I've done a lot of subbing at all levels around the kids' school & I've loved it. I get to make friends (students & teachers) in every grade & I get to see my kids (sometimes) between classes.
Today, I was at the school solely in the role of "mom" to participate in the 4th/5th grade sports day ("field day", to us Texans) in the morning & then help with a quilt square activity in the afternoon. I had about an hour and a half over lunch on my own, but I still needed to buy tickets for the play Devin is in tonight as part of his drama class; the ticket booth would be open during lunch... Perfect!
I drove the kids to school since the sports activities would start around 9:30ish anyway. No biggie; I had packed a lunch & my Nook. I'd just find a quiet chair & wait.
Insider secret:
There are a set of extremely comfortable oversized leather chairs in the hallway just in front of the 4th grade wing. I mean, these are some lovely reading chairs!
So after the national anthem, I settled in.
Ms G (one of the 4th grade teachers), spotted me almost immediately & asked if I wanted to sit in on a cooking class. Her students are doing a unit in UAE social studies on "how we express ourselves" & they decided to use cooking. We were going to have a student designed & run lesson on how to make hummus from scratch!
Um.... Yes, please!!!!
It was so good, I forgot to take pictures! LOL! The two young ladies demonstrated how to blend chickpeas, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, & a little water in a Magic Bullet to the perfect smooth consistency. They then offered celery, raw carrots & broccoli, and cucumber slices for dipping.
It was very yummy.
By this time, it really was "snack time" so I slipped into Olivia's class. Mr Scott left me with his aide so he could change into his "green gear". Olivia's whole class was dressed in green for the event. They had a matching green 5th grade class who would be their competition partners. The country they would be representing on the "world team leader board" would be Turkey.
Other 4th/5th grade classes would be in other colors & represent other countries. There was red (Korea, I think), yellow (Spain, I believe), black, purple, & blue. I never did catch all the country names.
The groups were assembled & the whistle blown... Let the races begin!
First up, "Beach Volleyball"... the whole class version!
I'm pretty sure that's not a regulation size ball....
The wind made this event a real challenge & I'm sorry to say the other team edged us out in the final seconds before the rotation whistle (every 15 min) blew.
The 6th grade PE class was put in charge of running each station & I spotted Madeline over on the 5th grade event side.
She & her friends had their work cut out for them as energy levels were high! But, she does love being in charge & she had those 5th graders in line lickity-split!
Meanwhile, Olivia's group had moved on to Tug-of-War!
It was a really looooooog rope....
The whistle blew, the muscles bulged, the faces were fierce with determination...
... and the victory was sweet!
Next up? The obstacle course relay. The kids had to jump over 2 rope hurtles, run over 3 uneven surface balls, run up a foam ramp to a 2 foot foam platform, jump off, use a trampoline to get to another platform, walk/run over a "beam", roll down an inclined surface, cross a foam bridge, crawl through a fabric hooped tube, jump through a series of upright hoops of various heights, & cross the line!
Whew!
The kids were fast & the course was huge.... & my cell phone camera couldn't keep up!
I'm still not sure who won. It was all very chaotic, but the kids had a blast!
The final event was something I can honestly say I have NEVER seen before:
Crab soccer?! Yup. They must play soccer while crab-walking. The only adjustment to to the rules, at least that I noticed, was that 3 balls were in play at all times, you only use half the pitch, & there were 2 goalies.
I'm sure the kids will all be sore tomorrow! Have you ever tried to crab wk for a straight 15 minutes while chasing around a soccer ball?! LOL!
It was a great morning, but I was ready for a little AC by time the groups were reassembled for the country-by-country dance-off. Every class had 3 minutes to choreograph their moves. Olivia's team chose The Chicken Dance... They were Turkey, after all.
I forgot to take pictures.... Not that photos would ever do the dance justice!
Finally, the athletic department declared the games over for the day. Results won't be announced until next week.
Crossing our fingers.....
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