Today is election day for the 7 candidates running for president in Ireland. They close down the primary schools during election time as polling places for voters. Mary David, Sean Gallagher, David Norris, and Dana Rosemary Scallon are all Independent candidates that were nominated by the county and city councils to become presidential candidates. Michael Higgens is part of the Labour Party which is the social-democratic political party. He was nominated by the Labour Party to be a candidate. Martin McGuinness is part of the Sinn Féin party which is a left wing, Irish republican political party. He was nominated by this party as well as the Independents. And the last candidate, Gay Mitchell, is part of the Fine Gael, which is a centre-right to centrist political party. It is the single largest party in Ireland in local government. My host mom was explaining to me that voters can vote for their favorite to least favorite candidates in order so that if, for example, someone's first choice does not get enough votes to be considered for presidency, then at least their second choice has a chance. This way of voting does make it a lot longer for results to be shared but the election only occurs every 7 years instead of 4 like the US President's term.
Because the primary schools are closed, I have the day off as a result. Last night I went to an Irish music and dance event with the sixth class teacher at Dromclough who gives me a ride to and from school every day. It was so much fun, the music was really good and so was the Irish dancing. On our way there it felt like it was so dark outside. I'm so used to the roads being lit up by street lights but there are not a lot of street lights around roads in Ireland unless it's in a town area. Because it was so dark you could see so many stars in the sky, it was beautiful. And I could see tiny lights from houses miles and miles away. It was kind of cool.
Today, it's been a really sunny, beautiful day here. I decided to get out of the house for a while and get some fresh air. I took a walk into town and went to a coffee&tea/bakery shop to have lunch and (because I still don't drink tea or coffee) sipped on hot chocolate instead.
So that is where I am writing my blog from today. Maths has been going very well this week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday's maths lessons were all about classifying different objects. Tomorrow's lesson will be about matching. I'm going to use another interactive game on the smartboard to introduce this lesson, just like I did for the classifying lessons. It has seemed to go very well using the games as a way to instruct the students on how to classify different objects and learn how to tell whether sets of objects are the same or different. Those are two words that have been stressed a lot this week. The students also work on a classifying sheet in their math workbooks after each lesson. They circle sets of objects and learn to color all of the like objects the same color. I would say that most, if not all, of the students have mastered this concept just by going around the classroom and seeing all of their work.
Tomorrow I hope that my cooperating teacher is feeling better after having been out with the flu on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm also looking forward to talking with her about which subject I will be picking up next. I won't be teaching at all next week because it is Dromclough's fall break. Everyone will be back at school on Monday November 7th. So with a good week-long break, my mom was able to book a flight to Ireland so she can visit and meet my host family! We're also going to be traveling so we can see more of Ireland together. It should be great, I'm so excited and can't wait until she arrives on Saturday!! I'll be sure to post lots of pictures when I return!
Because the primary schools are closed, I have the day off as a result. Last night I went to an Irish music and dance event with the sixth class teacher at Dromclough who gives me a ride to and from school every day. It was so much fun, the music was really good and so was the Irish dancing. On our way there it felt like it was so dark outside. I'm so used to the roads being lit up by street lights but there are not a lot of street lights around roads in Ireland unless it's in a town area. Because it was so dark you could see so many stars in the sky, it was beautiful. And I could see tiny lights from houses miles and miles away. It was kind of cool.
Today, it's been a really sunny, beautiful day here. I decided to get out of the house for a while and get some fresh air. I took a walk into town and went to a coffee&tea/bakery shop to have lunch and (because I still don't drink tea or coffee) sipped on hot chocolate instead.
So that is where I am writing my blog from today. Maths has been going very well this week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday's maths lessons were all about classifying different objects. Tomorrow's lesson will be about matching. I'm going to use another interactive game on the smartboard to introduce this lesson, just like I did for the classifying lessons. It has seemed to go very well using the games as a way to instruct the students on how to classify different objects and learn how to tell whether sets of objects are the same or different. Those are two words that have been stressed a lot this week. The students also work on a classifying sheet in their math workbooks after each lesson. They circle sets of objects and learn to color all of the like objects the same color. I would say that most, if not all, of the students have mastered this concept just by going around the classroom and seeing all of their work.
Tomorrow I hope that my cooperating teacher is feeling better after having been out with the flu on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm also looking forward to talking with her about which subject I will be picking up next. I won't be teaching at all next week because it is Dromclough's fall break. Everyone will be back at school on Monday November 7th. So with a good week-long break, my mom was able to book a flight to Ireland so she can visit and meet my host family! We're also going to be traveling so we can see more of Ireland together. It should be great, I'm so excited and can't wait until she arrives on Saturday!! I'll be sure to post lots of pictures when I return!
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