On Saturday, Pippa took Mary and I up to Yanchep (a small town north of Perth) along with her granddaughter, Ella. We love spending time with Ella. She is two years old and full of energy! We went to the National Park in Yanchep and saw koalas in their natural habitat and of course, they were sleeping. They sleep about 20 hours out of the day... sounds like an average teenager. Anyway, it was a really pretty day and Ella fell asleep on the way back home.
Later that day, Mary and I went into the city to shop and look around. The city had all of the Christmas decorations up, but it was so odd to see Christmas trees and lights when it was about 80 degrees outside. Being over here with the weather getting warmer and warmer each day, it is hard to realize that it is getting colder at home and that we are just a month away from Christmas and Thanksgiving is TOMORROW.
Sunday, Mary, Rachel (another COST student) and I went to the Fremantle Prison. This is a very old prison that held the convicts that came over from England when the first colony in Western Australia was founded. My Year 4s are studying the settlement of Western Australia right now. Not only is this new learning material for them, but for me, too. I have learned lots and have even branched out and taught a lesson on one of the famous convicts, Moondyne Joe. After learning all this history, I decided that I needed to visit the prison and experience it first hand. The kids went on an excursion (there word for field trip) last term to the Fremantle Prison, so they knew what it was all about. I think I might be becoming a history buff... nah!
Today I taught my Year 4s about the holiday that everyone back home will be enjoying tomorrow, Thanksgiving. To start the lesson off, I asked the kids to tell me what they thought Thanksgiving is about. I loved the answers they gave me. "It's a holiday that people eat all day and give each other presents and say Thank You.", "It's the day America was founded.", "It's a day when people decorate and get ready for Christmas.", "It's a day that is remembered for those who fought in a war and died for the people (I think he got confused with Veterans Day)." With all of those clever answers, I did get some kids that had a pretty good idea of what Thanksgiving is about. I had one kid almost get it dead on and called the state where the pilgrims landed "Mastatoosetts." It was precious! I then showed them a PowerPoint with the history of how Thanksgiving came to be and then a short video that shows what the average Thanksgiving Day is like... football, Macy's parade, eating, family, etc. They were pretty in awe of the holiday and were interested in the parade. None of them had ever heard of the Macy's parade, so I decided to show them another clip of my friend Miley who sang in last year's parade. They absolutely loved it! I wish I could stream it at school for them to watch. After they learned about Thanksgiving, I had them create a turkey using the outline of their hand. On each of their fingers they had to come up with something they were thankful for. They really came up with some good, non-materialistic things. I was so proud! Overall, I think they got a lot out of learning more about America and enjoyed making their turkeys.
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