Words Their Way

Why have I just found this book now?

I bought this book last summer, 

but only got to it now.

A mate of mine in Dar

had read this, 

and loved it.

Then I read another blog

(sorry cannot recall which one)

last year,

where the teacher praised this book.

So of course,

I had to give it a try to.

Let me tell you,

I have found a new spelling program.

Last week I gave my students the 

Primary Spelling Assessment

they recommend. 

And wow!

I cannot believe what I learnt.

I don't just see how my kids are spelling

but I can also see how they think about words.

I'm not a believer in giving kids

a list of words for them to memorise

then regurgitate on a Friday spelling test.

They memorise these words

yet spell them wrong when actually using them.

This program talks about having students sort the words.

Let them discover patterns and rules.

It fits in well with the inquiry philosophy

of the PYP.

I'm thrilled to have discovered this program!

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 25

There are many reasons

I'm happy we're back at school.

One of them is the

Friday market.

Every Friday morning,

we have a lady come in.

She has a farm and it's a great time

to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

Working all day,

I don't get to go to the Tuesday market

and buying fresh produce for the supermarket

doesn't always work.

Also, she has fresh flowers.

Happiness is gorgeous fresh flowers

that brighten up your house.

To Market To Market

This past weekend

was the last Saturday of the month.

It is also better known as 

Dutch Reform Market day.

It was not Scott's weekend home,

but Ethan and I still managed to have a great day.

Jeff had a leadership retreat all weekend,

leaving Susan home alone,

so of course she wanted to see Ethan.

The market was BUSY!

Ethan was thrilled to get to spend

his tooth fairy money.

He was given 10,000 kwacha

and I promised not to veto his choice.

Of course his choice was more than 10 pin,

but Bibi was there

and more than willing to give him an extra 5,000.

Making his purchase

Ethan loved having Bibi there.

She bought him a snow cone!

And she played Ninja with him!

I, of course,

got some nice stuff too.

I normally don't buy much

but this weekend,

I had fun.

I wore my new green belt and my new green scarf today. ;)

Five Question Friday

It's Friday! 

Time for the weekend to begin.

Scott's not home this weekend,

but Ethan are still planning some fun.

Tomorrow is the

Dutch Reform Market

and Ethan has some tooth fairy money

burning a hole in his pocket.

But while we wait for Saturday

let's enjoy

Five Question Friday!

1. If you could have been (could be) any profession you wanted (brains and $$ no problem) what would it be?

Ok,

this may sound like a cop out,

but I always wanted to be a teacher.

It's something I always wanted,

and feel blessed to have followed my passion.

I wish, however,

I had the talent to be an author.

And at one point,

I did wish I could be a ballerina. 

2. How often do you clean out your car?

Never.

Sorry, but I live the Expat life.

We have a driver who does that.

And before him,

when our car needed cleaning,

we'd give the guard or gardener some extra money

to do that for us.

3. Do you wish there was such thing as fashion police or are you deeply relieved?

Neither.

I'm not all up to date

and fab with my fashion. 

Remember,

not a whole lot of fashion shops here.

But, 

I'd also not survive the fashion police.

Especially each year when we go home.

Many of my shirt are many years old.

And after seeing what some people wear,

there's no way I'd wear that,

no matter how fashionable it may be!

4. What's your go to food/drink/activity when stressed?

Food - ice cream

Drink - lattes or wine depending on the time of day

Activity - running or watching TV depending on the stress factor

5. If you had twins, what would you name them?

I refuse to answer this

because I'd love to have twins

and if that ever happened,

my names would have been revealed.

However,

I will admit to never naming them

Isabella and Edward

or

Jacob and Edward.

Writer's Workshop - Smile

Asides from your kids, pets, your husband, your coffee, your wine....

what makes you smile?

Blimey!

Seriously?

No Ethan, no Scott, no latte, no wine?

Yikes!

What's left?

A good book makes me smile.

Granted the latte I'm drinking while reading helps,

but seriously,

getting into a good (vampire) novel is heavenly. 

Shoes and handbags make me smile.

You all know I love my shoes and bags.

Online shopping makes me smile. 

How else will I buy cool shoes

and bags

and other things!

