First week of school

I felt pretty comfortable going to school for my first day on Monday, since I had been there before a few times. However, since I don’t know many of the teachers and many are not comfortable speaking in English, the teachers lounge was a little awkward as I waited for one of the teachers I am working with to get there. Her name is Michelle and she teaches English to the 6th graders and 2 other the 5th grade classes. I am also working with another teacher, Meirav, who teaches 2-4 grade and one of the 5th grade classes. This week, I was just with Michelle, because Meirav wanted to get the younger ones adjusted before I showed up. The Israeli classes are very departmentalized and even the elementary schools have different periods. This school has six 45 min(ish) periods, but the kids stay in their rooms and the teachers change. They also have 2 breaks during the day, 1 longer one in the morning for a snack (most of the kids don’t eat at home, but bring breakfast of some sort to school) and recess and a shorter one in the afternoon for recess. The school (and most others) doesn’t serve lunch. The kids just eat when they go home.
I observed each class once the first two days (Mon & Tues) and then took my small group the second time I was with the 6th grade classes. Michelle needed to test the 5th graders on their English abilities to know who would be in my group. I’m doing mostly enrichment with native speakers (those that have one or both English speaking parents) and students doing really well in their English class. I read "Where the Wild Things Are" to them and then we made class rules “together” so they wouldn’t be ‘wild things’ during the year. I let them make name tags for their desks and interview each one to find out where they were from and/or how they knew English. The majority have relative in America/Canada or have traveled to/spent significant time in English speaking countries. Tuesday, I got to go to school at 10 am because I have Meirav’s classes in the morning. Thursday, I tested 2 5th grade classes on their reading comprehension and verbal communication. I still need to speak to a few of the kids, but one group already has 11 while the other will only be about 5. I also met with one of my 6th grade groups for the 2nd and 3rd time. We had a class discussion about what they would like/need to learn/do and played 20 Questions. I also had them start on making the calendars that will go on the walls. These first few weeks will be pretty easy while I am still subtly observing them to find out what will and won’t work for each group. This week, there was no 6th period, so I got home pretty early.
My schedule is:
Monday Tuesday Thursday
8:00-8:50 6-1 4-3 5-2
8:50-9:40 6-3 3-2 5-3
9:40-9:50 snack snack snack
9:50-10:15 recess recess recess
10:15-11:00 6-2 5-1 6-1
11:00-11:45 5-3 Off-period 5-1
11:45-12:00 recess recess recess
12:00-12:45 6-1 6-2 6-1
12:45-1:30 6-3 6-2 6-2

I also took my Hebrew Placement test this week and I placed in the 3rd level (A plus plus), but it doesn’t start until October after the holidays, so I opted to be in the 2nd level (A plus). I also went to one class. It is freakin’ hard! The teacher only speaks in Hebrew, unless she has to define something she can’t explain in Hebrew. I feel like most of the other people also speak a lot more Hebrew than I do. I haven’t taken a Hebrew class in 5 years and think end of level A would have been a better place for me, but that doesn’t exist. I’ll have to do a lot of studying. I’m kicking myself now for not bringing all my Hebrew textbooks from college. I especially miss "501 Hebrew Verbs". My bags were already heavy, I should have just brought them. Oh well. Maybe I can find a bookstore here that will have it.