weekend at ASD, the elementary students participated in Action Unlimited Day 2011!  There were over 600 students that participated in the event!  I volunteered to help out at the First Aide Station.  Thankfully, we had a very low key day!  Members of the Air Force were also able to help us out on this wonderful day.  I was actually surprised at how chilly it was...for Doha anyways...

The field all set up and ready for action!

Getting a game of football in before the kids arrive!

Let the games begin!

Lots of parents out to watch their children.

Beautiful blue sky!

Tug-of-war...

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!

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...