Book Month in Vienna

In a fun new break with tradition I thought that I'd try to update you a little bit more consistently than every four months.  Just to try something different out ;-).  So to that end I'd like to submit for your consideration a little reflection on probably my favorite time of year here at ICSV...Book Month!

Barbara, the ICSV librarian/part time wizard, works every year to completely transform the library to reflect the theme of the year's book month.  We all participate in lots of crazy activities and he classroom routines for all of March become somewhat ridiculously messed up, but we love every minute of it because of the love (sometimes even frenzy) for reading that develops out of it.

This year's theme was "Calvin and Hobbes".  The Primary (Kindergarten for you American folks) - 3rd grade students participated in an epic reading race.  Every minute that they spent reading throughout the month propelled Spaceman Spiff father along in his journey through space to locate and save his good friend Hobbes located across the library...er...galaxy.  

My Book costume!  (I'm the Cupboard from "The
Indian in the Cupboard")

Meanwhile the 4th and 5th grade students had been preparing since December for the annual "Battle of the Books".  Split into teams of 4 and 5 students they read through a list of 20 books then compete in a series of epic contests against one another through a championship bracket to be determined the ultimate readers!

Sprinkled throughout the rest of the month are fun activities like "Book Character Costume Contest", "Book Title Charades", and an "All Day Read-In" (which involved me building a blanket tent that took up literally half of my classroom).

All in all it's a great and very fun month that gets all of the kids very excited about reading.  At the end of the month when awards are presented for achievements in the month, it was also really exciting to see kids that are just learning English receiving special prizes for reading hundreds, or even thousands, of minutes throughout the month!

So please enjoy a few pictures from the month and I promise to write again soon with more!

I'm very excited to be meeting King Kong!

Excited chaos on Book Character Day

Minions!

Where is Waldo?

Tikki Tikki Tembo the Primary-3rd grade musical!

Tikki Tikki Tembo performance!

Preparing for the musical :-)

The Library Transformed!

Book Month Cake!

5th Grade celebrating book month with an epic game of Capture the Flag

Ralphie from "The Magic School Bus"

The Paper Bag Princess teaches 4th grade part time!

Me and The Cat in the Hat

What a fun month!

Our Reading Tent!

The winning Battle of the Books team for 2014!

Four Months Later...

A typically terrible but utterly expected picture of my fantastic class :-)

How is it possible did four months can sneak past me without me even noticing? It Seems completely unfathomable! I seem to have blinked and we are about to begin the 4th quarter of the year! A year of ups and downs and projects, new adventures and new challenges, and friends now preparing to leave that I seem to have just said hello to a few weeks ago and in all of the business, excitement, tears and laughter the time has completely gotten away from me.

So apologies to you, my friends, family, supporters, and stalkers (I KNOW you're out there random person who reads my blog in Serbia!) I apologize for not being as communicative as you merit and deserve and I offer this humble post in the vain attempt to catch you up on a few of the happenings here at ICSV and in my life. Clearly there is far to much to publish in great detail within a format any shorter than a novel, so I thought I'd focus on two big highlights of the year for this post and then work on slowly bringing you up to date in the next few blog updates.  Starting with...Guys and Dolls!

 

Highlight of the Fall / Winter? I directed my very first High School Musical! Now those of you who know me well know that I have been involved in musicals for a long time - 15 years this year actually - and the ins and outs of sets, costumes, acting, etc. are not exactly new. But directing a musical at ICSV? What a completely new and interesting challenge!  

We had a cast of about 25 kids involved in Guys and Dolls, and most of the leads were not American, in fact most of them did not speak English as their first language. If you know Guys and Dolls, you know that part of the humor is in the fact that the characters speak in a lot of old 1940's slang, and with nice New York accents. Thus, directing this play involved a LOT of ELL lessons afterwards (English Language) and practicing how to pronounce a good 75% of the words in the play. (Fun fact, it was a couple of months before the cast Understood did craps what Actually a dice game).  

But I have never had more fun on a show and while we did not have an actual stage ... and our backstage is  made ​​by hanging curtains ... and we were not sure we'd be able actually to turn lights on and off until the DAY OF the show ... and there are gigantic pillars in the middle of the room  that obscure half of the stage from view ... the whole process was a blast. I spent many nights exhausted, shed several tears, almost melted down once or twice, and was completely and thoroughly blessed by each and every one of these kids. Being a part of a ministry that can bring kids together from so many different backgrounds, being able to pour into amazing lives, and seeing God at work in all of them in different ways was completely humbling and I can not wait for next year's adventure!  

Another huge part of my year?  My fantastic students.  This year I have 17 students (one left in December though) representing 11 countries between them.  Several are MK's (missionary kids), some are UN kids, some are native Austrians (but culturally Ethiopian or Filipino).  Some are Protestant, some are Catholic, three are Muslim.  Some have lived here their whole life and some are just passing through.  But they're all my kids and I love them dearly.

5th grade field trip

If you receive prayer updates from me you'll already know that one of my students this year is unique due to his health situation.  This Venezuelan student has a rare degenerative genetic condition that creates a lot of challenges for him to overcome.  He's in 5th grade and is much smaller physically than his peers, uses a wheelchair, has limited use of his hands, can barely see due to severe cataracts, and suffers from chronic kidney stones.  My athletic students had to learn to adjust.  And so did I.  I've had to learn as a teacher how to make my strategies and lesson plans adaptable, and how to be inclusive and engaging to someone who doesn't fit into the "box" that is typical.

culture museum

But through all of these challenges I have grown so much and seen so much growth in my entire class (the student included!).  Just last month the student had a serious health scare and needed emergency surgery.  The whole class covered him in prayer, made cards and videos, and some visited him in the hospital.  I saw people in the school stepping up to help his family throughout the situation in ways that humbled me and showed me how just by loving someone and pouring time and support into them we can be a huge blessing.  His family has expressed so much joy and thanks for the community here at ICSV it's humbling.  I don't say that to brag on us, I say simply to broadcast the grace of God and the huge impact that allowing him to work through us can be to others.  I have doubted and worried about whether I could handle the new challenge as a teacher in huge ways.  And it is only through God's grace that I have been able to learn and be flexible.  And because of that I have grown and a family has been blessed.