Going for a manicure/pedicure makes me smile. 

Isn't great when you have fun toes.

My mates make me smile.

Whether they are my Mama mates,

my blogging mates

or my IRL mates,

I love chatting with them all.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 24

This was a very exciting week.

And an even more exciting weekend.

This was Scott's weekend home!

Yippee!!!

Scott was suppose to come Friday,

but decided to surprise us by coming home 

Thursday night.

Friday morning,

Ethan woke at 5am

and came into my bedroom.

He usually crawls into bed

and goes back to sleep.

But this time he saw his dad

and immediately woke up

and proceeded to tell his dad

all about his first few days of school.

While getting ready for school,

Ethan grumbled how his loose tooth still hadn't come out.

"Well Daddy's home this weekend,

so maybe it'll come out this weekend."

Sure enough,

at school,

guess who lost his first tooth?

Missing tooth

After school,

to celebrate his first week of school

and his first lost tooth,

Daddy took him out for lunch.

Friday night 

the tooth fairy visited.

10pin ($2) woohoo!

Saturday was breakfast at a cafe of

Ethan's choice.

While I got date night.

Sunday was a day of family time.

Happiness is hanging out with Daddy

on his weekend home.

First Day of School

Ethan headed back to school today.

He started Grade 1.

I'm in utter disbelief that he's old enough

to attend Grade 1.

But it was also very exciting.

Ethan had picked out his first day outfit

over a week ago.

However, the t-shirt was still in the laundry.

But since he's now in Grade 1,

he didn't whine, 

but found something else

equally cool to wear.

Time for school.

"Check out my new school bag."

Finding his cubby.

His teacher gave the students little stick men.

They were asked to make themselves.

Eloise (Ms Engel, Ethan's teacher)

let me know that if there was ever any doubt that Ethan was my child

this activity proves he's soooo my child.

Ethan made himself into a vampire.

Ethan found Ms Engle to be

"quite nice"

and

"hopes she'll be my teacher everyday".

You know we're in for a good year.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 23

When we came to Lusaka 

to find a place to live,

we choose our current house

for many reason.

One being that it was in a small compound

with 3 other houses.

I like the idea of having neighbours.

However, upon moving in

we leanrt we were the only ones here.

There was one other house occupied,

but the couple living there moved back 

to the US in July.

Last September we got our first neighbours.

Yay.

They have a little boy

whom Ethan loves 

called him Baby Cameron.

(He is now just Cameron, because he is over a year

and walking

and therefor no longer a baby.)

Over Easter,

we got our next neighbours.

This time it was a classmates of Ethan's.

I hardly saw him.

But always knew where to find him.

This month the fourth house has been occupied.

The family has 2 little boys.

Ethan is in heaven.

Happiness is playing football with the new neighbours.

Five Questions Friday

School starts on Wednesday.

Yikes!!!!

I've headed back to school this week.

I got my new iPad

yeah me

and in our iPad training

I learnt two new apps

which I'm excited to try out with my students.

Today I started arranging my classroom.

It's starting to take shape.

Meanwhile,

today is Friday,

which means,

after a long absence,

I'm rejoining

Five Questions Friday.

1) Thunderstorms - Love them or hate them?

Can I be undecided?

I don't seem to recall liking them as a child.

I do recall being a little afraid.

Now, after months of heat

I love them.

However, 

after a raining season

you can tend to get fed up of them.

Ethan's not a fan.

And often a thunderstorm

means the power will go off

which sucks.

But generally,

I'm neutral.

2) Do you get your kids back to school clothes.

Decent clothes for Ethan

are hard to find here.

He's tall and slim

so we need to make sure they are not too short

and yet can adjust to fit his waist.

So trips home

include shopping.

If we're home,

or even travel,

during the summer months,

we I shop.

But it's not necessarily back to school clothes.

It's just clothes.

Which he may wear when he goes back to school.

3) Do you golf? Do you watch it?

No!

'nuff said!

4) Showers or baths?

Both.

Everyday is a shower.

It's faster

and better for the environment,

but every once in a while,

a nice, relaxing bath

does the trick.

5) What's the strangest meal you've ever had?

Hmmmm....

gotta think on that.

