Teacher Setz

Materials: - Glitter - Newspaper - Paint or markers - Pencil - Glue - Tape - Construction paper - Scissor - Stapler Steps: 1) Roll up a newspaper sheet to make the base and decorate it with either paint or markers. 2) Draw or trace 2 stars on construction paper and cut them out. 3) Staple the stars on the wand base. 4) Put glue on the bottom of the wand base and dip it in the glitter.

Welcome to the hurricane season everyone!!! Helena did not cause us any harm, just the needed showers for the plants. Isaac however got us a day off, Thursday, nice day with lots of sun and wind. Unfortunately the Friday it had showers all through the day and we had to work. My classroom is still LEAKING, so we had a rain party in there.  Luckily the only trouble Isaac caused was some flooding and some big wind gusts throughout the days. We also had a family whom 4 year old died because of the candy drugs that are circulating Sint Maarten at the moment. (see picture below) This is very tragic and after hearing this news, I finally could make sense what his brother kept telling me. "Jufrouw, my brother died because he ate to much candy." VERY SAD and heartbreaking. Now let's go the the good news for the week, we finally finished the crafts for the theme. Crowns and magic wands. and they came out good. unortunalty not all child...

This week was again full of surprises as a 4 year old started on Monday and another 4 year old on Tuesday in afternoon school. Yes we have 8 students in afternoon school at the moment. But I got a call from a father that wants to register his daughter in the afternoon school too. So by next week we will be having not 8 but 9 students.  Luckily we have some connections and where able to get a high school student whom is doing care in school to come and help out a little in the day to day running's so that I can focus more on the swimming lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays. I must say that I truly love teaching Dutch as a foreign language, which I really did not think at the moment that I was told that they where going to change my position. The grade 1's finally finished their crown and we are ready to hold a dress up day for next week. On Thursday all the cycle 1 teachers had a science workshop. I was suppose to continue with cleaning up the resource room, bu...

It has been awhile since I updated the blog. But here I am again to let you all know what an amazing and terrible time I had these last two weeks. So here goes. The second week of school the cycle one Dutch teacher and I decided to clean up the resource room and make space for all Dutch materials. We started out well on Monday, but it was terrible dusty and moldy in there. And of course I got so caught up in rearranging and cleaning that I spend 5 hours straight in that room (without ventilation since the airco was no working and windows could not open.) Well in the night I started having difficulties to breed and my head started to hurt really bad. So I was sick of the mold inhalation that my doctor confirmed on Wednesday. Luckily I felt good enough to go back to work on Wednesday. For the rest of the week I managed to work for half an hour in the resource room and then an hour in my class. The third week I finally started with my lessons. It was an adjustment, but I really l...

Materials Round pliers Plastic bottles Scissors Heat gun / candle Nail polish / colored sharpies Directions: 1) Cut the bottles in strips. The longer the strip the thicker the bead. 2) Color the inside the curve with either nail polish or sharpies. 3) Use the plier to roll up the plastic strip. 4) Use either the heat gun or a candle until the plastic stays put. I used old nail polish and a candle to make the beads in the picture.

Well my first week of school has finally past. It was nerve wrecking, awesome, excited, and scary. Monday came and I went into all classes to introduce myself. After that I continued to clean up my classroom, unfortunately I was not able to do much, just unpacking some boxes. And still the airco persons did not come. AND of course I saw may sweet afternoon school kids again and got to listen to their amazing summer stories as well as their first day of school stories. Tuesday I read a counting story. Also they finally came to fix the airco… Yay, it was working just as we left the school for the day. Today I also saw the materials our school has for PE class, I was almost crying. There are not even gym mats, just mostly balls. Irma really took a lot from this school. Wednesday I let the children write and decorate their own name tags. I also started decorating my classroom. Thursday I finished up decorating and had 2 classes come in for a nice introduction game. ...

