Christmas is just around the corner and thanksgiving is just at the end of the week and life at school and here in Vienna has never been busier! It's all full of good fun, hilarious escapades, conferences, lice infestations, and every now and then finger puppet investigations. For this blog update I thought I'd just give you some highlights of what we've been up to here in the 5th grade :-)
This is a picture of (part of) the 5th grade. As you can see we are a very serious bunch of learners that spends a lot of time at our desks dedicatedly focused to our tasks at hand. Okay so...we do a lot of learning but we have a lot of fun too!
Last week we started reading "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien during our read aloud time and I am happy to report that this group is progressing steadily in their Tolkien addiction. An important part of any child's education of course ;-)
Oh, by the way...we were also attacked by LICE last week at school! Thankfully everyone emerged alive, but it was probably a totally sane and not at all over the top decision on the part of my roommate Sarah to wear a shower cap all day as an extra precaution. Note: she also used her shower cap as an object lesson about the passover. I kid you not. The lice would pass over her head because she had covered herself with the shower cap. This is how she thinks. I love it. 
Even though we couldn't sit in our beloved couches all week and our pillows are under quarantine we found a way to soldier on! We've started book clubs for our next novel unit and students are broken up into reading groups specializing in "Bunnicula", "Shiloh", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and "The Phantom Tollbooth". We are reading experts!
Recent conversations were had about the ridiculousness of American idioms after the group of students reading the Phantom Tollbooth came across the expression "Money doesn't grow on trees". Also the official interjections of the 5th grade lately are "Calloh!" and "Callay!" after studying "The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. Also realized that no one has any idea of what an adverb is. Oops.
Learning about culture in our Social Studies class. We have created imaginary countries and are now populating them with people that have shelters, food, traditions, holidays, and beliefs of their own. Mostly everyone wants to create treehouses. Had to explain that you can't have a treehouse if your country is one gigantic desert with no actual trees in it.
Continuing our book buddy adventures with the 2nd grade students! This week the 5th graders wrote mad libs for the 2nd graders to complete with them. The second grader to the left with the striped shirt loved his so much he insisted on taking it home with him to show EVERYONE. The 5th grade author to the left was quite overwhelmingly proud. 
THe best thing about book buddies is that the students can work together in a safe environment. Many of my 5th graders are English language learners so sometimes it's actually the second graders that help them with hard words! They themselves are teachers though, especially two girls that are working with 2nd graders who literally just began learning English this summer!
Chapel happens every week. My roommate is in charge of teaching about the Fruits of the Spirit. Somehow this has spiraled into a crazy adventure of a finger puppet on the lookout for a missing pizza recipe.
This is Mr. Chopstick in his best detective gear which Sarah and I may or may not have spent an hour completing. For a huge laugh you should check out the album of his adventures looking for his pizza recipe on Facebook!
Finally, had a great message from a pastor about remembering to take a Sabbath and to be refueled. To that end some of the staff members including myself went on Saturday morning for a hike in the nearby town of Baden where we played in some ancient ruins and enjoyed nature.
So thankful for all of your prayers! Love and miss you all :-)
Love,
Amy
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