Starting Off October

The last week of September I had to cancel a half day because I was sick. I was disappointed because a good friend from high school teaches at that school and I haven't seen him since high school. But I just couldn't muster the energy.

To start off October I picked up an afternoon at a French Immersion school in town. So happy for it being in town. When I got the call and heard the name, I wondered if it was the mother of two girls that are in our neighbourhood, went to our schools, and figure skated. The oldest is a year older than Hugh, and the younger is in between Hugh and Lucy. And my husband has a bit of a bro-mance with the dad (don't want to say why because he's a bit of a celebrity in his field and saying it will lead to identifying the girls very easily).

I got to the classroom, and sure enough, there was a picture of the girls on the teacher's desk. She came in (doing an in school thing) and I mentioned our kids' connections. The girls totally take after her in beauty and poise and smarts, which is kind of funny because of their other sport besides figure skating.

Bonjour!

It was a grade 6 class and they had a math test. The desks were separated but the kids could not remain quiet. And some of them had so many questions. There were terms I wasn't very familiar with, so I wasn't much help but gee...they just studied this unit! It amazes me how difficult it is for kids these days to sit in individual desks and do individual work. I see it over and over. There's been such a push for collaborative work, inquiry based learning, flexible seating, but they're losing the ability to think independently, sit quietly, work alone.

After school, I had to go to the front entrance and basically be a crossing guard at the sidewalk. A little daunting when I don't know how they usually do it. I just tried to be safe!

It was hard to get an impression about the school from just that afternoon. It's a totally French school which is new to me, having been at a dual-track school. Even looking for the "Staff Room" was a challenge LOL. Luckily the test was in English. This school starts very early--7:55am. They're done at 2:30 but after school duty meant I still wasn't out early. It'd be a good school for Wednesday afternoons when I have to be back to get Megan by 3. But in the morning...I'd be leaving home at about 7:15. I'm just not a morning person LOL.