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Sep. 21st, 2007 02:01 pmThe circus is gone. :( The night before last was I walked past and the lions were all roaring; when I got home the only sound was hammer on steel as they took the tent and buildings all down.
It's been an extremely busy week. Two Elternabends (parent night at school). They are required attendance because it's the only way you learn about certain things in your kid's classroom. They start at 7:30 and go on for hours. Then I had something one night and my husband another. Sunday I have a class to teach in German, and sometime next week I'll probably be teaching a Spanish class. At least it's Friday and we don't have to get up early tomorrow. Hopefully the kids can finish their homework soon. My oldest forgot his spelling book including his "Laufdiktat" (walking dictation), so he called a friend and they're now "doing homework" together. Riiiight. A Laufdiktat is where you have a page of a story that you are supposed to put at least 4 meters away, look at, then go and write. It's supposed to train your memory or something. The parent checks it and any misspelled words get written three times. (I just learned about this last part.) Imagine two fourth grade boys being quiet enough to do this. My other son is also supposed to be doing homework. Let's just say that not a lot is going on. I guess socially it's all good, right? But I hate to be the bad guy and tell them they have to actually finish this thing. Fourth grade is extremely high-pressure in Germany. This is the year that decides the rest of their lives, whether they go on to the university or not. Here's a section of the Laufdiktat:
That's the writing their teacher hopes they can model. When a real kid writes, it looks more like Armenian. My kids are going to have SUCH reentry issues!
(Break to go outside with the kids into the nature field/former circus plaza for an hour)
We found a hedgehog! I've never seen one in the wild. They are in every children's picture book here. I think it was either sick or trying to sleep (I know porcupines are nocturnal--are hedgehogs?) Here it is:
All in all, it turned out to be a successful afternoon, despite the forgotten homework. Sometime I've got to eek out some time to do a couple of critiques as well as fine-tune some of my own stuff, but I'm glad it was warm(ish) today and that the kids had a nice time playing with a friend.
It's been an extremely busy week. Two Elternabends (parent night at school). They are required attendance because it's the only way you learn about certain things in your kid's classroom. They start at 7:30 and go on for hours. Then I had something one night and my husband another. Sunday I have a class to teach in German, and sometime next week I'll probably be teaching a Spanish class. At least it's Friday and we don't have to get up early tomorrow. Hopefully the kids can finish their homework soon. My oldest forgot his spelling book including his "Laufdiktat" (walking dictation), so he called a friend and they're now "doing homework" together. Riiiight. A Laufdiktat is where you have a page of a story that you are supposed to put at least 4 meters away, look at, then go and write. It's supposed to train your memory or something. The parent checks it and any misspelled words get written three times. (I just learned about this last part.) Imagine two fourth grade boys being quiet enough to do this. My other son is also supposed to be doing homework. Let's just say that not a lot is going on. I guess socially it's all good, right? But I hate to be the bad guy and tell them they have to actually finish this thing. Fourth grade is extremely high-pressure in Germany. This is the year that decides the rest of their lives, whether they go on to the university or not. Here's a section of the Laufdiktat:
That's the writing their teacher hopes they can model. When a real kid writes, it looks more like Armenian. My kids are going to have SUCH reentry issues!
(Break to go outside with the kids into the nature field/former circus plaza for an hour)
We found a hedgehog! I've never seen one in the wild. They are in every children's picture book here. I think it was either sick or trying to sleep (I know porcupines are nocturnal--are hedgehogs?) Here it is:
All in all, it turned out to be a successful afternoon, despite the forgotten homework. Sometime I've got to eek out some time to do a couple of critiques as well as fine-tune some of my own stuff, but I'm glad it was warm(ish) today and that the kids had a nice time playing with a friend.
