Yesterday the other Georgia students and I presented in front of 25 headteachers from the Sheffield area.  We talked about the difference in the education systems between the United Kingdom and America.  My topic was about retaining students and behavior management plans including capital punishment in the southern states (aka the paddle).  The presentation went really well, and one of the headteachers asked us to present in front of her staff next Thursday afternoon.  The exciting part, is that two other school decided to host Georgia Southern student teachers next semester.  Since we couldn't place many of the students this semester (there were only 6 spots available), we are really proud of ourselves since more students will be able to experience to England program in the future.

I taught an art and writing lesson yesterday and today.  I had the students make Mum's Day card because their Mother's Day is this coming Sunday.  Each student got a flower that said "I love my mum because..." in the middle.  Then they wrote one reason for every petal of the flower.  Inside the card, they wrote a letter to their mums telling them why they are the best mum in the world.  Then the students rated my lesson with the other teachers in the room.  I got all thumbs ups from the students (yay!)

Tomorrow is our last day in Rainbow Forge for the remaining week and we are leaving for Edinburgh, Scotland Friday morning.  We will be staying there for the weekend.  We are going on a literary pub tour, a haunted tour, and a castle.  Thats all that is planned at the moment.  

I'm trying to post the rest of my Liverpool pictures, but facebook is not cooperating.  Missing you all.

PS The Andy Warhol painting really is titled what I posted yesterday.  I'm not censoring the name because it's art. ok thx Mom :) love you!

"She Love You, Yeah Yeah Yeah!"

Morgan and I spent the weekend in Liverpool.  Our hotel, Sir Thomas Hotel, so right next to the City Centre so we have all the restaurants, attractions, and shops at our finger tips.  The first thing we did was go to the Liverpool Football Club store to look at jerseys for our lovelys.  Then we walked through St. John's Garden, took some pictures and went to the Walker's Art Gallery.  There was a statue exhibit on the first floor and a collectors exhibit on the second floor.  My favorite pieces were the Rembrandt self-portrait and Andy Warhol's Super Star Fucker.  You can find the pictures on my facebook when I upload them tonight. 

Then we went to the World Museum (both of these were free of charge).  First floor was a small aquarium, which was interesting, but nothing like the Georgia Aquarium.  The second floor was Bug World where we saw fire ants (outside of its glass cage...yikes), cockroaches, scorpions, and the biggest tarantula I've ever been near.  It wasn't my favorite.  Then We went into a skeleton room where there were tons of shark jaws (and anti-kill shark advertisements, which I loved!), a zebra skull, a hippo skull, and a stuffed emperor penguin.  Next was world cultures, where we learned about Buddhism, Eskimos, Indians, and Africans.  We went to Ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt.  I have a few pictures of real mummys which totally scared me.  I refused to touch anything Egyptian because I'm scared a monster will come take my tongue and eyes.

After finally being allowed to check in to the hotel, we changed and went to The Beatles Experience at Albert Dock.  The tour took about 2 hours, and it is all under ground.  They give you an audio set to walk through with, and you type in the code number you are at corresponding with a room and story.  I learned that Ringo was not the original drummer, which I probably should have known.  I was disappointed they skipped the murder of John Lennon all together, because I felt that it was an event that affected the world in a big way.

We had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant called Ask, a couple glasses of wine (well me that is...) and then went to bed.  In the morning we checked out and hiked up a hill to the Metropolitan Cathedral with our backpacks on our backs.  It was quite the workout, but well worth it because the cathedral was absolutely gorgeous but very modern.  The big bells went off at 11 to announce the service ready to begin.  But we got to listen to the children's choir practice before the service, and it sounded beautiful.

Then we caught the early train back to Sheffield while connecting in Manchester Piccadilly.  I learned that my map skills and train skills are getting better and better with each city I visit.  Morgan and I figured out to find a map of the city as soon as we got there instead of waiting the last day like we did in Dublin.  See? We are blossoming into adults!

