Christmas Word Scramble

Me: Since we are closing for Christmas break today, let’s do a word scramble ok. Remember ALL the words are related to the Christmas Story.

Student: Oh… that’s easy….

Me: Great... Let’s get started!

Me: This (YARM) is the name of Joseph’s wife. Joseph and ………..

Student: Juliet

Me: This (TSRA) is what we put on top of the tree…..Remember it’s scrambled

Student: Rats

Me: This (NAMGRE) is where Jesus was born.

Student: Manager

Me: Christmas story is about this (ESSJU) person’s birth

Student: Jessie

Me: Great... NEXT activity!!

Student: See..Told you it was easy Ms. Thomas. You did not believe me. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE ! 

Kids Say The Darnest Thing

Conversation between my most favorite Grade 3 student and me

J : So Ms Thomas…  Well you know.. you get me…

Me : I do? 

J: Yeah you know what to do to get to me work.. and that works…

Me: That’s great right

J: Sure .. but I also know what to do to tick you off… I just pretend to be dumb… it works all the time. I wondered why you never picked up on it …

Me : Well silly me then huh… I shall be prepared next time… I will know you are pretending.

J: Well what if there is no next time?

Me: What do you mean?

J: Well what if I never pretend to be dumb anymore and just do all my work?

Me: Well that will be too difficult for me to handle.I think I would get ticked off seeing that…

J: Well in that case …. From now on…. I will do just that….

Me  :Do what?

J : Ms Thomas… you are really really slow… I said from now on … I  will never pretend to be dumb 

anymore and just do all my work.. so that I can tick you off….

Me : Are you sure…

J : Most definitely… 

Me : Okkkkkkkkk then.... 

The miracle in Room 2602

(A conversation between a student whom I adore and me @ 8:30 in the morning)

Me: J , why are you not writing.

(All along he is sitting there staring right through me)

J: Oh! Ms Thomas… I have become blind.

Me: You have what?

J: Become blind. You know can’t see anything, can’t do anything.

Me: Oh ok. Well take 2 minutes and see if the blindness disappears.

J: Ok!  Sure.

(After 2 minutes, during which time he sat still and continues to look straight ahead!! I admire the commitment!! )

Me: Has the blindness gone?

J: No!!

Me: Ok well then come. I have heard about this blindness and immediate action has to be taken. Surgery is the ONLY option. I need to take you to the nurse and the hospital and we need to get in there and remove the problem. Only then would the blindness would disappear.

( I proceed to take him by the arm and walk towards the door)

J: Oh... wait… wait… give me a minute.

J: Oh wow....it’s a miracle!!

Me: What?

J: I can see!! It’s a miracle.

Me: Yes indeed it is… definitely a miracle 

The Water Slide

It’s summer break for me. So my sister, my niece and I headed over to visit my folks. After boarding a train and a rickety flight we finally made it to Salalah. Out here since there is not much to do, my folks have membership at a hotel nearby so we get to use their pool, gym etc.

So the other day all 5 of us (Dad, Mom, Sis, Niece and I) headed down to the pool. This pool has a water slide and although it’s not very big, it’s pretty alright. My sister and I took turns at it and after much nagging and convincing my 6’2 dad decided to have a go.

We saw him climb and sit down so we waited.....

We saw a huge gush of water come and so we waited.....

And then.....

We saw 2 hands over the edge of the slide .....they were slowly moving along the edge....

And that’s when we realized it ...

Soon after dad had sat down, the water for the slide had got turned off. So the poor man had to slide himself down the slide.....

We hope to go there again this week.. let’s see what happens !!! 

Kid's say the darnest thing.

I have a Grade 2 kid in my class who is all things male. For him tennis rules, karate is amazing, plays ONLY fighting games on the Wii, draws only aliens and ninja’s, never uses the color pink in any of his coloring coz well “pink’s a girl color”, writes about tennis and how he defeats the evil person with his snake like moves,  loudly proclaims that Hannah Montana is “ewwww”, is very happy to complain if he is asked to do anything out of the ordinary, and very happy to use “Oh! man, do I have to? “as a figure of speech.

So imagine my surprise when the other say I heard him exclaim, “oh sweet nibblets “. 

ME (1) – EXHAUSITON (0):

Ever since summer has visited Chennai, my so called busy life is tiring me out even more. Even though I spend all day in one or the other a/c classroom, by the end of it all I am tired. Yesterday I think I was sleep by 930... That’s how tired I am. Most of the time, along with physical exhaustion comes mental exhaustion. And that is something I always DREAD. Once the mental exhaustion sets in, it’s a never ending circle. It was a game and exhaustion ALWAYS won!! I know, I went through it last year. Everything makes a difference. Everything goes wrong and I seriously begin to wonder why.

This time however it’s a different tale.

Are things difficult? YES.

Are things going wrong? DEFINITELY.

Am I finding it difficult to cope? YES.

