International Costume Day

Each of the classes in our school focused on a different country from around the world. I managed to pull Ireland away from another class in exchange for giving that teacher ideas for activities he could do for Norway. So after a not-so-quick PowerPoint about Ireland, I got to make Celtic knots and claddaghs with my kids!


We started with a Power Point that one of the office staff had (thankfully) made for me. The kids were fascinated by the video of Lord of the Dance. Maybe next time we'll do that, if I haven't dislocated my knees again.



After learning all kinds of tid-bits about Ireland, including the meaning of the claddagh, each kid got an A4 paper (which is about the same size as 11x17) with a heart and crown on it, but no hands. They traced their own hands onto the paper, colored it, and then decorated the crown with sparklies.



After the claddagh, we learned how to tie a Celtic knot. Granted, it wasn't completely accurate (as there was a beginning and an end), but they looked cool and some of the kids were actually able to do it completely by themselves.



It was definitely hard, and I'm glad I stuck with one of the simpler ones! I showed the kids a video of how to tie it, and then we went through it step by step, watching the video, me repeating the action about 6 times, and then going around to the kids to help them if they couldn't duplicate the action.




After an hour with me, the kids moved on to the next classroom with my co-teacher, and I stayed in the room and taught the same lesson to another 7-year-old class.


My kids then went to the Netherlands, where they made pinwheels after learning about the windmills, and learned a traditional dance with Miss Naika.




They came back to my class for lunch, after which we watched part of Darby O'Gill and the Little People until it was time to go to their last class, Norway. Here, they learned about Vikings and trolls, with a rather scary Mr. Chris.


They learned the runic alphabet, and made stones with runes on them (totally my idea).


Then they made open-faced sandwiches, I think they were called something like smorgasbord...



After they came back to my class, we had an hour and a half left of the day. I hadn't gotten a break yet, so we watched almost all of the rest of Darby O'Gill until it was time for them to go home.

And since I dropped my new cell phone in the toilet by accident yesterday, I dropped it off at the shop to get it fixed. Then I headed for a coffee at a cafe close to my house so I could look at my Indochina book and get some more ideas for my trip in December.