Creations 2010-2011 (part 2 )

BULLETIN BOARD DESIGNS

Whether they are done to aid and enhance instruction or to create an ambiance conducive to learning, or to present evidence of understanding, bulletin boards play an indispensable role in a classroom setting.

Fruit Basket (Arabic Class)

In SIS, it is such a pleasure to just get wild with bulletin board display ideas, primarily because the resources abound....and if some elements are ever so lacking, we create them.

The Y2G Friendship Tree

Colours Abound (Year 2 Green)

Sounding Letters Around the World

The Alphabet Line

The Food Pyramid (Science 2)

Y2G Tasks

Details of a Vine

The Class of Year 2 Green

Border Details

Welcoming Year 2 Green

Looking Out of The Window (Foundation School Role Play Area)

France Landmarks (French class)

Fruit Basket (Arabic Class)

Tints and Shades (Art :Year 2)

Vote Wisely

Measuring (Numeracy -Year 2G)

Visit Our Island (Geography -Year 2 Green)

Working on Adjectives (Literacy- Year 2 Green)

Numbers (Year 1 Playground)

We Are the Year 4 Pirates

The Star Camp (Year 5 & 6)

Multiple Monsters (Numeracy-Year 4)

Reaching the Stars (Y2G Achievers)

What We think (Arabic Class)

Colours in Arabic

Changes in Our Body (Science)

Year 2 Green Picture Collage

Find Me in New York City (Literacy -Year 2 Green)

Creations 2010-2011 (part 1)

The School Year 20110-2011 has been one of the most challenging and exciting years for me in terms of design and creative expressions, visually, that is. Here goes one of the reasons why I haven't been here (in geedimension7) for almost a year. I captured some of those designs... but i have to post them here in parts for easy browsing.

STAINED GLASS DESIGN

One of the greatest features of SIS classrooms is their window panels, which sizes and shapes didn't just allow the Dubai sun generously through but also inspired some quirky , scintillating ideas to filter through an artist's imagination. Here are some of them:

Our Aquarium (Year 2 Green)

Racing Through (Key Stage 2 Corridors)

STAR Our School ( Year2 Green)

Shining Through ART (ART Room)

In Touch ( Year 1 Play Area)

Metropolis (Year 1 Play Area)

Maths Vocabulary Orchard (Year 4)

Fairyland (Year 1)

Music Impressions (Music Room)

Our Home (Arabic Room)

"How did you do it?" That's a familiar exclamation I encounter. My ready answer is always: inspiration...inspiration...inspiration. Where does one get inspiration? Everywhere. :-)

Year 2010-2011 in Pictures

Whooooaaaaaa.... after almost a year of being dormant.... geedimension7 comes alive. Quite tasking if I squeeze a year's worth of thoughts, so will just narrate through pictures...after all, a picture is worth a thousand words....

YEAR 2 GREEN
2010-2011 Captured Moments

Local Safari

Christmas in Y2G

First Day High

The Year 2 Green Cast and Characters

Rangoli Making

Assessments

Mapping It Out in Geography

One Day Out

Cooperation....collaboration

Another Ordinary Day

UAE day

Symmetry

The caption says it all

Wildlife Tour

Star Christmas

Snake Sculptures

Y2G Sculptures

Our Very Own Cinema (complete with popcorn)

That's all, for now.... I've got tons of unpublished ones....and another millions of snatches buried in my memory...Y2G lives forever!

First Day High

September 13, 2010Monday

first day of classes

Star International School

Year2-Green

3:35 am. I woke up with new sense of purpose. This day is the official start of a new academic year. And as always, no matter how gloomy my previous days were, every first day in school always gives me an uncharacteristically euphoric feeling. I can almost taste the tang of learning and teaching challenges that linger in the air. I wanted to go back to sleep , silently reminding myself that I might need the benefit of complete rest, considering the string of challenges I might be facing ahead, but no matter how I tried, my mind stayed awake , though I my eyes were closed.

4:00 am Miraculously, my cp alarm vibrated. I totally gave up my attempt to sleep. I turned on my laptop and checked messages in YM and Facebook. Some of the posts were quite disheartening.... except that I resolved that nothing and no one can and should break my focus on the day ahead. I needed to start the day right, and that meant striving to correct any misdeeds , tying frayed ends, untangling threads that accumulated in the previous day that somehow threaten the success of the moment.

