Sunday, September 27, 2015

Week 3--The Jacarandas are blooming!

Not much to report this week; there was a whole lot of life going on, but nothing particularly exciting. My 7th graders are tackling percentages, and we are reading The Bronze Bow in literature class. Friday afternoon we did some experiments with ramps and skates to explore incline planes, and the 8th and 9th graders had an intensive session on intervals in music class this week. Friday was the board meeting, and this weekend I'm off. I've been updating and uploading a few new things to my Teachers pay Teachers store, as well as the usual smattering of marking and relaxing.

There is still no word on new teachers for next year, and we will soon be starting our first interview week. Prayers for the right staff and for wisdom going forward are appreciated!

Parting shot: I love the jacaranda trees; the splash of purple is a real relief to the eye amidst the brown of dry season!

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Week the Second

Another school week down, ten more to go! I'm hoping that this week my students will be a bit more attentive and plugged in; hopefully the weekend off will do them some good. The big thing that happened this week was as a part of our study of energy which is moving into machines, my students got a tour of our generator house,

and the turbine which right now is only producing a small amount of 240 power for the school, but every little bit helps!

I was thrilled that it worked out for this 'field trip;' we've been trying to get the kids to be more energy and water conscious as we come to the end of the dry season, and it was great that they could see the different turning on just one set of lights made.

Speaking of the dry season, we've had rain on the last three days! I don't think they have come for good, but they made for a very welcome respite from the dryness of the last few months. Plus, when it rains the afternoons aren't quite so oppressively hot!

Parting Shot: For my mom, here is a picture of the old water wheel. There is rarely enough water for both the turbine and the water wheel, and since we now have a solar array which does the job of charging the 110 battery banks, the water wheel is enjoying a quiet retirement.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

They’re back!

Not a whole lot to report from our first week of school; it is only 4 days (counting the Saturday classes). All our students arrived back safely, though I had kids arriving all the way to Thursday morning (Tuesday evening is the target arrived-by time), I've pretty much managed to get everyone plugged in and sorted out. This saturday for handwork class we get back into what we were working on at the end of last term, and did our Kool-aid dying project. I couldn't take pictures during the actual activity; my hands were rather full! However, here is a picture of all the bags of Kool-aid and yarn sitting at the back of Upper School to get as much sun as possible to set the dye. That's why I do it in this term!

I will rinse them out and dry them for the girls, and at some point in the next few weeks I'll get the wound up on my ball winder. The girls love this activity, and though there are several cases of "Kool-aid hands" (mine being the worst!), there were no dying disasters.

One of my big projects this week other than getting my classroom ready for the term, was to order the supplies I'll need for the beginning of next year to go on the fall container. That meant a book order from Amazon for extras for my classroom and the library, a recorder order for music class, and a personal yarn and skirt order. I am so thankful for the people who pack the containers and make it possible for us to get North American goods! The fun thing is that I usually forget exactly what it is that I ordered, so it's not only exciting to receive the boxes, but it's exciting to see what I get!

A praise for this week is that we now know when the grade 7 exams are; the week of October 12-16th. Last year I only had three days warning about the exams, and my poor students had just got back from their Copper Belt tour. We were doing some more work on bases in class today in preparation; interesting concept, though not terribly practical...

Parting shot:

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Karibu Kenya!

I just got back from a 10 day vacation in Kenya; what a blessing! I’m so thankful that it worked out for me to go, visit some dear friends, and hang out with Beth. Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Nairobi-

Kijabi/Rift Valley Academy

Mombasa

Now it’s back to earth before the students arrive on September 8th. Ready or not, third term is coming!