Week 18: Christmas is almost here! Christmas is almost here!

Ok, first off, I got the CUTEST little plush!

He's so soft!

Isn't it ADORABLE?!

I saw him and absolutely had to get him. :)

So! This week was the Christmas lesson!  It was lots of fun, I tried to mix it up, teach different grades/schools different things, because I've found that if I teach the same lesson all week, I am REALLY SICK of it by the end of the week.

First we sing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" for which I drew flash cards to help them learn the words.  Actually, I drew a set of flash cards last week, but I accidentally left them at my Wednesday/Thursday school and so Monday I had to re-draw a set.

Since I had already done it once, I decided to
1)make them simpler and
2) free-hand it.

Well, I was doing ok, until I got to drawing a family for "you and your kin".  I was halfway through when I stopped and really looked at the drawing (yes, it's possible to draw without looking) and I gotta tell you...

We're happy in our differences.

 I just about died laughing.

When I pulled myself together, I called my co-teacher over and showed her, saying "I'm just going to re-draw it, but boy is this awful"  and she said "No! You should use this one!"  And then she laminated them.  So I did!  :)  The kids either didn't notice or thought it was funny.

After the song I told them a few things about the difference between America Christmas and Japan Christmas, including the fact that not all Americans celebrate Christmas.  I showed them some of the alternatives, and I think they got it.

Then we did crafts! Because that's what you do!  One of my favorite was the reindeer.  They would trace their hands for antlers and their foot for the head and they really had fun!

Another class made cards!

they're so talented!

I am, of course, only taking pictures of the best ones...there are some awful ones as well, but that's to be expected. :)

Some drew me pictures on the "message to the teacher"!

This kid loves Dr. Who. We've bonded.

Cute AND enthusiastic!

I've actually been collecting the pictures they draw me.  They're really fun. :)

Friday school, I AGAIN did not get to teach 6th grade.  ::sigh:: I wish they would..I don't know, re-arrange the schedule. I mean, I'm two hours once a week... oh well. So this was the THIRD week in a row I didn't get to teach them, and I felt really bad about it.  Especially since last week it was because I had taken it off... Yeah.

They made me a card though! :D

isn't it great?!

So I did 5th grade, we did more reindeer. :)

The fun part about Friday was, 5th grade has three classes, so 2 of the three classes, I went and FORGOT something in the office I had to run and get.  The classes are, of course, on the third floor. And since I can't use the teacher to distract them, I literally had to sprint down and up the stairs. :)  My legs hurt after that.

And of course, in the last class, there was an observer from the BOE watching me.  That no one had told me about.  Ah, Friday school.  At least it wasn't during one of the classes where I had forgotten something downstairs.  And the principal says the observer thinks I'm "outstanding"!  Now if only I could use that to negotiate a raise...

Thursday, I helped decorate for the ward Christmas Party.  It was fun!  There were a few people there, and another girl was in charge, and she had a VISION, that was, believe it or not, adaptable, so we worked well together.

We made a lot of these.

Not hard, but tedious

And that made me REALLY glad we had multiple people around.  I had made a LOT of snowflakes the past week.

This is the photo corner.

someone said "so! you made all those at home?"

"...yes. All at home. None at school during my hours of planning time."

We hung most of them up from the ceiling.

Saturday was a laaaazy day and, of course, the ward party.

White elephant, fruit's basket style.

I'm delighted, she's 'eh'.

photo corner finished.

the elders are so helpful! :)

I ate SO MUCH food I didn't have to eat breakfast Sunday morning.  :)  It was lots of fun, and they really liked the gingersnaps I made.  The funny part was, when we were planning the party, they kept asking me and the other American girl what kind of things we have in American Ward Christmas parties, and I'm like "um...well, last party I went to, they had tacos."  I suggested potluck, and that's the way they went, and it was GOOD. :)

And for my white elephant, I got a bag of mandarin oranges! :)  Yay!

This evening, I'm going to a light display in Kyoto! So excited!