“It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.”

Let me just say that Catching Fire was incredible, and why didn’t anyone force me to see it the second it came out?! I’m so sad I waited this long, but I’m so happy that I finally saw it :) These bathroom markers were also amazing:

Anyway, last night Rae, Katie and I saw Catching Fire, I cried about 3 different times during the movie - and then ending! Ah, I can’t wait for the 3rd one.

After the movie we got some dinner (I had dim sum - Mike, are you jealous?!) and then went home on the green line - really quick, we were only a few stops away from Boon Lay. I had a horrible headache after the movie, so I went to bed at about 10:15pm, it was really nice.

Today at school was great, I’m loving every day! I’m learning so, so much, and everyone is so nice and welcoming. It’s great to have students so excited to see you - almost everyone says hi to me as I walk through the halls.

Westwood Secondary School!

My S1’s went to the lab today for their first time (and mine!) in Secondary school, so that was really fun to observe. It was mostly procedural and safety instructions, very similar to ours, but they were excited to be there nonetheless.

After a break in my schedule, I went to observe 4G/H - they were finishing up notes on respiration, which they covered on their own within their holiday assignment. I really liked how Ms. Nyam asked them questions along the way; especially because it was a review topic, I thought it was really productive of her to ask questions leading into the the next section of notes. The students were a little bit more participatory than they were last time that I saw them, but still pretty quiet. She does a great job of including everyone in the conversation though and encouraging students to share an answer.

After 4G/H we headed straight to 3G in the lab next door - they were doing a cell lab with microscopes - observing cheek cells, onion cells, and hydrilla cells!! It was really great to see the students so engaged in a lab. It was a really different experience than what I’ve seen in my class back home. The students were all eagerly participating, no one was just copying pictures from each other, and at the end of the period, we had to tell students to leave the class before they had even started packing up. Their enthusiasm was really encouraging, and it was really nice to walk around, talk to the different partner pairs, and work with them a little more closely.

I’m getting really excited to teach next week - I had a lot of down time today to start working on lesson plans... next week with the 1D’s I’ll be teaching the Scientific Method and the Nature of Science (i.e. positive attitudes scientists should hold), and with the 3G’s I’ll be doing diffusion, osmosis and surface area to volume ratio. I’m trying hard to make fun, exciting lessons - but I really don’t know what to expect or how they’ll pan out, fingers crossed they go well! I’m hoping that since I am supposed to submit my lesson plans the weekend before to my CT (all teachers have to do that, every week, for every lesson in Singapore, wow!) that she will give me some good, constructive feedback on them before I actually execute them.

Not sure what we're doing tonight yet... finishing up lesson plans, getting dinner somewhere - maybe a little shopping? We're all tired from a long day of work!! But getting excited for the weekend... :D

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Cat of the Day

Today’s cat of the day goes to this amazing shirt that I bought last night after the movie - it was only $11.90SPD, therefore $9.30USD - and is now officially my new favorite shirt ever!! (and my new life motto)