Are things working out the way my silly human SELF want it to (in short, will MY WILL be done)? NO

YET…. Despite this I am FINE.

I think the crucial moment in this so called saga I call is my life is when I realized that I got to stop relying on MY WILL and stop praying for it. There were (and still are) days I feel so broken and so lost and ready to give up and then I realize that these are the days I tried to do it all on my own. Pretty soon the realization that, it’s not MY WILL that should be of concern, but HIS, came into play. Let me just tell you all this. I was someone who had my life planned out when I was a teenager. So you can imagine the shock I was in for. It’s a great ask for a person like me to be told that this is something I don’t have control over. It’s a great ask to be told that “now is not the time “. It’s a great ask to be told to “wait”.

So now what?

I am listening as hard as I can. I am learning to let go and trust. I am praying for help in everything I do. I learning what faith is all about. I am learning to depend. I am learning to believe that things that are going difficult are soon going to get easy. Things that are going wrong, will soon find the right way and more importantly I will cope and be fine. I know, because it’s all part of HIS will.

I believe that there is a rhyme, reason and purpose for this part of my life. I can’t wait to find out what….. And that Ladies and Gentlemen is a whole different blog!!

:)

On a day really fine

Of 2009

"you're going to be an aunt big sis"

silently whispered

my lil sis

Sure I was prepared

By doing most things right

I stitched a few dresses

And made sure she ate right (I think)

Calmed my brother in laws’ nerves

And deftly avoided “mood “mines

All this happened

In 2009

The day of Sept 17^th,

Threw us for a loop

Nothing went along

As it should

Saw my sis wheeled through

The theater doors

Spent minutes in agony

But knowing there was more

Out came a trolley

And in it covered in blue

Lay the baby girl

Making her debut

Eyes tight shut

Fast fast asleep

Oblivious to the stir

Or drama surrounding her

With a head full of hair

And “ don’t disturb” me glares

Our hearts were won over

Without a moment to spare

Soon she grew

And we all could see

What an amazing person

She was going to be

With smiles reserved

Only for us

And noises that resembled

A small rhinoceros

With a love for ragi

That tastes really gross

She hates carrots

Really !!!!

Who hates those???

Her eyes light up when she sees me

While my heart skips a beat

She has special smiles for each of us

I personally think mines really neat!!

Seeing her makes my day

So precious I found her to be

Her spirit and joy I cannot explain

It fills my heart none the same

I thank God each day

For the gift of you

Samaya Durai

I really love you !!

Of all the places .....

Yesterday, I was at school and was walking towards the loo.

Suddenly I hear my name being called and I turn to find that one of my students is right behind me screaming “Hi! Ms. Thomasssss “. He turns and walks off into the boys’ loo (while waving to me all along ) and I walk into the teachers’ one.

To my luck, as I am leaving the loo, he comes out too.

Seeing me, he goes (quite loudly I might add) “WOW... Same time!!!! “

HAPPY B'DAY !!!

When I first met her, she was 3 months old.

I had seen her before all wrapped up in a red bow and also heard her screaming like a banshee,

right then I knew that she would turn out to bea very interesting personality,

and thats exaclty what she has done.

with her strange yet wonderful sounds and fantastic attempts at imitating others,

this little girl has become a constant topic of discussion in our house

and won us over.

Today,

She turns ONE !!!

So.............

Happy Bday dearest baby gurl !!

GOD BLESS YOU !!

Love,

Tante

School Madness

The other day, 2 of my students (P and L) and I were playing “Go- Fish”. We were playing Go-Fish with articulation cards (like most normal people do) that were for the /r/ blends (/br/, /tr/, /fr/, /gr/ etc)

After explaning the rule, we began playing. A few minutes into the game, While L and I were watching, P picks up the “grape “card and puts it into his pile.

Here is the conversation that followed.

L: ‘P, do you have grape.’

P (my really kind, truthful, wanting to win student): ‘NO’

Me: ‘P, you don’t have grape?’

P: ‘No, mis Thomas, I really don’t.’

Me: ‘P, are you sure you don’t have a card that has the picture of a grape? ‘

P: ‘Definitely not Ms. Thomas.’

Me: ‘But I definitely saw you pick up a card that had the picture of a fruit on it. Do you want to maybe double check for me and see what that card is?’

P: ‘Oh! Sure Ms. Thomas’ (and he proceeds to shuffle through the cards).

P:' Oh! Ms. Thomas, I do have a card but it’s that of a banana.'

(Please remember ... we were are playing GO-Fish with sound blend cards)

Me: 'Uhh… Hmm…. What card?'

P: 'Banana Ms. Thomas, Banana'

Me: 'Ok, P but you do realize that the word “Banana “does not have a blend right. Remember “blends” which we are working on.'

P: 'I KNOW …. Ms. Thomas, you are not listening right.. I said “brnana” NOT “banana”… see…”brnana” has a /br/.'

REALLY ???????????