Week back at Claddagh

This past week was my first full week at Claddagh National School. It was nice to be back teaching and getting back into routine of things after our busy start coming to Ireland. My cooperating teaching took another week off because her and her husband were taking a trip to the North Pole. My teacher ran a half marathon and her husband ran the full marathon. Why you would ever want to run a marathon in the North Pole, is beyond me! My cooperating teacher's husband won the marathon! He ran a full marathon in the North Pole in 3 hours and 45 minutes. I guess he was ahead of the 2nd place guy by 45 minutes. I would say that is pretty impressive! My cooperating teacher and her husband both work at Claddagh, so tomorrow the school is having a welcome back surprise assembly for them. My 5th class has prepared some questions to ask them at the assembly. It will be interesting to hear how the marathon went, how cold it was, and so on. I had heard that he was so bundled up, that the only part of skin showing was around his eyes. Even though it was freezing cold, he was sweating under all his layers and the sweat would come down over his eyes and freeze so he had to keep wiping the ice away from his eyes. Burrrr, running a marathon in the North Pole is something I would never do!

This week I taught mathematics (Maths is the Ireland name) to my 5th class. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we focused on area of square and irregular shapes. Finding the area of irregular shapes was a hard concept for my students to grasp. On Thursday and Friday, we focused on multiples and factors. I also did a Easter recount (retelling) with my students on Monday and Tuesday. The students had to write a 5 paragraph recount telling about what they did over their Easter Holiday. It was really interesting to hear about what my students did and to see the different ability levels in their writing. On Wednesday, I also did a geography lesson on the United States and Minnesota with my students. This lesson was really fun and the students had a lot of questions for me. They could not grasp the concept of distance. I was explaining to them that in Ireland it takes me 2.5 hours to get from Dublin to Galway. Which is going from the east coast to the west coast, completely across the entire country. In Minnesota, it takes me 2.5 hours to get from Duluth to the Twin Cities. It was hard for them to realize the size of Minnesota compared to Ireland, and especially the size of the United States.

On Friday I was observed by my UMD supervisor, Jill. I did a lesson on multiples and factors. The students made fortune tellers, or "cootie catchers", but instead of having fortunes on the inside, it had math problems. The fortune tellers had to have questions such as:
          List of the first five multiples of 15.
          What are the factors of 36?

The students really liked making the fortune tellers! They were able to quiz each other or try and stump me. It was a fun way to learn math. I thought the lesson overall went pretty good and the students really seemed to enjoy it. 

My 5th class is a very diverse group of students. I have many students who are not from Ireland. I have students from Spain, Turkey, Poland, and Russia, to name a few. There is also a wide range of ability levels in my class. I have 3 students who are ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and fully intergrated into the mainstream classroom. All 3 of those students have SNAs (special needs assistants), who are with them throughout the day. There are times when there are 6 adults in the classroom to 22 students. Claddagh is also a school for lower socioeconomic families. Many of the students come from families that have one parent living in Ireland and another parent living in another country. Many students are living in hotels or with relatives. It will be nice to talk with my cooperating teaching and continue to learn more about the class.

Nicole, Jay, Kari, and I decided on Thursday night we are going to make it a date night. Every Thursday we are going to find a fun restaurant to eat out at in Galway. This past Thursday we ate at Tom Sheridans, which is a local pub by our house. Our landlord is a regular there and his favorite place to go. I had the roast of the day, which happened to be lamb. It was delicious! Jay and I split dessert, which was a slice of fig pie (it had a fancier name) with a caramelized drizzle and vanilla ice cream. That was delicious too!

On Friday night, Jill (UMD supervisor) took us out for dinner at a restaurant called The Malthouse. This restaurant also had very delicious food. I am not even sure what the names of my dished were, but they were good! Here are a couple pictures though of my starter and main course!

On Saturday, Nicole, Jay, Kari, and I took a day trip to Cork, Ireland. In Cork, we visited the Blarney Castle and Cobh, which is the last city the Titanic picked up passengers before leaving for America. The weather so was typically when you think of Ireland weather. It was drizzly all day. Luckily there was no wind and we did not get cold. The Blarney Castle was gorgeous! I got to kiss the Blarney Stone! Legend says "Once kissed the stone bestows the gift of eloquence".

Kissing the Blarney Stone!

The Blarney Castle

The Blarney Castle

The Blarney Castle

My ticket to board the Titanic

The dock where the passengers loaded

Model of the Titanic

Today is Sunday and I have just been hanging out. We thought of doing something today but the weather has been on and off down pouring. We went grocery shopping this morning and are going to cook fajitas tonight for dinner. Tomorrow starts another week of teaching!

I can't believe I have already been in Ireland for a month! Time is flying by! I can't wait until I get to see my parents (20 days)! I can't wait until I get to see Colin and the rest of my family (31 days)! I am loving my time in Ireland, but I can't wait to see the people I love!