March 9

Well, it's my last day here... It's been so hard to say goodbye to everyone. I've met so many great people and learned so much.

On Wednesday we began the day by reading some poetry but it was cut short because we had swimming up at the high school. Following swimming was maths, where I worked with my group and did some check-ups that are required by the Scottish School Council. When they come to audit the school, each child should have a check-up done to show their progress in maths. None of the kids have any so we will be working on them for the rest of the week. For the last 15 minutes of class I let them have fun maths, where they did the Maths Masterpieces. I also worked with Dylan on his re-test of the Maths National Assessment. He hasn't finished it so we will continue that on Thursday as well. By the time maths was over it was lunch time. After lunch we carried on with Peru. I continued to work with one group creating the Andes Mountains. It's coming along good! On Thursday the P7s are going to be leading Shake til Break so the last 20 minutes of school was dedicated to coming up with a routine it. Thursday the day started with poetry again. We looked at the poem Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe. I read it through once and then gave each of the students a copy of it to read on their own. We discussed how it's a poem that tells a story and then we tried to interpret it. After our discussion, I had each student divide a piece of paper in their jotter in 4's and had them illustrate each of the 4 stanzas in the poem. They seemed to have fun with this, but it also let me see if they really understood the poem. Following this we had maths, where we continued with our checkups and I worked with Dylan to finish up his Assessment. He did and he passed! We were all very excited for him. We cut maths short a couple minutes because our class was in charge of Shake til Break and we needed to practice. It went perfect and was so much fun for the whole school. After break we had music. This was a lot of fun as well because their music teacher told anyone who played an instrument to bring them in so we had a few guitars and even a didgeridoo. The kids showed us how they played them and even did a couple songs for us. Following music was lunch and then the afternoon was spent with Peru and then French. In French the students made lessons to share with the other P7 class. Today was a very crazy day. We started with Wake n' Shake and then the Rotary Club from Duns came and presented the school with a check for €10,100 pounds to go towards playground equipment. There was balloons and lots of music and pictures. It was great! After this the kids were given time to work on their poetry anthologies. Following this, we did our 10 questions quiz, this time on Duns, where they live. It was very interesting, especially for me, to learn more about this town. We didn't have maths today because there didn't seem to be enough time. During lunch on Fridays, the kids are allowed to walk down the street to buy something from any of the local shops. The kids have been begging me to go, so I decided that I would go with them today. After lunch was when it started to get really hard. The class gave me tons of cards and gifts and the teacher said really nice things about me. I got a card from everyone in the class, 4 of the boys bought me flowers, and I got chocolates from many of the girls. From the entire class I also got many gifts. I then had made some cookies and puppy chow for the entire class so we had that and then both P7 classes headed down to the hall (gym) and we played music and games, and had some more cake. It was also the last day of one of the girls in the class (Lucy) so we all wanted to say goodbye and good luck to her as well.

It was so hard leaving at the end of the day. Everyone was asking for my email address, home address, and phone number. They told me I shouldn't leave them and one boy even said that the kids in any class I teach will be the luckiest because he learned and had so much fun with me and they will too. That was one of the best things to hear! It was hard to get everyone out of the classroom at the end of the day because no one wanted to leave because we all knew I wouldn't be here anymore. Many of the girls even began to cry which made me cry. I would have never imagined it to be this hard to leave. I've had so much fun here and have learned more than I thought I ever could. It's been such a great experience and I know it's helped to make me a better teacher and all-around person. I don't regret coming here at all and if I had the chance to do it again I would in a second. I'm definitely going to miss being here everyday!

March 6

Well, it's the last week here. The time went by so fast. It seems like I just got here! We've started this week, busy as usual. Yesterday I started the day by giving some students their National Reading Assessments. They all passed which is really good. We then did some interpreting poems. I read the students some poems and they had to try and decide what it was about and make some connections. We then had snack and Shake til Break and then maths. For maths, we did Maths Masterpieces, which basically brings art into math in the form of a puzzle. They are given a famous painting, with the pieces mixed up, and they have to do various problems and put them in the right order in order to put the picture together properly. They seemed to really like this. I gave each student a different picture because I felt that they all have different things that they need to work on individually. During this time, I also worked with Dylan, the one who has to do a re-take of his Maths National Assessment. We just basically did some review problems and went over things that he still didn't feel confident with. I will be giving him his re-take tomorrow. After lunch, we focused on Peru. The students were given general information on Peru and they then were able to present it any way they felt was relevant to them. Some made mind maps while others wrote it in a report. If they had time before the end of the day they worked on their Peru art. Today we started out with P.E. and then following that I helped some students with their National Maths Assessments. We then went outside for Shake til Break (which was really a hard workout today!!) and then we came back worked on our pen pal letters and some worked on their own poetry books. We didn't finish all the letters so we'll probably be working on them tomorrow again. By the time we were through with that it was already lunchtime! I really don't know where the time goes! This afternoon we began our Peru artwork and it's going great!! The kids are really enjoying themselves and are making good progress. I really like how this project is going because we've put the responsibility on the kids to learn what they want to learn. They understand this responsibility and have been getting a lot out of it. Tomorrow will much of the same as today except we have swimming in the morning. This week is going by so fast!!