But Liverpool was great, other than being accused of stealing from two different stores and terrible service at the restaurants...I'm tellin ya, these people really love Americans....gosh, can't wait to get to Paris!

Derbyshire

We went to the countryside of Sheffield today, called Derbyshire.  First we went to a nature community called Thornbridge with is a place that offers housing for students on weekend getaways.  They do team building, mining, nature courses, and rope courses.  It's very green with many daffodils.  The campus is huge.  Then we went over to Thornbridge Hall, which is the biggest mansion I've ever seen.  The house used to be owned by Sheffield, but now it is a private residence.  We were fortunate enough to be given a tour of the grounds and even inside the house.  I posted all of the pictures of facebook. They do about 8 to 10 weddings a year (I definitely wouldn't mind having my wedding at Thornbridge).  The house is also the home to the Brewery of Jaipur beer, an Indian Ale of 5.9%.

Then we ventured off to The White Lion, a traditional Derbyshire pub.  I had the smoky pork belly sandwich with apple sauce and it was deliiicciious.  Last, we went to Bakewell, home of the awarding winning pudding...not what your thinking.  It's kind of a meat pie.  Oh, also, if you look at my pictures on facebook...i tried really hard to get a picture with a sheep.  I just ended up chasing them into the pasture.  But it was exciting being so close to wild animals!!

Then tonight we came home, took a two hour nap and then took the TRAM to the cinema.  We saw No Strings Attached...amazing movie.

Tomorrow Morgan and I set off for Liverpool in the morning for the Beatles experience.  My goals are to get my brother a souvenirs and find a black Liverpool football jersey.  Wish me luck! I'll be back Sunday to tell you all about it.  Night.

The past week...

This week was a full week of Rainbow Forge Primary.  I taught force and motion during science and we had a tug of war contest and the student loved it.  It was a beautiful week here in Sheffield, so we went outside and explored the different types of surfaces in the play yard that are related to the concept of friction.  Then I taught a physical education lesson, so I naturally had to teach The Cha Cha Slide.  The students loved learning an American dance.  Their favorite part was free dance when they "got funky!"

Next week we are racing cars down ramps to decide which surface gives off mroe friction and slows down the motion of the toy cars.  I'm also teaching a Mother's Day art activity...yet to be decided. 

Tomorrow we are traveling to Derbyshire with the principal.  We are going to Thornbridge, which is an educational nature center.  Then we are going to a brewery/pub for lunch.  Can u imagine going to go get a beer with an American principal? Haha.

Sunday night, we went to City Hall to see our students sing in a concert.  All proceeds went to a 3rd world country to promote music within students.  Our students sang beautifully...kinda.  But I was proud of them! I taped their song, so I'll have to post it on facebook soon.

I have had a lot of fun this week watching our students learn through discovery.  Mr. Tingle always presents a question and then  organizes small group for them to discuss and then discover.  I love how the students are learning from one another and their own experiments.  We are also practicing for the SATs which is like our CRCTs.  Yesterday we did math, which the Y2's content seemed much more advanced than my 2nd grader's content.  And then today we did a practice writing test.  This is the area my Y2's need to work on the most.

This weekend Morgan and I are catching a train to Liverpool while the rest of the girls are visiting London.  Next weekend is Scotland, and then mommy will be flying overseas to take us to Paris!  I can't wait to see her!  I'm missing my parentals, puppy, and some special someones.  Facebook or email me, yall! Love you!

Today was a Monday back at Rainbow Forge.  I have been feeling really tired lately.  It's like I just can't catch up on sleep no matter how early I go to bed. 

At school today, I learned that Rainbow Forge does not teaching the letters of the alphabet.  None of the students know the names of the letters, they only know the 48 different phonics sounds.  Literally, if you ask a child to spell their name, they will recite phonics sounds back to you.  So, I told Mr. Tingle he would have to teach me how that works...cause I never learned phonics in Connecticut.  They taught us to read by sight words.  Anyways, it was hard you work on writing with the children today.