A few years ago,

we went to the St Andrew's ball

(Scottish ball).

Haggis was on the menu.

Can't say I've ever had it.

Not sure I will again.

Well now,

after a day of fun iPads

and moving classroom furniture,

I think I'm going to take a bath.

Happy weekend.

Writer's Workshop - Chocolate

5) Do you have a sweet tooth? List your top five candies.

Do I have a sweet tooth?

Oh boy do I ever!

I'm not a big candy fan,

but I love chocolate.

It's one of my weaknesses.

So here are my top five 

all time favourite chocolates.

1) Rease Peanut Butter Cups.

Pop the minis in the freezer, and OMG!

2) Caramilk

Ethan and I devoured these this past summer.

3) Crunchie

I have recently rediscovered these.

4) M&M

Plain, peanut, peanut butter, mint, oh my!

5) Lindt Lindor Truffles

Dark chocolate is my favourite.

Well....

now I'm craving some chocolate.

I do believe I have some Lindors

at home.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 22

I'm back at work tomorrow.

Summer vacation has officially ended.

And with Scott in Kitwe,

this year will be super busy

with me doing the single mum thing.

So, while Ethan has been at music camp,

I got one final Me-Day time.

Happiness is a Me-Day pedicure.

Banana Ice Cream

A few days before we returned to Zambia,

Ethan was outside with his Grandpa.

He (Ethan) walks into the house,

looks at me

pats my belly and says

I think we're having a boy!

I come home,

and my housekeeper has a big smile on her face

and tells me I've put on some weight.

YES people,

I enjoyed my summer vacation.

The ice cream,

the ice caps,

the Timbits.

Yes I've put on some weight.

But now I'm home

and it's time to start getting back in shape.

However,

I have a weakness.

Ice cream.

What's worse,

whenever Scott travels

I tend to feast on ice cream.

And he's now away.

A lot.

Now you all know

I know nothing about the kitchen.

I am the undomesticated goddess.

So when I heard you could 

freeze bananas, mash them up

and voila

have ice cream,

well I had to try it.

However,

I'm not about just the banana ice cream.

So I made two kinds

thanks to Real Mom Kitchen.

Strawberry banana ice cream

Ethan gave this one

two thumbs up!

One of my favourite ice creams

is Ben & Jerry's

Chunky Monkey.

My own Chunky Monkey

I forgot to pick up some walnuts

but will definitely add them next time.

I was sceptical 

that I would actually like it,

but OMG

it's fantastic.

So now I can have my ice cream

and loose weight too!

Bonded - Nicky Charles

I love my vampires.

You all know that.

Werewolves have never held the same interest for me.

That was until last year,

when I read Nicky Charles'

Law of the Lycans series.

I gobbled up the entire trilogy.

So imagine my delight to have found this.

Bonded is a prequel to The Mating.

We are introduced to a tough Enforcer

with the Lycan Link,

Reno.

He's a rogue wolf.

No ties. No pack.

Brandi is beginning her career

as a Disaster Control officer.

She's been in love with Reno for a year.

The book covers 3 years.

Yes it takes them 3 years to finally mate.

But it's more than that.

Nicky Charles takes us inside the Lycan Link.

The group that keeps the Lycan in order.

Their law.

Bonded is the story of purists

and how they are trying to rid of half breeds.

Reno and Brandi are there to protect them.

To help their families join new packs.

If only they could see their need for a pack

and their need to be a family.

Writer's Workshop - Best Part of Summer

4) Ask your child what their favourite part of Summer has been and then blog about it.

Me - Ethan, what did you like most about this summer?

Ethan - Going to Toronto.

Me - Yes, we went to Toronto, but what was your favourite part?

Ethan - Seeing Lucas.

Lucas is Scott's 11 year old nephew

whom, as you can guess,

Ethan adores. 

Every year, 

Ethan looks forward to a trip home

so he can see Lucas.

The kids were busy this summer,

so we didn't see them as much as we'd have liked,

but Ethan still got to spend time

with his favourite cousin.

Lucas at his baseball game.

With Ethan and his birthday cake.

Playing the guitar.

The Nisbet Band

Hanging out

With Brickman

Cousins