This weekend was a very relaxing one. Saturday we went to Berwick, Eyemouth, and Coldingham Sands. Here we went to see the North Sea and some beaches. It was beautiful. I was surprised to see so many surfers out though. We then went back to Berwick to do some grocery shopping for the tea that we made on Sunday. It didn't turn out as we would have liked but everyone said it was really good. To us, it tasted a lot like chili but no one else thought so. I don't think they have a lot of the same ingredients that we do back at home. We also made puppy chow and that was a huge success! Everyone loved it! This week is going to be spent planning the rest of my lessons and packing. I started packing this weekend and it's not going so well. I've packed one suitcase so far and it's so heavy. I've accumulated a lot of things in the short 2 months that I've been here. I'm not looking forward to packing my last suitcase.

March 2

Oh my gosh, I only have 1 more week here! I can't believe it's already almost over. I've had such a great time! As each week seems to do, this week just flew by. We've been continuing on our poetry, and the students have been given a lot of time to create their own poems. Wednesday we started the day off with swimming. When we got back I had them analyze any poem that they wanted to, and then they had to answer questions that I had given them, such as how many syllables in certain lines and finding examples of similes, metaphors, personifications, etc. in their poem that they chose. Wednesday there was an assembly for the P4-7s. Someone from the church in town came to talk about the various camps that they offer. After that we just worked on our Peru projects. Yesterday was another busy day. We did some poetry, had music class, and then worked more on Peru. For maths, we have moved on to volume. It's been a very tricky concept to learn but they are getting there. Because part of the focus with poetry is reciting it, I had them watch a video of poetry being recited and acted out. Many of the poems that were recited the kids knew so that made it interesting for them. During this, some students were chosen to write a letter to Heath Promoting Schools Newsletter in Scotland about our "Shake til Break." This morning it was "Wake 'n Shake" where we do it at the beginning of the day instead right before break. This lets many of the parents that are dropping their children off at school come and participate as well. It's been going great and is so much fun! With the music and the energy it really puts everyone in a good mood. Today everyone came walking into school doing the YMCA! It was great! Then all the P6 and 7's had an assembly for their Golden Time. It's a way that the school awards students for good behavior. Sadly, many of the students recieved red cards (punishments) and weren't recognized for their good behavior this month. After that we had maths. We continued to do volume for a litlte while and about 15 minutes before maths was done, they were given the opportunity to do some "fun" maths and many of them chose to do a symmetry activity. This afternoon was spent doing art and Peru. For Peru, we decided to transform the rest of the wall space with the rainforest, the Amazon River, the Andes Mountains, and various cities in Peru. It was the kids decision to do this and I know it will look great! I hope that most of it gets done before I have to leave because I'm anxious to see what it will look like. For the last half hour of school the kids had Golden Time. During this time, most of the students just continued to work on their Peru projects. 3 of the kids had brought in their guitars and played for us and then I went outside with some of my P7 class and most of the other P7 class and played football (soccer) with them. They've been wanting me to play for a while so I decided I'd try it. I wasn't so great but all the kids helped me out and I even scored a goal. After that, I was the coolest person out there! :) It was fun but I told them that next week for Golden Time we're going to play basketball so they're excited for that.

This weekend is not too busy. Tomorrow I think we may go to Berwick for a couple of hours but then most of the day will be spent packing. I'm going to have my work cut out for me because I've accumulated so much! Sunday Kim and I are going to be making tea (supper) for our host families. We've decided to make Sloppy Joes because they've never heard of it. We're also going to make some puppy chow and let them taste that as well. It should be a good afternoon!