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Taronga Zoo and Cockatoo Problems? Hello Elementary Friends, Happy April!  The months are going by so quickly - I can't believe that we have been in Australia for over three months!  Each week when I write this blog, I spend some time in grateful reflection of this opportunity.  The people we have met here have been so amazingly welcoming.  Aussies know what it means to live life to the fullest, and I intend to take that philosophy home with me in December! Last weekend we went to the Taronga Zoo.  We spent the day there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  First, it is a beautiful zoo, and I mean location, location, location!  Here is what the giraffes get to look at out their dining room window! Here is a little bit of information about the Taronga Zoo: Taronga Zoo  is the city  zoo  of  Sydney ,  New South Wales ,  Australia  and is located on the shores of  Sydney Harbour  in the suburb of  Mosman . ...

The Royal Easter Show in Sydney Hello Elementary Friends, Happy Easter to you!  I know that our Colorado friends are experiencing one of those amazing spring snow storms that have them digging out just in time for Easter! Helen - I am sure that our trees in our backyard are bent over! Here, however, it is beautiful!  It is finally cooling off, and we can tell that autumn in Sydney will be gorgeous.  I have spent this week in Autumn Parent Teacher Interviews (we call them fall parent conferences in Colorado).  It is a time for teacher and parents to sit together and review progress of their child.  I have always been a HUGE proponent of this practice as it solidifies a strong parent/school partnership for the year and encourages success for the child.  I have been impressed with the parents commitment to attending the interviews this week!  Out of 22 children, I have completed 18 successful interviews!  Only four more with 9 school days left in Ter...

I Guess I am an Art Teacher After All and  The Beaumont Bivouac - the Place to Be on 12 March, 2016! Hello Elementary Friends, I hope you are enjoying March!  I know that my Texas teacher friends are having a great spring break this week, and next week it will be Colorado's turn.  Enjoy your well deserved break! I Didn't Know I Would be Teaching Art! As you know, I am back in the classroom after MANY years!  I knew that I would be teaching the basics - reading, writing, math, social studies, and science.  I did not know, however, that I would be teaching Art, Physical Education, and Kindergarten-Year Two Singing!  But, here I am teaching art!  My teammate, Jenny, takes my kids once a week for "sport."  I take hers for math - games and activities that go along with our math goals and objectives for the week.  She is a saint , and I have a new found appreciation for my Specials Teachers at Mortensen!  The elementary teachers here in NSW ar...

Just Hangin' Out at Kanangra Boyd National Park! Exchange Teacher League Get-Away in the Oberon Area of New South Wales Hello Elementary Friends, Last weekend Mitch and I traveled three hours west of Sydney to the Oberon area near the Blue Mountains for a weekend sponsored by the NSW Exchange Teacher League.  We left school as soon as possible on Friday afternoon to get on the road before the traffic hit, but we soon learned that Friday afternoon on the "Bells Line of Road" is just as busy as I-70 is on a popular ski weekend in Colorado!  We patiently waited in lines of cars, and finally it cleared so that we could enjoy the beautiful country-side that soon turned mountainous.  A few fun passes that reminded us of Hoosier Pass in Park County led us to our destination of Tarana, NSW.  Here is a link to a map of where we were: Tarana New South Wales Australia We were so appreciative of being "put up" in the home of a semi-retired NSW teacher who has been on three ...