First Day

Today was our first day in the schools, and it happened to fall on a field trip day for Years 1 and 2, so Hilary and I spent most of our day at the Botanic Gardens with 50 some 5-7 year olds. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, so I don't have pictures to post yet. We took pictures with the school camera, so if any of those turn out to be amazing, I'll share them.

It was very weird to see familiar flowers, like impatiens, in the Plants of the World greenhouse! I hadn't realized how dry the air is here until we walked into the rain forest section of the greenhouses and breathed in the thick, humid air. It was surprisingly pleasant...

Ms. Mitchell is good. She seems to have command of her class, though it's hard to tell on a field trip. The kids are, well, kids! They are much more diverse than I was expecting, with many coming from other countries and speaking other languages. Because we were on a trip, they were excited and acting up a bit, and just like back home, you can immediately tell who has to be redirected more often. When I was asking a child not to throw stones at the ducks in the pond, he called me out on my pronunciation of the word water. He informed me that it's not "wadder," as I say, but "wa-ta." Oops! Ms. Mitchell gave me Green Eggs and Ham to read tomorrow, because "if it's Dr. Seuss, you can just tell them it is supposed to sound like that." I think I'm going to like her!