5:30 am After a particularly inspiring conversation with Mike, and a relaxing yoga routine I now am ready to face the day. The first rays of sun filtering thru the window brought a smile on my lips. Ah, life is indeed , beautiful! That mantra played in my head while I ate my breakfast, prepared our packed lunch and geared myself for the tasks ahead.

6:00 am Ms Claire picked us up. We had to start early because we still have to drop Ms Donna at Star International School-Mirdiff. It was a particularly long journey, and somehow my lack of sleep caught on me and I drifted off. When I woke up, it was to find out that we've already touched base (lol)

The Reading Corner, Y2-Green

7:15 am Mr. John was already in the room. We exchanged pleasantries and fell into a lighthearted discussion about how we spent our weekends and the Eid celebration in particular. Such light conversation however cannot mask the cornucopia of apprehension, excitement, tension , because after all, we're both particularly "newbies " in different respects. He, because he's new in school and I, because I'm new in primary school. In a sense, both of us are still "feeling our way" into this plane of the academic adventure.

Being "Wild" about Books

8:00 am It turned out that our worries were unfounded. The kids placed in our charge were well behaved (they usually are, in the first day of school..lol) We were expecting 16, but only a dozen showed up. And to make everything smoother, we even have Ms Faiza, a shadow teacher to her son, Hasan. From the moment the kids entered the room, usually accompanied by their parents, everything proceeded so smoothly one could glide on it.

writing time

The children were cooperative in the games, artworks, writing tasks and other prepared activities. Ms Faizah, who knew the routine quite well made things easy for us. Ms Rowena (Henson) also volunteered to assist me.

Mr John, with some of the Year 2-Green pupils

Aside from periodically consulting the timetable, everything wen't well and it was almost a surprise that we realized it was already dismissal time.

2:40 pm As I watched the last of the children being fetched by their parents, i breathed a prayerful relief. Watching the then, empty room (with probably a smile pasted on my face), I realized, the classroom is not yet done. There are just so many things to accomplish. For the whole school year. For this term. But today, is a good start.

Thank you, heavenly Father, for a wonderful day.

I AM HERE.

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby couldn't have been more prophetic with this statement. I wish i could have realized this in the early years of my life.

Back when i was a child up to my teens when i breathe in every chance to please my parents, my teachers, my peers, my relatives, my siblings, my neighbors...

Back when i was in college when it fills me with delight to do things for my friends, roommates, boardmates, schoolmates, teachers and my family....

Back when i started to work and my ultimate goal was to deliver and please my superiors and my colleagues.

I was...what one can say... a ship sailing freely by. I was contented of it for awhile. Laid no anchor... bore no roots... catered to the whims of everybody... but i made sure I PAID MY DUES.

One of my superiors commented that she can't find fault with my work. But if there's something that she thinks i should really learn: is the art of saying "NO".

And she was right, too. But still, borne out of habit i find myself in situations when I resolved to say "NO" but found myself, to my utter consternation, saying "YES".

Finally, i decided to get out of my comfort zone. Truly got out so far... out of the country. Maybe it is a desperate calling to myself to fill the void, the emptiness that was lurking in me.

This is not the first time that i have been with strangers. Total strangers. So different from the people i grew up with. So unlike the gentility that characterize the people coming from the peaceful place where i was raised.

As soon as my wobbly feet stepped on this land, things began to happen to me at once. It was as if, the hands of Fates are closing around me, ensnaring me, throwing me from one turmoil to the next.

And there's no safe avenue.

Before, even if my work was killing me with fatigue, i can look forward to a fitful , peaceful evening at home or in bed.

But here... that sense of peace is nowhere to be found. Everybody seems to be operating on some kind of self-defense mode. Every turn of the corner lurks a personal demon waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting victim. Every thump of the heart is a bomb just waiting to explode. Every laughter is an empty bell of self-doubt and false bravado. Every smile offered is suspect to revision as it flags of malice and mistrust. Everyone is an empty shell barely struggling to survive.

This place steals one's soul. And once again, i saw it. And it submerged me in a deafening roar, threatened to claim my spirit, almost drowned my principles and everything i perceived to be just and right. Almost.

The first time i dared speak: Oh God, it felt so great. It was liberating. And it served its purpose. Little by little i will learn. It's just a matter of time.

This is the time, when i need to be my strongest. I am here for a purpose. I am here for a cause. But most significantly, I AM HERE.