I am teaching the students The Cha Cha Slide tomorrow for a physical education lesson.  I think the student will have a lot of fun with that.  Then on Wednesday I'm teaching a science lesson on force, motion, and friction.  The students are going to have a car ramp race and figure out which surface causes the most friction.

We came home on the TRAM, there was an accident so they made us get off at the Cathedral and walk.  We went to Boots to get some essentials and then to Co-operative, the grocery store.  I came home, took the trash out which is an adventure with all the recycling you are forced to do.  Then I took a nap, and Amanda is cooking us dinner again :)  Hopefully I can catch up on some sleep tonight!

St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland

Wow where to start.  Well Morgan, Amanda, and I decided to go to Ireland for the weekend.  Unfortunately we missed the parade on Thursday because we were working, but we caught an early flight to Dublin on Friday.  And when I say early, I mean got a taxi at 415, then a train to Manchester Airport.  Our flight left around 7 am.  The flight was so short and an absolutely beautiful looking over the Irish Sea. 

We missed the bus to Dun Laoghaire (where our hotel was, about 8 miles out of Dublin) by 5 minutes.  So we had a little down time to get a cup of tea and take some pictures.  The Dublin airport is really modern.  All the tunnels and hallways are lit up with blue lights. 

We checked into our hotel and walked to the bus stop.  A few buses passed us before we figured out we had to flag it down to stop.  We got the bus to finally stop.  We asked if it went to Dublin City Centre.  The driver said "you're standing on the wrong side of the street my love."  So then we walked to the other side, and down about a 1/4 mile.  Waited another 30 minutes.  When the bus 7 came along, it was the same bus driver.  He poked fun at us for still being there, then we realized we needed exact change to ride.  We kinda just slinked to the back and tried to get our Euros together.  The bus ride was about 45 minutes, when we got off, I tried to give him a 5 Euro bill, but they only take change.  He shook his head and told me just to get off.  Kind of embarrassing, but hey, it was a free ride to Dublin! 

There were so many people on the street it was hard to walk.  We took some picture at City Centre and of the river.  We found a little pub named Fitzgerald Bar and I order a Carlsberg and the steak and mushroom pie.  The lunch was good.  Next, we headed off to the Guinness Storehouse after finally finding a map.  When we got to the storehouse, there were about 200 people standing in line trying to get in.  It was 4:45 and they stopped letting people inside at 5pm.  Somehow the line moved fast enough where we actually made it in.  Naturally, we went straight to the top for our free pint of Guinness.  We went to the first elevator we saw, which turned out to be a staff elevator, but the employee let us on and we beat 200 people to the Sky Bar.  The Sky Bar is a 360 degree glass view of Dublin.  Absolutely gorgeous! 

We went down to the 5th floor to drink our pints, (by the way, Guinness tastes so much better in Ireland) and chatted some Canadian tourists up.  We continued to take pictures and then head back to the Temple Bar area to find dinner.  I ordered to Irish Stew, but I got a migraine and couldn't enjoy the rest of the night.  It was quite an adventure getting back tot he hotel, trying to figure out which bus to take.  So of course we got on the wrong on and ended up at a deserted train station in downtown Dun Laoghaire.  So we took a taxi from there to our hotel and got a good night rest.

The next day we got the transportation figured out a little better.  We went back to Dublin City Centre after a quaint breakfast at Cafe Solo.  We bought a ticket with the Dublin City Tour Bus, which is a 24 stop "Hop on Hop off" system on a double decker bus.  So it is safe to say we were legit tourists on Saturday.  We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Andrew's Park, and then rode around a listened to all the history in Dublin.  Did you know Dracula was written by an Irish man in Dublin? Hmmm..

So the tour took most of the day.  St. Patrick's Cathedral was so pretty.  We stayed there for a while taking pictures and reading about all the different saints and priests.  We visited a few local pubs and bought souvenirs for some friends and family back home.  We took the Dart back to the hotel, and the train stopped at the Rugby Stadium where Ireland had just beat England's team.  So the train was packed some real characters.  We wanted to stay out later but we had a 245 am wake up call to catch a taxi at 315 to the Royal Marine.  This hotel is where we could catch the coach bus back to the airport.  The Royal Marine is a gorgeous mansion hotel that looks over Dublin Bay.  We caught the 340 am bus to Terminal 2.  The bus had wifi which was exciting for me, since I get homesick when I can't text my family. 