That is the joy of ministry, being used by God to declare his words and spread his love to others.  Not through our own power, but through his grace and his hand on our lives.  May this work continue to grow in me and in this ministry and may others be blessed through it.  For this any frustration, sadness, challenge, or hardship is worth it.  The glory of God's kingdom :-)

More updates on the year to come!  Thank you so much for your continued support and prayer.  I am so thankful to you all!!
In Christ,

Amy

Camera friends ;-)

2nd Grader looking so cute she had  to be photographed!

Vienna Year Two: And So It Begins!

My Dearest Most Wonderful Blog Readers,

Alright.  So.  Um... About the last four months... They were pretty awesome...and rather jam packed...and so, well, okay so I've been slacking.  I know it and you know it and it's rather embarrassing but it appears that all of my self assurances that I would never be that blogger that leaves their dear sweet readers out in the cold, it seems that I did, in fact, become that person.  To the point where I have felt so blocked about figuring out how to pick up again and start again after four months I've been getting really overwhelmed and chickening out.

But I knew that I must rise above my writer's block and emerge triumphantly into a new year of blogging.  So I put "One Day More" on loop on Youtube (25th Anniversery Cast recording.  Don't even get me started on the movie.  I mean good gracious) and sat myself down resolutely and promised myself that I was not allowed to move until I've given at least a halfway decent update on what's been going on here in Vienna.

Ready?

Okay here we go.

For brevity's sake let's just fast forward through the summer.  It was a really great blessing to be back with my family and to meet with friends and supporters and share what God is doing in Vienna and how excited I was to come back.  I faced my great fear and went to the Cleveland Aquarium (seriously.  fish are gross.) and decided that the puffer fish isn't all that terrifying comparitively speaking.  Also the zoo.  And the State Fair.  You will all be pleased to know, I'm sure, that the Butter Cow is still doing well!

Reuniting with former students!

Feeding the Giraffe with miss Kelly Filipkowski

Bike Rides

Facing my fear!

Fleeing in terror from the T-Rex! 

So, to make 10 million adventures short, August came and I returned to Vienna, full of excitement and ready for a new adventure!  School began and I was greeted by my new classroom which currently houses 10 boys, and 6 girls.  (It makes for a VERY enthusiastic mix).  Countries represented this year include: Ethiopia, America, Zimbabwe, The Philippines, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, South Africa, Angola, and Brazil!  So that beats my record from last year by one country :-).  Of course, if you count the students from 4th grade that I teach one class to a day you can also add: Australia, New Zealand, Macedonia, Namibia, India, and South Korea.  One of the greatest and most challenging aspects of teaching here continues to be the amazing diversity in the classroom.  Differentiation is a MUST!

I'm teaching Science now, so of course we started the year with The Great Baby Diaper Experiment as a way to learn the Scientific Method.  Below find some examples of our research!

On  September 19th we celebrated National Talk Like a Pirate Day because...well...why not?  Students came in costume and we had some piratey adventures throughout the day!  

Another new adventure this year?  I agreed to direct the high school musical with a fellow teacher!  We are producing Guys and Dolls Jr. this year!  I'm BEYOND excited!  It's a whole new fun challenge working with such a diverse group of talented students from so many different backgrounds.  It's hard enough explaining 40's New Yorker slang to a group of AMERICAN students.  Just imagine explaining "craps", "markers", "doll face", etc. to a group of students from as many countries as my 5th graders!  I'll try to take some pictures of practice for you all to see soon.  Pray that we are able to get everything done!  These students are CRAZY busy.  It's such a small school that many of the high schoolers are involved in 5 or 6 different activities.  Our performances will be December 14th and 15th.  So, you know, if you feel like flying to Vienna you should come see it!

At the very end of September  Sarah H. (I have a new roommate who is ALSO named Sarah so now I have to differentiate), Christine, Amanda (my principal) and I went on a weekend trip to Croatia.  It was amazing.  We hung out in a national park and stayed in really awesomely weird lodgings (like seriously.)  

Plitvice Lakes...one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to
in my life.  

Countless waterfalls

and crystal clear blue water

We also visited the Adriatic Sea!

We returned and October has been jam packed with classroom activities.  God answered all of our prayers at ICSV and brought us our long-awaited 4th grade teacher - Molly Brown!  No, we are NOT related! However, I did KNOW Molly before we ended up in Austria together!  In 2007 we worked a summer at the Top Thrill Dragster together at Cedar Point and even though we hadn't been in contact since, we remained Facebook friends, which is how she heard about ICSV and felt called to come teach at the school.  You really should check out her blog to see God's amazing provision in bringing her to school.  It's crazy awesome how he works and it blows me away every day.

We are almost at the end of the 1st quarter.  It's crazy to think that so much time has already gone by.  I feel like I still have SO much to do this year and I am praying for the knowledge and wisdom to meet all of their needs spiritually as well as academically.  There are three students in my classroom that are Muslim and others that don't know God - pray that I am able to minister to them and their families and that the Holy Spirit is active in their hearts this year!

And so with these last pictures I leave you!  NOT for four more months (I promise!).  

With Love!!!

Amy