The first term of the school year ended just before the holidays. The time flew by and overall everything went really well. It is by far the most stressful of the three terms with so much going on. We ended up having two major parties, which is excessive even by our standards. Parties involve tons of prep and of course the dreaded 3D project (more on that later). The first term is stressful in itself as you're trying to get all the kids settled and used to the routine, work with the parents, get reports done for each child and of course start each child's portfolio on top of the normal lesson planning. The stress was compounded by the fact that the parties were within one month of each other. As soon as Halloween was finished we immediately started on National Day. Our Halloween parties have previously been during the school day and not too much of a production. But this year my boss decided to have a big Saturday party and invite all the families from both preschools (came to around 700 people). We also had a raffle for those families that came in full costume, with the top prize being a night at the Burj Al Arab. Some of the costumes were amazing. One of the dads from my class came dressed as Alan from The Hangover (his newborn in a carrier on his chest and all), it was amazing. There was one family where the dad was a beekeeper, the mom a beehive and their daughter a bee. Another mom came as Maleficent, including creepy color eye contacts, it was impressive!
Although most parents really embraced the idea, not all were on board. I have one mom in my class that is quite a fan of plastic surgery. I kid you not, she has lip fillers, a nose job, breast implants and wait for it...butt implants. If you're wondering what butt implants look like I can tell you in a couple of words, not natural. I'm not sure how to describe them but you know them when you see them and it's not good! This mom loves to wear skin tight clothing and show off all of her investments. I find it hard to have a serious conversation with her. She asked myself and a couple of the other teachers about the upcoming Halloween party and I said we encouraged everyone to come in costume but of course it's your decision. She (completely seriously) looks at us and says "Yeah, I don't think so, I don't really cover this up" (gesturing towards her body). At a loss for words we just nodded and smiled. In my head I really wanted to say "Well shit you paid enough for it!" Gotta love some of these Dubai moms!
My boss also had the idea a couple of weeks before the party that the teachers should do a surprise dance. She really wanted to organize a flashmob-esque performance. So we all learned a choreographed dance to a song called Halloween Rules and prepared our cues. It ended up being really funny and came together really well. The best part was the kids reactions, they were so shocked to see their teachers up there dancing! The day after when we returned to school some of my kids were saying "Ms. Jennifer I saw you daaancing!!" hahahaha.
The party was a huge success and the day after we set to work on the next party, celebrating the UAE's 44th annual national day. National day parties in the past have also been during the school day so this was a first for us planning it on a bigger scale for a Saturday. Usually for parties we have to prepare 3D projects (think big) but we are able to choose what we'd like to make and get it approved. Last year my class made a fireplace for the Christmas party. The twist this year was the projects were assigned to us. I got a camel. How the hell do you make a camel? I was at a loss. I enjoy art/painting/drawing but 3D projects are not my forte. Thank god my husband is an engineer. I had to request his help on this one. Luckily he had a great idea to use a thick wire to make the frame. We went to Ace Hardware and got wire which we (he) then welded together after we formed it into the shape of a camel. I can't even tell you how long this process took us. We worked on it every night for about 2 weeks. Then we had to fit it in the car to transport it to school. We had to have the camel's head sticking out the window to fit it in the back seat. Getting it into the car was quite an ordeal! I wish I had a picture of that.
Once we got it to school the other teachers pitched it to help me stuff it (with newspaper) and then paper mache the whole thing, taking time to form the shape.
My boss had the idea that all of the teachers would wear traditional abayas for the party, with scarves of the UAE flag. We all got measured so the abayas would fit us well and they turned out so nicely! In all honestly, I totally dug it. And I got to keep it:)
The party was amazing and everyone really enjoyed it. The teachers were relieved to have the hardest part behind us as the Christmas party this year would be only the kids, no parents, during the school day. We did get a little surprise when a week before the party a small wooden house arrived and we were informed that they'd like us to make it a gingerbread house. Hmmm. At first all of the teachers pitched in a bit but some were really stuck trying to finish portfolios and all before the holiday so couldn't dedicate much time. It ended up being the teacher from the babies class and myself who took on the bulk of the work. We worked throughout the day for about 4 days, even staying late. Our assistants took over our classes while we were doing this, usually with an extra nanny for additional help and we popped in the class during the day just to make sure everything was going smoothly. My assistant this year is amazing so I had no concerns at all. Her name is Hanadi and the kids versions of her name are adorable, they call her Ms. Hadi, Ms. Hadia, Ms. Anani, Ms. Nadi, etc. We always laugh when we hear a new variation of it! The gingerbread house was a labor of love. Once we started it we wanted to make it the best that we could. We used hot glue guns to attach felt around the entire house (burning ourselves countless times in the process), painted the window frames, attached a material to look like snow on top and then hot glued all of the children's artwork all around the house. We set the house up outside in front of the school and surrounded it with "snow". In the photo you can only see the front, but all four sides were covered.