While waiting for the plane, we met two guys from Washington DC catching a connecting flight to Manchester and then to Philly.  These boys work for the Wizards and Redskins.  They had just come from the bar, so they were interesting fellows.  Of course they made me check my bag AGAIN even though I borrowed Julie's small roll on, AND they let me on the plane the first flight over.  So we landed in Manchester and caught the train the Manchester Piccadilly.  There was no connecting train to Sheffield, so we were forced to take an old smelly bus for an hour and a half.  We were packed like sardines and my legs fell asleep.  Always an adventure when it comes to public transportation.

But we got home safe, and Ireland was worth ever crappy taxi, train, plane, and bus ride.  It was beautiful, the people were helpful, and the culture is unique.  Next weekend starts travel adventure number 2.  Morgan and I are leaving for Liverpool Saturday morning for the Beatles experience :) Be jealous.

Morgan and I at Rainbow Forge

Meeting the Lord Mayor for tea

A booze raffle for the parents at school...haha thats a new one.

Naked cowboy advertising apartments.

Mosbourough Primary

We visited another primary school today about 5 minutes away.  The headteacher is good friend with Mr. Poole, they are actually retiring together after starting their teaching in 1972.  The headteacher gave us a tour of his school.  It is relatively new, just been built in 2001.  When you first walk inside, there is a touch screen sign in sheet.  You put your name in the computer and it prints you out a visitor's pass with your name on it.  Very "posh."  All of the students' artwork is displayed on the hallways.  The school is very brightly colored and happy.  They have a little over 400 students in this class, so it is twice as populated as Rainbow Forge.  The student's have a day called Big Writing Day.  They brainstorm "ambitious words" they can use about their topic and then write.  The work is displayed in the hallway.  Mosborough takes student handwriting very seriously, and it is apparent in the displays because each student has better handwriting than I do.  It is absolutely beautiful!  (Fun fact: the English call cursive "joint writing").

The school is currently practicing for their standardized testing, called the SATs.  We got to look at some of the practice booklets, and all of the questions are open ended.  The student must explain their answers or show their work or they won't receive credit.  There is no multiple choice whatsoever like our CRCTs.

The school also has themed weeks, like Outdoor Learning Week in June.  They spend the entire week conducting class outside.  There have gardens around the school, a pond to enjoy and explore, and a green house to grow vegetables.  The play area has different levels and areas, there is a social area, a football field, a blacktop, and a nature walk in the woods. 

The students truly seem to learn by discovery here.  At this school the students get a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes of lunch and play time.  It seems so laid back and unstructured, yet these students are bright, intelligent, and most of all in love with school.  They are much more motivated than some of the students in America.

I'm sure there are holes in England's education plan, and I'll be sure to report on it soon.  In the meanwhile, I'm just enjoying what I see :)

Day 2 at Rainbow

Another full day at Rainbow Forge.  The students are getting ready for Red Nose Day which is a national movement to raise money for comic relief.  Basically, everyone wears a clown nose, and schools and other organizations raise money by being funny.  All donations made go to aid African poverty.  Tomorrow, there is a show at 2 pm.  Each class is performing a skit or a song.  The teachers have various surprises they will be performing as well, for instance, Mr. Tingle and some coworkers will be river dancing.  I'm sad I'll be missing the show and Red Nose Day, but we are off to Dublin, Ireland early in the morning.

We have been told to go to Guinness and St. Patrick Cathedral.  I'm not bringing my laptop, so I'll let everyone know how it was when we get home Sunday morning.

