More pre-student ramblings

Well the view just outside my classroom that I posted about this time last year (see the archive if you care to) is not quite as pretty anymore. They are tearing down the pre-primary building just across the fence so now I get a pretty view of construction. On the plus side the rest of the school is just as pretty as ever.

We're trying to implement a new middle-school wide program called "lifeskills" that aims to focus kids on the five major lifeskills of Truthfulness, Trustworthiness, Respect (appreciation), Active Listening, and Personal Best. It takes a little bit of a change from the normal way that teaching has gone on at Colegio Bolivar in the past so that people are using the same language and emphasizing (sp?) certain things. Some people (myself included) are really jumping on board but some people are a bit resistant. I guess if you've gotten comfortable with what you are doing you don't want change. I guess that means I never got to comfortable doing this job (I mean that in a good way... I remained challenged). It'll take some working out for sure but hopefully all goes well.

I feel like the first day of school with kids is coming really quickly and I'm not sure how I'll be ready.... But I still feel WAY more prepared than last year.

Emily is on a canoe trip with the rangers right now so I hope that the weather is good.

I forgot to bring bars of Ivory soap this year and thankfully Julie Hew came through and brought some with her after I emailed. Go out and buy a bar and put it in the microwave. Trust me. It's great. I promise it won't explode.

I'll probably be in this weeked making sure that things are all preped and ready to go. It has been a nice quiet week though so I don't mind putting in a little more time.