Stars and Stripes Forever!

Last year, while innocently sitting in Corvallis, dreaming about my year ahead in Australia, I thought it would be a fun idea to bring little wristbands for everyone in the school to say, "Happy Fourth of July." That idea exploded into one entire day of celebrating American culture with music, hot dogs, dancing, and contests. Who knew?

At Macksville Public School the philosophy is that all children are "on Gold." That is, they are gold students, capable of being beautifully behaved, respectful, responsible, and well-mannered. From there, if you forget, or make a mistake, or are just plain awful, you receive "tickets." 6 tickets and you're "off gold." Each 10 weeks we celebrate a day for all of those on Gold, and start fresh for the next term. Sometimes the days are held at the beach or the park. This time it was all about the U.S. of A.!

It was a great team effort, with staff and parents helping everywhere. Even Marilyn, our friend from Corvallis visiting for the week, came and sliced hot dog buns and took photographs. She even stood by my side, our hands on our hearts, as the children raised the American flag and the National Anthem played on the speakers.

We began with a parade of costumes. The children and staff were dressed in everything from Miss Piggy, Agent 99, Scooby Doo, Uncle Sam, Statue of Liberty, Men in Black, cowboys, cowgirls, Paris Hilton, Mortitia Adams, Spider Man, and Minnie Mouse. Even the children in plain clothes were dressed like an American, since we don't wear a uniform to public school! One teacher spent her senior year as an exchange student in Maryland. She came dressed in her cheerleading outfit and letterman's jacket, complete with school ring and photo button of her squad! The children paraded to Stars and Stripes Forever!

Then our two second grade classes performed a hip hop dance and tumbling act to stadium music. The crowd was clapping and oohing and awwing at the cartwheels and pom poms! Then the children lead the crowd in American cheers. Let me back track a bit. Back in April the teachers were discussing how every year the children learn dances, but this year the dance teacher is not "on class." Hmmm. "Well," I offered, "I could teach the kids some line dances." From there I was asked if I would please teach them American Cheerleading. Derr. So, many YouTube videos from Pomona High School Cheer Squad later, I was teaching the kids American cheers. So by July 2, the kids lead the entire school in cheers from "MPS! We're the Best!" to "Let's Get Fired Up!"

These folks love a contest. And it's important that "everyone has a go." So, there were prizes for the costumes, and everyone had a go at cheering. Prizes went to the most enthusiastic in the crowd!

From there we had a break to enjoy the Year 1's Lemonade Stand, "quarters" in hand to pay for each cup. The children ate a snack and then regrouped for the next act! This time the second graders performed the Electric Slide to "Boot Scootin' Boogie." We taught groups to do it with us, and yes, prizes for the smoothest dancers! The adults weren't off the hook. We got every teacher, parent, admin. assistant, and the principal to stomp the pavement with us! Moving around the square with the entire staff to one of my favorite songs, was a highlight of this year!

My kids then did the Cotton Eyed Joe (again, a version from YouTube, since my Texas version was more suited to people who have had too many tequilas!), inviting a partner to join them. Mums, brothers, teachers, were all asked to circle around and grapevine to the right! We ended with a whole school dance to YMCA. The crowd went wild.

From here our girls who raise the flag daily had the American flag on the ropes, ready to raise. I explained a little bit about the flag, as well as ediquette here in Australia. We were to fly it just below the top, and as Americans, Marilyn and I would place our hands on our hearts. The children stood solemnly while the song played. It was beautiful.

At this point we had lunch - mmm! Hot dogs, baggies of potato chips, and Otter Pops. All of these were bizarre to them. Tomato sauce had to be called "ketchup" for the day. We didn't even try mustard, since they would all say, 'yuck.' No one knew how to deal with the hot dogs. "I think we boil them." The buns, all 411, had to be sliced by hand. Otter Pops were just weird. When they saw they were Icey Poles, then everyone relaxed. "Ahhhhh! Icey Poles!" Just pronouncing Otter Pop was an adventure!