I attempted to do laundry this afternoon after work.  It is a washer and dryer all in one.  The stupid things has so many buttons and symbols, I have no idea how to work the thing.  I don't even know if I put the detergent in the write place.  All I know is that the timer says 2 hours and 45 minutes....how the heck does it take that long to wash a coat and a pair of socks?  I don't know.  Guess I'll have to stay up a bit late if I want to bring my jacket to Ireland.

Play time and hot tea

Today was our first full day at Rainbow Forge Primary School.  We arrived at 8:30 am (a big difference from my 7 am arrival at Julia P).  We waited for the TRAM for about 10 minutes.  We started to get nervous that it wouldn't show.  I fell asleep on the way over, it's about a 30 minute ride and then a 10 minute walk from the TRAM stop.  Luckily I woke up before I had to get off.  My classroom is the biggest classroom in the school, and my teacher's name is Mr. Tingle.  There is also a teacher's assistant (like a paraprofessional) named Ms. Wright. 

This week is Art Week at school. and the children literally did art projects all day.  No academic work at all.  I was absolutely stunned.  I made a bottle top mosaic of a flower with the students.  It is about as tall as my shoulders! They all painted a huge canvas of a giraffe and then did individual paintings.  All the art work will be displayed on Friday at the school assembly.  They have a school assembly ever day which is very interesting.  This was devoted to a reception student (Pre-K) named Tyler, and it was his birthday, so naturally we sang to him.

The students get 15 minutes of playtime (recess) in the morning, an hour for lunch and play time, and then another 15 minutes of playtime in the afternoon.  The teacher get an entire hour for lunch.  All the Georgia student teachers scarfed down their lunch in about 20 minutes...then we realized we had 40 minutes to relax...we didn't know what to do with ourselves! The teachers pause to make hot tea often, which as a coffee and tea lover, I absolutely love!

After work, we rode the TRAM back to West Street and then got some terrible Chinese buffet food.  Luckily we made up for the terrible food with Caffe Nero, an Italian coffee shop.  Kiah and I split a white and dark chocolate cheese cake slice, and then we got some delicious hot chocolate with cream on top.  The whip cream was tasteless which was different, but the chocolate was amaaazing.  Everything here shuts down at about 4:30 or 5 pm, so we really had to search for a place that had dessert.

Morgan and Amanda apparently have a pirate that lives across the hallway.  He wanted to borrow their "tin opener"and when they knocked on his door later, he had a live parrot on his shoulder.  They said he seemed mortified and said "oh god your Americans! I look like a bloody pirate."  Haha I really got a kick out of this story.

Julie and I have been practically cuddling in our tiny bed. We actually head butted one another in our sleep last night.  I had to apologize for that one...I move around a lot.  Tomorrow we go back to work for more art projects, and then Amanda, Morgan, and I are off to Ireland early Friday morning! So Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Spice Girls and Football

Today we went on a tour of Sheffield with our Headteacher, Rob Poole, and his business manager, Ali.  They took us to coffee in the morning and gave us a little history lesson on Sheffield.  The town was bombed in World War I because it was famous for its steel manufacturing.  So many of the building are a mix of modern and older buildings, depending on which ones survived.  Then we went to Red Tape studios and met a producer named Omith.  He worked with the Spice Girls and recorded every single one of their albums in that studio.  Very exciting!  He also produced and played guitar with Lionel Richie. He writes music for Celine Dion as well.  I'll have to post his picture soon.

Then we had a tour of Sheffield's Sport Institution.  It looks like our RAC on crack.  It is huge!  At first we thought all English guys were hideous, but then we found today that all the cute guys are athletes and hang out at the institute. haha. But we learned about a lot of the different kinds of sports they have here.  The one sport I had never heard of is called Snooker.  It is a huge pool table with a lot more pool balls.  Unfortunately no one was playing, but the tables are required to be in a sound proof room set at a specific temperature.  I thought that was odd.

Last, we watched a football game (indoor soccer) and it is so much more exciting in person than on television.  I might actually be a football fan before I leave.  It was a good day, all in all.  I was very tired when I got home, I just chatted on skype with Morten for about half an hour and then took a nap.  Now Amanda is cooking us dinner at the apartment.  Trying to save money Mom :) Miss yall!