A few highlights from my kids this term:
- When it was K's birthday he brought in a Superman cake and Superman cupcakes. He kept calling the cupcakes "pump cakes". It was so cute I couldn't bring myself to correct him. He would say "Ms. Jennifer, are we having my pump cakes yet??"
- Basically all of the kids noses are running constantly. I went up to one boy whose nose was running, put a tissue on it and said "blow", and he started blowing from his mouth, like he was blowing birthday candles haha.
- L is obsessed with the fact that she and I both have September birthdays. She recently said "our birthdays are in September. We are twins. You come to my house. I come to your house." When I missed a day because I was sick (round two with bronchitis) I asked her the next day how her day was. She said, "good, but I'm sad when you're not here". She recently was complaining of ear pain. Her mom had told me she had fluid in her ear and they had a follow up doctors appointment later and that she may complain. She was asking me when "mama" was coming and she knows I always say "mama comes after lunch" so she preemptively said, "tell mama my ears don't want lunch"
- A large number of my kids are really into playing superheroes and battling each other. This inevitable goes too far and ends up with someone getting hurt. Instead of saying "they're hitting me" my kids always say "they're beating me" or "so and so beat me", it always makes me laugh. One of my boys, K, is the ringleader with the superhero games and talks obsessively about superheroes and fighting. His nanny brought him in one morning and told me that he had told her if she and I were to battle that I would "beat her" because I'm "very strong" hahaha. We had such laugh. I looked at him and said, "so I'm very strong?" and he smiled and nodded his head.
- One of my boys, H, came in wearing a Batman jacket with little ears on the hood that were so cute. I jokingly asked him if he thought it would fit me. He of course took me very literally and said "I will buy for you. But not Batman. I will buy for you Hello Kitty." I was like Hello Kitty? Where did that come from? Apparently because I'm a girl I can't have Batman and he assumed that I would like Hello Kitty:)
- We have French and Arabic classes once a week. In French class the teacher asked a question and one of my boys raised his hand and said "I don't speak French" hahah.
- Some of my girls love to play mommy/baby, but with a Dubai twist. They'll have one be the mommy, one be the baby and one be the nanny. Where else in the world would this happen?!
My job was working the raffle (and sweating profusely in the direct sunlight). We greeted parents, smiled and discreetly asked each other if it was evident how much we were sweating:)
Although most parents really embraced the idea, not all were on board. I have one mom in my class that is quite a fan of plastic surgery. I kid you not, she has lip fillers, a nose job, breast implants and wait for it...butt implants. If you're wondering what butt implants look like I can tell you in a couple of words, not natural. I'm not sure how to describe them but you know them when you see them and it's not good! This mom loves to wear skin tight clothing and show off all of her investments. I find it hard to have a serious conversation with her. She asked myself and a couple of the other teachers about the upcoming Halloween party and I said we encouraged everyone to come in costume but of course it's your decision. She (completely seriously) looks at us and says "Yeah, I don't think so, I don't really cover this up" (gesturing towards her body). At a loss for words we just nodded and smiled. In my head I really wanted to say "Well shit you paid enough for it!" Gotta love some of these Dubai moms!
My boss also had the idea a couple of weeks before the party that the teachers should do a surprise dance. She really wanted to organize a flashmob-esque performance. So we all learned a choreographed dance to a song called Halloween Rules and prepared our cues. It ended up being really funny and came together really well. The best part was the kids reactions, they were so shocked to see their teachers up there dancing! The day after when we returned to school some of my kids were saying "Ms. Jennifer I saw you daaancing!!" hahahaha.
The party was a huge success and the day after we set to work on the next party, celebrating the UAE's 44th annual national day. National day parties in the past have also been during the school day so this was a first for us planning it on a bigger scale for a Saturday. Usually for parties we have to prepare 3D projects (think big) but we are able to choose what we'd like to make and get it approved. Last year my class made a fireplace for the Christmas party. The twist this year was the projects were assigned to us. I got a camel. How the hell do you make a camel? I was at a loss. I enjoy art/painting/drawing but 3D projects are not my forte. Thank god my husband is an engineer. I had to request his help on this one. Luckily he had a great idea to use a thick wire to make the frame. We went to Ace Hardware and got wire which we (he) then welded together after we formed it into the shape of a camel. I can't even tell you how long this process took us. We worked on it every night for about 2 weeks. Then we had to fit it in the car to transport it to school. We had to have the camel's head sticking out the window to fit it in the back seat. Getting it into the car was quite an ordeal! I wish I had a picture of that.
