Jodi @ Elementary School

Every Thursday I go to one of two elementary schools, Joyo Elementary and Arakawa Elementary. It is this day of the week that I look forward to the most. Primary school in Australia is the equivalent to Elementary school. The kids are just so cute and friendly. I have an absolute ball with them.

As I walk in the school gates at 8am, the school yard is a hive of activity. There are kids riding unicycles, having brass band practise (this puts any Australian school band to shame), boys playing dodge ball and modified ball games, girls skipping and climbing like ants over the play equipment. They are all so happy and content. I find myself watching in amazement.

The first thing I taught in all classes was greetings. "Hello. My name is ~. Nice to meet you". I often start the lessons off by revising this greeting and I end up having the whole class line up to greet me and shake my hand. They LOVE shaking hands. I have also taught feelings and colours. We play lots of games like Bingo and fruit salad and sings lots of songs. We sing the 'Hello' song, 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', 'Twinkle, Twinkle', 'Open, Shut Them' and 'If You're Happy and You Know it'. Their favourite song/dance is the Hokey Cokey (aka The Hokey Pokey!!).

Lunch is the most amazing part of the day. The kids get dressed up in little white coats, face masks and hats and toddle off down the corridor to the kitchen. Then they bring back big pots of food, fruit, soup, cartons of milk, trays, bowls and chopsticks to the classroom. Next they set it all up a production line and proceed to serve lunch to the other members of the class. The class then waits for everyone to be seated and ready. They say a chant and then dig in. The teacher gives the kids a chance to return some of the food if they have too much and then kids who want more can go and get more food. It is always an awesome feed. The pack-up is just as organised as the setting up. They all rinse their milk cartons and put their bowls, tray and chop sticks back in the right spot.