Tomorrow is the D day. Exactly, the first day of school. I don't feel ready, I don't know what it is that I have to do. I know the first week of school the subject teachers prepare and go around the classes to introduce themselves. BUT this is my first time as a subject teacher. So I went in last Monday to start setting up my classroom. The sweat was literally running down my shirt as the classroom windows are not all able to open. And the airco is NOT working. So on that same Monday the electrician was supposed to come.... Surprise, he did not come. So going in on Tuesday and Wednesday was excruciating. It was SO HOT. Luckily on Wednesday the Technician came and announced I was getting a new airco. YAY, right? Thursday and Friday we had IT related workshops. Only Friday I was not able to go since my youngest decided to have a fever and diarrhea. Literally I walked into a horror situation... after her midday nap I went to pick her up only to put her in a bath right away. Ma...

  Here is my very first tutorial post. I choose this specific art project since it will reduce the plastic waste we all have in our home.  (Please not that by clicking on the links provided for materials I will earn commission.) Materials for yarn: Plastic bags or garbage bags Scissors Materials for the tablet case: Plastic yarn Measuring tape Knitting needles Instructions for the yarn:    1)  Cut the bags in strips. 2)  Tie the ends together with a fisherman's knot 3)  Roll up the plastic yarn for easy use. Instructions for the tablet case: 1) Measure the tablet side A and put up the start with this measurement. 2)  Continue knitting until you reach the measurement side B x 2. 3)  Cast off. 4) Fold your project in half and use the plastic yarn to tie off the sides. 5) Make the flab to tie in your tablet as wide as you like and tie...

Finally our girls are getting got to meet their family living in Jamaica. We had a blast, first two weeks we spend with family and one week we spend it in Ocho Rios in a house we rented through Airbnb. Our 2 year old daughter decided she knows how to dive now!!!!! I know amazing right. We were disappointed that we did not bring our diving materials on this trip, so we just used rocks and sunglasses. See picture for some nice diving materials for kids. We have the rings at home our self for our afternoon class. (Please note that by clicking the picture I will earn commission) Before we went on vacation we found a floaty for our 1 year old that is amazing and luckily also found them on amazon, yay. This is good since we have a dog that loves to chew on our stuff... And yes after 3 weeks he got a hold on it and bit one of the clips off. This floaty is awesome as it teaches babies the basics of swimming.  (Please note that by clicking the picture I will earn commission)...

So at the ending of the school year, my boss decided she is changing me to another school to teach dutch as a second language……. Just so anyone knows, just because I am Dutch, doesn't mean I am qualified to teach it. Remember I graduated in Sint Maarten doing the education in ENGLISH not Dutch. So ofcoure my brain is going in research mode. going on facebook groups and everything. along the line of my brilliant research, I came along 2 persons representing schools in Kunstrijk and Nijverdaal, and they donated some Dutch materials. It is a good thing too since a lot of materials where destroyed during Hurricane Irma. My parents picked up the materials and they are ready to be send this way. Now I could go on vacation with an eased mind. Jamaica here I come.

Now this school year I was teaching 2nd grade which started off not so great in regards to the students. Yet after evaluation and some rearranging we managed to get things a little better. It was still a LOT of work with a LOT of behavior management. Yet when I look at the children and how MUCH they have achieved in just one year, my heart is filled with joy and I am very proud of my students. When I say that I am proud of them, I really mean that I am extremely proud seeing the circumstances that happened in September. You can already feel it coming right? Yes, HURRICANE IRMA!!! My class was destroyed, my personal chair broke, and a lot of  teaching books got wet and moldy.... sigh..... That was terrible. That was horrible. The before, during, and especially after which still affects more than have the island and school even up to NOW! (August 2018) None the less we wanted Alexia's 2nd birthday to be memorable even if we had to make cut backs in the grocery sh...

Oke, new school and new opportunities. At least I taught...…. and then BAMMM here come munchkin #2. Due date in May. Thank GOD, at least I would have most of the school year to teach. So 1st grade here I come right. NOPE, because this little one is given a lot of problems and a lot of head worries. I mean, hellooo, why did she find it necessary to come out at 26 weeks. Well I have never been in the hospital so many and long times, just to make sure #2 doesn't come to early. In January our little angel, Alexia, turned one. Thank god for her god parents, whom helped out so much, because mommy was sick. I even ended up in the ER where they gave me medicine and something to rehydrate me. I was so happy I could sleep home again though. Seen enough of the hospital already. So here comes May and here come Ajeyla. Happy and healthy. For our vacation he headed of to Holland to celebrate  beautiful wedding of my sister. And we had a blast celebrating my father's...

