Enjoying Spelling

I'm enjoying this Spelling thing in class. Yes, the teacher is the one enjoying the class activity! ;) The Spelling exercise itself is very simple. But I was surprised with the turn of events in the two Kindergarten class that I am handling.

Yesterday, I gave away the prizes that I promised those who got a perfect score in Spelling last week. They received the reward pencils I bought the other day. I got different reactions from my pupils upon 'awarding' the prizes. One pupil got disappointed, saying that the prize was boring. One said that she did not like the prize. There was also this pupil who cried when I gave the pencils to her classmates who got perfect scores.

I'm enjoying this Spelling thing because it seems to have affected my pupils, in positive ways I just hope. The pupil who cried, whenever she sees me, keeps on asking if I still have many pencils to give away. Many of my pupils are asking when we will be having the Spelling Quiz. One of the pupils who received a prize kept the pencil with her since yesterday. I asked her a while ago why she was holding it all the time. She answered, quoting her exact words, "I can't let it go." How cute! :)

My pupil copied the words for the week to study them!

I hope I am really achieving my goal in giving rewards to my pupils, which is to motivate them to desire and enjoy learning. I was so delighted a while ago when I observed that the children showed more interest in reading and spelling words than before. One of my pupils even copied the words for the week that I wrote on the board. He seems to be really determined to perfect the Spelling Activity on Friday! This is what I want to see. I hope children would develop a love for learning. I pray that they would enjoy learning and have the initiative to help themselves learn. After all, I think that's the goal of education. To train people to desire learning and apply all that they are learning wisely.

I hope that as my pupils enjoy our Spelling activities, they would also learn to enjoy learning.

Top 5 Disasters in a Classroom with 18 Toddlers

5. Spilled Yakult

Most of my pupils love drinking Yakult just like almost all children (and even adults, like my older brother) do. Hence, most of them have a bottle of Yakult during Snack Time. During our first few weeks, my co-teacher and I usually opened the wrappers of the children’s biscuits or bread and punched their packed juice with a straw right after we finished praying for the food. As for a Yakult bottle, we usually removed the entire foil lid. At first, the sight of Yakult was ordinary to me. But after a series of events, it became dreadful for me. Almost everyday, at least one child spills a bottle of Yakult on the table and down to the floor. Then, he/she steps on it. And then a classmate steps on it and then walks around the classroom and then steps on the rubber mats. Some children even drink while walking or running! And there, there is sticky feel all over the classroom! Mind you, the sticky-ness cannot be wiped off easily. A wet cloth is not enough. And even if you wipe it off several times, the presence of sticky-ness is still there. A disaster, indeed. Because of this, we have decided not to remove the Yakult’s lid until the child is ready to drink it. I love Yakult. But I hate Yakult spills. I would love it more if straws are included in the package.

4. Scattered toys

Two-year-old children are at a stage in which they are still discovering a lot about themselves and what they could do and about their surroundings as well. They love to hear sounds, look at pictures, touch and manipulate objects around them. That is why my pupils love to scatter the toys in our classroom. They love throwing toys and hear the sound when a toy hits the wall. They love mixing different toys together until it becomes difficult for us, teachers, to sort them. Believe me, seeing scattered toys is a disaster. And in our classroom, toys are not just scattered… They are also flying!