Run for Relief take 2

Some of my blog posts are sounding very similar like I have done these same things before....hmmm. Maybe I have lived in one place for too long again! ha I often laugh that ever since college I haven't stayed at one school for more than 2 years. Before this year I never had the same position at a school for more than 1 year. All that to say....this year is the 2nd time for many things...like the Run for Relief.

The race is to raise money for those who are always on the run in Burma/Myanmar. See more info about the race at http://runforrelief.org/ 

This race meant so much more to me as less than a week before I had gone to visit a village in Thailand where some students I help with English on Monday nights live. These people all came from Burma and are living on land here in Thailand that the King gave them. They came from an area in Burma that currently is still fighting. This year I was running the race knowing more about the many different ethnic groups in Burma and of some of the hardships they have faced.

Yes, I once again ran in flip flops, as many of the people in Burma still run for their lives in flip-flops. I was close to my flip-flop "record" of 32 minutes....I actually think I might have knocked a minute off of my time.

Run for Relief has races around the world...maybe there is one in your neighborhood! 

Book List Update

Just an update on how I am doing on my reading...the books that are bold are the ones I am currently reading. I am still taking book suggestions if you have any- let me know!

1. Wonder  by R.J. Palacio (finished this book...it was great and I would recommend it for people from 10 to 100)

2. Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (lots of my students are reading these books)

3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (I have been wanting to read this book for awhile)

4. The Book Whisper by Donalyn Miller (this is a book that was recommended to me at a teacher conference- getting kids excited about reading, etc)

5. Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis ( Christian fantasy author...lots of my students are reading books by this author)

6. Joni by Joni Eareckson (started this one in Dec of 2012 but finished this week- an old book but it was good to read)

7. Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst (reading for a Bible Study- but I think that counts :) )
8. Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (finished this book that I started in Dec. Very interesting about the Civil War- Newbery Winner)
9. The Tanglewood's Secret by Patricia St. John (This was a good book- somewhat similar to Treasures of the Snow by St. John)
10. Hobbit by R.J. Tolkien (My mom started to read this book to us a few times...I have decided it is time for me to try to finish it... I guess I will have to read the 1st chapter again, ha)
11. The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Newbery Winner- 1974)
12. Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk (Many of the teachers at my school use this approach to help with classroom management)
13. The Giver by Lois Lowry (Newbery Winner- 1994)
14. The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi (Students are enjoying this series - Spiderwick Series)
15. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (Students enjoy these books so I thought I should read one...hopefully I will get through it :) )

16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (It is time to read the 1st book...maybe more)
17. The Shack by William P. Young (I have wanted to read this for a long time...can't believe I haven't read it yet...this will be the year!)
18. The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks (Just want to read it :) )
19. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Newbery Winner 1972- I thought it was a great book even though I don't like rats :))
20. Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury (Just was looking at recommended books online and this one sounded interesting...don't know if I will be able to get it here in Thailand)
21. Peacebound Trains by Haemi Balgassi (Just was looking at recommended books online and this one sounded interesting...don't know if I will be able to get it here in Thailand)
22. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (Newbery Winner 2011)
23. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (I have heard people talking about this book-so I am interested in reading it)
24. Crazy Love by Francis Chan (Heard lots about this book...)
25. Ten Boys Who Changed the World by Irene Howat (a very easy read about 10 famous boys- such as Billy Graham, Eric Liddell, John Newton, etc. It takes you through their whole lives in a quick 10 page overview for each person.) 
26. Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller (Realized that I haven't read this book...and decided that this is the year)
27. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (a friend and a student have recommended this book to me)
28. Mai Pen Rai: means never mind by Carol Hollinger (someone asked me if I had this book in the library and we do! So being here in Thailand I thought I should read it. It is written by someone who visited Thai in the 50s so a lot has changed but hopefully it is still interesting! And yes, "mai pen rai" does mean never mind/ no problem/it's ok :))
29. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (nope haven't seen it...but thought I should try to read the book! I truly believe in reading books before or after watching movies that are based on books)
30. Naked Bunyip Dancing by Steven Herrick so one day my friend who was volunteering in the Secondary library found this book in our library catalog and wanted me to look at it- because of the name of course. :) I decided to read it...not much to say about this Australian book other than that it is similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

Bulletin Boards...Copyright?

I often look up ideas for my bulletin boards on the internet. Last month as my wonderful 11th grade TA and I were putting up the "It's "Snow" secret we love books" he mentioned how clever it was, so I confused that I had gotten the idea from the internet which lead us to the discussion of copyright laws.

So I ask you....do Bulletin Boards have copyrights like books and such? Have I been wrong this whole time about taking bulletin board ideas from the pinterest (no account just look at other people's stuff) or is it "free game." I always change it up and make it my own...but I need those clever sayings to help me start thinking :)

I really think that it is perfectly fine to do this...but thought it would be interesting to hear other peoples' thoughts on the topic.

You are more than welcome to use all of my ideas of the ideas I have found for your bulletin boards :)

Book covers and snowflakes....

Can't really see but those are penguins on sleds

This was all my own....the kids wrote book recommendations
that I typed up and I took their pictures holding the books
to add some color, etc

I found this idea somewhere- internet or book...
and used it last year and saved all the pieces
...so I could just put it up again this year!

School Trip: Puppet Show and Rama I history

This is the last post about my Thai history trip with students and staff at Grace. You can check out the other Thai Trip 2012 posts that hopefully have a link thingy at the bottom of the page (not really sure). 

This is a mixture of things that didn't fit in other posts and all of these posts were not in order. :) 

After our 12 hour bus ride through the night and visiting the floating market we headed to a temple to see a traditional shadow puppet show. They made the "puppets" out of leather and would perform for royalty a long time ago. They now do special performances to show people what it was like, etc. One of our Thai teacher's husband translated what the monk said about the history, etc.

They were just showing us different moves they would do.
When one guy went up like this on the other person you
would know that his puppet had won the battle.

They moved differently to show if they were walking,
running, etc.

We got to work on our own "elephant puppet"

Beautiful! 

The last place we went to before the long bus ride back was to the Nine-Army Battle Historical Park. We arrived late, but the man who was going to share with us the history of the Nine-Army Battle was still there waiting for us! We quickly went in and sat down to listen to him share all about the battle against Burma. They came in with nine-armies, but King Rama I (late 1700s) led Thailand in victory. It was all in Thai, but our amazing Thai teachers translated it for us!

the building

The map of the battles

He was all dressed up like a Thai  soldier from the 1700s
and our Thai teachers :)

Pretty much everyone!

After this group photo we were back on the bus- going home. On the way we only could find a 7-Eleven to eat at for dinner! Yes, we had our dinner at 7-Eleven! Then we continued home :)