Friday 19th February - Last day...

Well it finally arrived... yes a day when we were all in school either as part of a lesson or teaching a lesson. Due to the snow days we also had a 'Monday' schedule which meant 7 lessons between 7.30 and 2.15pm. The students and staff arrived between 7.00 and 7.15 and then got equipped and ready for lessons. Pretty well all students were viewed during their lessons and all seemed to have integrated well.

 

The lessons often felt quite different to UK lessons; no uniform, a different atmosphere and different teaching styles, lots of use of technology but overall a very positive experience. Hopefully the American students learnt something from the UK teachers lesson too!

 

 

We have had a magical time over in the USA it has been a memorable experience and we will not forget it for many years. I would like to take this opportunity to thanks Mr and Mrs Gardner and Mrs Sciabica for all their hard work in organising the trip. Also an even bigger thank you to all the families who have hosted students or teachers over the past week again we have been made so welcome and can't wait to return the favour in the UK in a months time.

 

Roll on the end of March!

 

I will do my best to post my last blog tomorrow from the airport. So long for now.

 

Cheers

 

Mr Scouse

Thursday 18th Feb

Well this is our last field trip day so again lots of exciting adventures for the exchange students. Today we started with a tour of the Washington DC monuments, of which there are a few!  This was in place of the planned visit to the White House which we unfortunately did not get permission to go on...

We started with the FDR monument:

Closely followed by the Martin Luther King memorial, Washington memorial, and then my personal favourite the Lincoln Memorial.

 

As we had missed out on our White House visits we decided to go and have a photo opportunity there too! As always the students were really well behaved and a credit to the school. We have been blessed in the second half of the week with great weather in terms of sunshine but very cold...

 

 

We finished the day at the 'Newseum' not a typo! Which is a museum all about the news. We started off with a lesson about the President and the media which the students engaged well with before having to operate as 'spin doctors' for the President.

 

 

 

The Vietnam and 9/11 section were particularly thought provoking, the Pulitzer award winning photos were also amazing but quite shocking at times. We have seven lessons in school tomorrow so back to business with a bump. I will add some pics of the students in classes tomorrow.

 

That's all for now

 

 

Mr Scouse

 

Welcome Meal

Hi all,

We managed to get our welcome meal in after the forced snow delays on Monday. The families of the American buddies had really gone to town and put on a great meal with lots of red, white and blue everywhere it was really impressive!

 

 

The students really enjoyed all of the wonderful food, thank you parents, and were all then presented with a gift bag which included a Stone exchange shirt. Everyone had a great time and were welcomed by Mrs Sciabica and Mrs Mitchell.

 

 

A great evening was had by all and we are looking forward to returning the favour in a few weeks time in England!

 

Cheers for now

 

Mr Scouse

 

Wednesday 17th February

Hi again everyone,

Wow another busy day today up around 6 am so that we could get to school between 7.00 and 7.15 am. we left on our trip around 7.45 am.

We have today visited Mount Vernon which was the home of George Washington and is also where he is buried. The house is colonial in style and was built and added to right up until the late 1790's. It is a really interesting place and obviously very important to the American people as it is kind of the birth place of the independent USA we know today. George Washington, as I am sure you know, was voted in as the first ever President of the USA. This was before The White House was constructed of course.

The students seemed to take it all in and were interested in the story behind George Washington. The actual museum is excellent and we could easily have spent much longer. 

In the afternoon we went across into Maryland and visited the 'National Harbour' this is not quite as it sounds; rather a sort of outdoor shopping mall come Bicester village on a smaller scale. But it does have a beach and views across and back to Virginia. The students again enjoyed the experience and made the most of their time their visiting the Peeps store, Ben & Jerry's and getting in some retail therapy!

Another hugely enjoyable day and this afternoon/evening we are having our Welcome party which was delayed due to Presidents's day and the snow day on Tuesday. 

Tomorrow we are on a coach tour around the national monuments of Washington DC and then a visit to the 'Newseum' a museum about news...it figures! 

Talk again tomorrow

Mr Scouse

Tuesday 16th Feb

Well hello viewers. Sorry about the delay in posting the latest blog and pictures it's just that we haven't seen some of the students since Friday as they have all been off doing exciting things like going to Baltimore aquarium, the Rocky steps in Philadelphia, Hard Rock café, climbing, sledging and even some who made it as far as New York!

Today was the first day in school with the Stone school students and staff except due to the heavy snow all the schools were closed.... despite this with typical British stiff upper lip we carried on and went to school anyway! We had a tour of the school, it's lovely, played some team games, had a great pizza lunch in the canteen (thanks Mrs Sciabica) and finished watching some of the exchange buddies slideshows about places we are visiting.

Here are some pics of the school and the students posed.... well it is a tradition to be pictured in front of the Stone logo

 

 

A few of us were lucky enough to see the ice hockey tonight which the  Washington Capitals managed to win 3-1 after a bit of a struggle. A very enjoyable evening.

Tomorrow we are off to mount Vernon which is where George Washington lived and is buried, and then on to national harbour. You will be pleased to hear that the weather is set fair and was quite warm this afternoon. More sun and warmer temperatures tomorrow.

Will add more pictures of these trips tomorrow - bye for now

Mr Scouse

 

 

Arrival at Dulles Int Airport

Well we made it! Pretty long flight our students were fantastically well behaved... more than I can say for the school who were behind me they were not so good...

A real buzz as we made it into Dulles airport lots of banners and happy welcoming faces

Stone/Warriner Exchange Skype

We had a great time "Skyping" yesterday!  Three more days until we meet each other in person!!

Snow Week in Virginia

Check out all the snow we had here last week!  School was closed for a week!! Hopefully it will be warmer when the Warriner students come to visit.