To finish the fun, the children competed in "Talk Like a Yank." They were to say, "Put your glasses on and drive your faster car to Denver," with their best American accent. I showed them how easy it was. Then I tried saying words their way, like, "kookaburra." Not as easy as it would seem. You try standing in front of 411 kids and 40 adults and everyone laughs as you pronounce "koala." What's so funny about 'koala?' Apparently a lot. So, after narrowing it down to 6 great accents, I asked them to try, "New York City," on the spot. They gave me everything from Atlanta, Georgia + Perth, Western Australia to Little Rock, Arkansas + Cairns, Queensland. One girl rattled it off like it was second nature to her. I applauded and handed her the prize!

What were the prizes? Again, it was a team effort. I had brought my Oriental Trading wristbands, little flags, and temporary tatoos. With a quick email to Corvallis and Albany, friends bought bandanas, flag tee shirts, red visors, and stickers galore. They sent them via my American visitor, and we were set to go. The anticipation rose when I announced before the event that the prizes were being flown in today directly from the U.S. Ooooh!

I hope the pictures here capture the spirit of the day. The children had a blast, which is the most important thing. It brought the school together as a community, and the staff worked together brilliantly. It was touching for me, of course, and I barely made it through the anthem without a tear. Most of all it was a celebration of the children and their accomplishments as friends, individuals, and as a team.

Parent Teacher Conferences, or "Interviews"

These are held once a year, mid year. There are two philosophies, like in Oregon. We send a note home asking parents to choose a time slot. If you never hear back, you have two choices. You can forget it. Or, you can assign them a time and send the note back. And hope they come in. I'm of the mind that every parent deserves a time to talk with the teacher. Whether the child is doing well or not, kids need to know that their parents and teacher communicate. So, silly me, I sent home the notes and signed people up! Can I work more, please??

Again, no extra day or time allotted for this, really. We use our prep time and our half day of professional development. I can, however, ask for someone to "backfill" my class. An executive staff member will come and teach anything I ask them to, or anything they want, if I ask them to, for as long as I need them to. Not bad! But finding a place to meet when the school is operating fully as usual is tricky. This meeting room here? This corridor there? Someone's office here?

All the parents were very supportive and positive, which was reassuring! A few told me their child's year was the best one yet. Don't they always say that - those proud new parents still at the beginning of the long public school experience? Even the parents get excited with a new spelling list for the week in Second Grade! It was great to get to meet with them and hear friendship concerns, homework woes, and sport cheers.

Is it vacation yet?

Can you tell I got swamped??

Guess what I've been doing since the last entry? Stressing out like a true teacher! Well, here June does not mean end of the year parties, field trips, and good byes. We're not even half-way through, so it was Report Card Time! You know what that means. Hours of organizing work samples, assessments, and data. It means doing one more assessment to make sure they really read at Level 24. Does he know counting coins this week? Please? Oh, and the obligatory cold that comes with this time of year - it is winter, afterall! So, bundled up on the couch with the Kleenex box handy and a cup of tea, I filled out the reports on my laptop all through the weekend.

No, there is no report writing day allotted for this. My principal did, however, give us each half a day of professional development time to use. The reports themselves are like ours at home, but the difference lies in the comments. One is to write in detail each unit taught under each content area. We also write detailed descriptions about each child's progress in literacy and math. In addition, we write a summary paragraph for each student. Whew! It was a great process, save for the inevitable computer glitches, frustrations, panics, and near-loss-of-data episodes! But, hey, no worries, mate!

Finally, the reports are handed in on a thumb drive to our Executive staff for review. They proofread every one of the 411 reports. They print them, Glenn signs them, and they are returned to us with beautifully printed envelopes complete with Macksville's school emblem. Kinders even get a color photo of themselves on theirs. There is a large box on the front of the envelope for each child draw a picture before it is taken home. How lovely is that!

They did come to me, however, before they printed mine, and asked if I minded them changing some of my spelling. They needed to change some vowels, c's and s's, some s's and z's. "Practise/practice" and "colour/color." Whatever! You can tell I haven't switched my laptop from American to Australian. Here on this blog you might be glad for that! I love to smile at moments like that! It's so fun.