My first year teaching my own class..... I was excited and TIRED. My due date was in January, the wedding was planned in October and I did not have the easiest class. Yet I made due and despite the many accidents (had a very violent student) my angel was born perfect.  Yes, she is a very proud Jamaican. Just like her daddy XD. Of course our wedding was AWESOME. We had a great time even though it was stressful planning everything in that small time that we had. BUT happy that we got to marry before our wonder came (both religiously and regarding the paperwork). After a great pregnancy leave, bonding with my daughter, I had to go back to school to finish up the school year. Unfortunately it did not go well and all in all I had a very bad first year. So I ended up requesting to be moved to a different school where I could start back over for the next school year.

So in my third year of teaching at Charles Leopold Bell school, we actually got a gym teacher. Yay, finally. Even better, he was single and cute. Now I never thought I would find someone to love or even someone who would actually love me. One day I was talking after school with some colleagues, including the new gym teacher, and I actually offered to make him a whistle necklace out of loom bands. Now I worked day and night to make one in ONE WEEKEND..... That was the start of our beautiful relationship. That necklace confirmed to him that I liked him, which he responded on to ask me out on a date. Now that year already started our great because I started a cheerleading squad. Which won the public schools sports day, as I may add. Oke… So we started dating and then a hurricane came along.... Shocker right... Anyway his apartment did not have light and water for a long time. Unlike my apartment. So from one thing came another and we are in this full fledge relationship li...

After a year studying I got some advice from past students and students almost finished with their degree, that I should try to work as an Educational assistant. This has been a great experience for me and made me realize I really loved teaching. Plus it helped when having to do in class assignments for school (didn't have to take time off of work XD, I was already working). So I landed a job as an educational assistant at Charles Leopold Bell school and got some awesome colleagues and mentors. I spend most my days assisting in kindergarten and grade 1 and 2. In my second year of working by the school, the Dutch cycle one (K1, K2, G1, G2) went on pregnancy leave and the government did not have a substitute for her. Grade 2 had a teacher that could teach Dutch to her own class, so I was asked to teach Dutch to Grade 1. I taught and both the students as myself had a blast, of course I did not know back then that that little substitute moment would alter my education career dr...

Now I am back on the sunny St. Maarten with not knowing what to do in life. So I started to find a job and ended up in the dive shop in Oyster bay. I spend a few days working there and even felt more miserable then I ever had. So I quit and rethink my whole life. I ended back up at the University of St. Maarten and actually enrolled again to obtain my Bachelors of Arts in Education. So in the morning I was working as an assistant, in the afternoon I was studying, and in the evenings I went to school. Life started to look a little better.

Upon returning to Holland I found myself going from job to job, eventually I went back to school to extend my beautician degree. Yet I didn't get that satisfaction and soon stopped to work full time at a factory. From there everything went down hill. I worked different jobs and ended up working at a great place with wonderful colleagues: McDonalds. I know, I know, a fast food joint... But I was happy working there. Until my parents decided that I should get a 40 hour a week job. So I ended up at a factory again, being unhappy AGAIN.... So after a big fight with my family my mother took me aside and told me to go back to St. Maarten as she could see I was very unhappy. So  week later I was on a plane with my grandmother going back to the sunny island of St. Maarten.

So I went to St. Maarten and it took me a couple of weeks to decide I am going back to school. But what was I going to study. After a conversation with an advisor at the University of St. Maarten, I decided to take on going for my Bachelors of Art in Education. This I did for one full term and a half a term. My mother got sick and I wanted to be close to her. So after 1.5 terms I stopped and returned home to Holland to be with my mother and never though of returning, let alone continuing my education.

Hello Everyone, Today on my 30th birthday, I decided to finally start my blog about my adventure as a teacher. Now I did not always dream of becoming a teacher, yet I always was busy playing teaching with my brothers. I grew up in Holland and finished my degree in Beauty and got a certificate as a nail stylist., Yet this didn't seem what I wanted to do with my life forever, don't get me wrong, I love the work, just not full time. So I after a few ups and downs, well a lot, I decided to move to Sint Maarten, where my father and his wife live. And so the adventure begins...….