Once the base was formed, I had my kids come outside and help to paper mache the second layer.
Then we started the painting process, trying to combine paints to find a perfect color. I was really excited when we found a piece of rope to put around his head, that was the finishing touch. I have to say this damn camel took so much time but the finished product was awesome and I got so many compliments at the party. I think the camel stole the show:)
Here you can see him set up with some of the other 3D projects (Burj Khalifa directly behind, Atlantis to the back left and various palm trees) made by other classes.
My boss had the idea that all of the teachers would wear traditional abayas for the party, with scarves of the UAE flag. We all got measured so the abayas would fit us well and they turned out so nicely! In all honestly, I totally dug it. And I got to keep it:)
Here's the team posing with my camel!
Of course we had to have a real camel out front for kids to get on and take photos:)
Traditional dancers who performed at the party
The party was amazing and everyone really enjoyed it. The teachers were relieved to have the hardest part behind us as the Christmas party this year would be only the kids, no parents, during the school day. We did get a little surprise when a week before the party a small wooden house arrived and we were informed that they'd like us to make it a gingerbread house. Hmmm. At first all of the teachers pitched in a bit but some were really stuck trying to finish portfolios and all before the holiday so couldn't dedicate much time. It ended up being the teacher from the babies class and myself who took on the bulk of the work. We worked throughout the day for about 4 days, even staying late. Our assistants took over our classes while we were doing this, usually with an extra nanny for additional help and we popped in the class during the day just to make sure everything was going smoothly. My assistant this year is amazing so I had no concerns at all. Her name is Hanadi and the kids versions of her name are adorable, they call her Ms. Hadi, Ms. Hadia, Ms. Anani, Ms. Nadi, etc. We always laugh when we hear a new variation of it! The gingerbread house was a labor of love. Once we started it we wanted to make it the best that we could. We used hot glue guns to attach felt around the entire house (burning ourselves countless times in the process), painted the window frames, attached a material to look like snow on top and then hot glued all of the children's artwork all around the house. We set the house up outside in front of the school and surrounded it with "snow". In the photo you can only see the front, but all four sides were covered.
My kids kept saying "Ms. Jennifer's makin' a gingerbread house!"
Here's a pic of the team on the day of the Christmas party
A few highlights from my kids this term:
- When it was K's birthday he brought in a Superman cake and Superman cupcakes. He kept calling the cupcakes "pump cakes". It was so cute I couldn't bring myself to correct him. He would say "Ms. Jennifer, are we having my pump cakes yet??"
- Basically all of the kids noses are running constantly. I went up to one boy whose nose was running, put a tissue on it and said "blow", and he started blowing from his mouth, like he was blowing birthday candles haha.
- L is obsessed with the fact that she and I both have September birthdays. She recently said "our birthdays are in September. We are twins. You come to my house. I come to your house." When I missed a day because I was sick (round two with bronchitis) I asked her the next day how her day was. She said, "good, but I'm sad when you're not here". She recently was complaining of ear pain. Her mom had told me she had fluid in her ear and they had a follow up doctors appointment later and that she may complain. She was asking me when "mama" was coming and she knows I always say "mama comes after lunch" so she preemptively said, "tell mama my ears don't want lunch"
- A large number of my kids are really into playing superheroes and battling each other. This inevitable goes too far and ends up with someone getting hurt. Instead of saying "they're hitting me" my kids always say "they're beating me" or "so and so beat me", it always makes me laugh. One of my boys, K, is the ringleader with the superhero games and talks obsessively about superheroes and fighting. His nanny brought him in one morning and told me that he had told her if she and I were to battle that I would "beat her" because I'm "very strong" hahaha. We had such laugh. I looked at him and said, "so I'm very strong?" and he smiled and nodded his head.
- One of my boys, H, came in wearing a Batman jacket with little ears on the hood that were so cute. I jokingly asked him if he thought it would fit me. He of course took me very literally and said "I will buy for you. But not Batman. I will buy for you Hello Kitty." I was like Hello Kitty? Where did that come from? Apparently because I'm a girl I can't have Batman and he assumed that I would like Hello Kitty:)
- We have French and Arabic classes once a week. In French class the teacher asked a question and one of my boys raised his hand and said "I don't speak French" hahah.
- Some of my girls love to play mommy/baby, but with a Dubai twist. They'll have one be the mommy, one be the baby and one be the nanny. Where else in the world would this happen?!
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