We have arrived!

We arrived at the Manchester airport on Saturday morning.  We stood in customs line for what felt like forever.  We were the only people at baggage claim, which was a big change from the Atlanta airport.  Then we wandered around and asked security where the train stations was located.  He told us to follow the signs that say "Station"....then mocked us a little in his English accent.

The train was an interesting adventure.  The aisles are very small and there is virtually no storage for luggage.  The people around us were annoyed that it took us forever to squeeze ourselves and our luggage on the train.  Plus, they stop very quickly at each station.  So I had to run off the train, and then Morgan and Julie threw our 50 pounds bags off the train while I caught them one by one.  The English were looking at us like we were "daft."  Luckily, we made it off the train with all of our luggage in tack.

Andrew met us at the apartment.  Julie and I have the only flat with Internet at the moment which is nice.  Unfortunately, we only have one bed and no pull out couch like the rest of the apartments.  But I don't mind snuggling with Julie every one and then.  I guess we will become great friends quickly!

Our first night out, we ventured into town to celebrate Kiah's 22nd birthday.  We ate at Nando's, which is famous for their spicy chicken.  I got the homemade mash, which was delicious mashed potatoes.  Then we went to about five bars.  Don't worry, we didn't drink too much! We just wanted to check out which spots we liked, and which we would never go back to again.  For example, The Rise had all female bar tenders, and they were not happy about serving Americans. 

Sunday, March 13, 2011, we ventured out on our own, Julie, Amanda, Morgan and me.  We went to the bank, Boots (a pharmacy), TK Maxx (like our TJ Maxx), and Primark (sort of a cheap Forever 21).  I bought a beautiful floral scarf, gray boots, and some leggings to stay warm.

Monday, March 14, 2011, was our first day at the schools.  We caught the TRAM with Andrew at 9 am and rode that all the way to Hacklethorpe.  From the TRAM stop, it is about a 10 minute walk to Rainbow Forge Primary School.  The school set up an assembly for us to be introduced.  The students (about 200 in the whole school) filed into the gym silently.  We could not believe how well behaved they were acting.  When the Headteacher (or principal) Mr. Poole asked a question, they would quietly raise their hands and wait to be called on.  I never once heard a student speak out of turn.

The entire school has a reward system going on.  Each student can earn "Merit Points" for good behavior.  The entire population of students are divided in 4 groups (Emerald, Ruby, Diamond, and Sapphire).  The teachers don't know which students are in which group, and at the end of the week, the School Council Leaders collect the team points from each classroom.

Rainbow Forge is so community involved and environmentally aware.  The students figured out how much energy the school uses in one day.  They are concerned with their carbon foot print they are leaving behind.  They have designated someone in each classroom to turn off all power when it is not being used.  Then they are planting trees and bulbs to give oxygen back into the environment.  The Lord Mayor is donating a tree to the school himself.

Today, we also met the Lord Mayor of Sheffield for tea time.  He actually thought we were from the country Georgia.  He was very polite and humorous.  He gave us a book of Sheffield's history to take back to the College of Education. He wears a 160 year old gold necklace of Sheffield's crest.  Every Lord Mayor has worn this 2 pound solid emblem.  He took some pictures with us, and sent us on our way.

Lastly today, we ate dinner with Andrew's family.  We met three of his seven children.  Jay, 7 years old, is so energetic and friendly.  Jay and I sang Queen music together, such as Bohemian Rhapsody and Fat Bottomed Girls.  His older children were very nice and gave us great advice about where to go in Sheffield. We ate chicken, Yorkshire pudding, and potatoes.  It was a delicious meal, then we had birthday cake for Kiah, and tea after dinner.

So far, I love it here in England.  I could see myself moving here and teaching in the country.  The city is beautiful, the shopping is fantastic.  Though I miss my family and friends, I can tell this month is going to go by very fast!  Feel free to leave comments and questions!