I find it hard to believe that I've been back for 3 weeks already! The time sure has gone by fast. I hope it continues because it will be a while before my next break. I am enjoying my day off today though. The next break comes at the end of March so I will have 9 weeks straight. That's quite a long time, but I came back to 12 weeks and now I'm down to 9!!
Really not much going on. The kids are getting settled back into the routine, but all that may be thrown out the window due to the day off today. Hopefully I don't have to start all over all over again!
We had Sport Day last week; much like field day in the States. I did tell the PE teachers that this was the best "organized chaos" that I have ever experienced for field day. There were lots of activities and most of the kids participated in at least 3 or 4 of them. Some of the activities were quite long, like the long distance (3 laps) and circle relay (6 kids once around the track each). That meant a lot of down time for the ones who weren't running. I think that was the hardest part; keeping them occupied and out of trouble during the down time. The day ended with a tug-of-war between the teachers and parents. The parents won! Those are some strong women. Well, the teachers were actually outnumbered by at least 3 to 1, as it was only the 3rd and 4th grade female teachers. Oh well, it was a lot of fun and a great way to show school spirit! After the day outside, which was actually quite pleasant, we headed in for the award ceremony. Much to our excitement the white team (my class, Rozalin's class, and Antony's class) won!! The kids were super excited and parents took tons of pictures while everyone clamored to touch the trophy. It was a fun day, but I would like things to settle down to normal again; students keep bringing in treats for the class and that disrupts everything. Hopefully it will end soon!
This coming week we have International Day. Our continent is Europe and my class is representing Italy. It should be fun. I haven't mentioned it to the kids yet due to Sport Day and our market day last week. Just too much going on to even think about Italy. I've been told that the kids go all out for this, why wouldn't they that's what they do! Lots and lots of food will be brought in. Which means we'll have tons of pizza!! They have to start researching and making posters next week.
Grade 4 market day was a blast! The kids and teachers had so much fun, and surprisingly many of them actually learned the concepts that we were trying to teach. The market day was our assessment for our economics unit. We had been focusing on movement of money, cost, supply, demand, choice, and profit so to wrap everything up we had market day. Each class broke their class into 4-5 groups and each group created a product to sell. We had laptops, iPhones, origami, book bags, stickers, food, sports equipment and many other products all designed from paper. The kids really got into this and got real creative with their products. They even did some on the spot advertising which was great to see! They reduced prices to sell their products, they offered free items, and they even had people go out and try to persuade others to come to their store. Great fun and a great final activity! To me, this is what school's all about. It's one of those lessons that the kids will not soon forget. They had fun and they learned! I hope it continues in future lessons.
The weather here has been cold. Yes, I know it's freezing back in the States, but it's cold here. Actually it's very nice in the afternoon and early evening, but as soon as the sun sets it's cold. The mornings aren't all that bad, but I do need a sweater. Honestly it's not that bad outside, it's inside that's bad. The AC in school is set on 17 (62) and that's cold in the mornings. Sometimes I would prefer to have class outside because it's warmer outside than in the building. I know in a few months I'll be longing for these chilly mornings and evenings, but right now I just really enjoy the afternoon sunshine. It's nice to be able to walk to the mall without being drenched in sweat when I get there.
I have been in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Greece for spring break, but my plans may have to change. I was thinking of a week with a stop in Athens and Lesvos, but that may be a bit too expensive. I have to think about it and see what else is out there. I may switch to a cruise. I want to go somewhere, but I also want to save money and go on a trip to Spain in the summer. I'll have to continue to check prices and different tour companies. I mean I do have 9 weeks to plan this out.
75 degrees at 8:00pm.
