APRIL FOOLS!

Well... I'd just like to start off by saying HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ERNIE!!!!!! Wow, he's a real dog now, not a puppy anymore. And I'm not there to see him *pout*. This is him at his 2nd b'day party at the preschool with cakes the kids decorated for him. (no, he didn't eat all that, the kids did, he had a tiny little piece of cake)

Ok, now, not a lot has gone on over the past 2 weeks. Just LOTS of working, and I cleaned my room, and that's about it. I am now into the last 4 months over here (possibly 3 months if I can't get my correct return date!!!). That means I have survived 8 months over here. Feels like so much longer, because of the amount of stuff I have done. I can't wait to sleep. It feels like I have spent the last 8 months being sleep deprived!

I have spent the last 2 weeks doing 4.5 days work each week. The first week I was supposed to do a day of 2 1/2 days but the second school was MILES away and I didn't know this when I accepted it, then I couldn't find it in the street directory because it was that far away. Then I got traffic, so I was about 1/2 way there and it was already nearly 2pm, so I wouldn't have been there before 2.30, so they cancelled me and I drive home. Grrr. The school I was on on Friday afternoon was one of the worst schools in Bristol (I think I have been to the 5 worst schools now). I had a yr 3/4 class and there was 2 of us in there. And they were not too bad, because they had "golden time" which is basically a reward for friday afternoon, but when the other lady was trying to speak to them in a group it was chaos. There were kids walking out, kids hiding under tables, kids telling each other they were gay. Lovely stuff! The school was so bad that they had an independant assesor in to try and work out a classroom management plan for the kids. Thats why I was there, cos the teacher was out discussing with him. At the end she came back in and said what he had come up with (desks 2 by 2 in rows all facing the front) and I told her my thoughts and suggested a reward system I had seen work elsewhere in a similar class, and she was very enthusiastic and was going off that weekend to make this display for them. She said I was welcome back anytime. So I guess I could always have this as an extra side job, because obviously seeing how different schools cope with these "challenging" children has given me some pointers on what works and what doesn't. It was nice to have my opinion recognised, cos usually supply are ignored and deemed unimportant.

This week I had a luxury. Well... after monday, where I had a kid sniffing glue sticks and another kid attack a child, and was threatened! (JOY). I spent 2 days working in Clifton. This is the posh part of town. The nost noticable difference in the school was the yr 4 class I had on the first day had 38 kids in, and just me, and it didn't feel like that many kids once. I am usually in a class with no more than 20, and a support teacher, and it feels like about 50. They were great! A couple of the played up, as kids do, but if you wrote their names down it was serious! They actually behaved better! I had to speak to 2 of them at break about something they had done that was quite serious, and you should have seen the change in them after this, they were quiet and just got on with it. The next day I was in yr 2, and they were a more lively class, but there was less of them (25) and we still got on with it.

So yeah, that was my exciting last 2 weeks. Woopdidoo! Work work and more work!!! It's easter next weekend, and I will be down in Devon for that, then from there I will be turning around and driving back up to Milton Keynes to stay the night because Tuesday morning we fly to Spain really early. So yeah, I probably wont be blogging for a while intil after spain. And then I only have a weekend before Germany. Germany is turning into a saga. I am flying in and out of hanover, which has been booked for ages, but when I came to look at it closer, Hanover doesn't even have a youth hostel. So I have forked out for a drain pass for 6 days. Then I fly in at night, get on a train, go to Nuremberg over night. Spend that next night in Nuremburg, then go to Munich the following morning early, to meet a 3 day coach tour up the romantic road to Frankfurt. Then I stay 2 nights in Frankfurt, the next night in Cologne, then go to Hanover again for my flight back, all in 8 days. *sigh* it makes me tired just thinking about it!!! This is all that on a map (each colour is a different part of the trip, the other straight lines are the rail network)....

Ok, so that's the end of that. Happy Birthday to Ernie. I am sad that I am not there for it, but these things happen *pout*. Have a good easter everyone, see you when i get back from Spain!