School excursion – term 4

What do you do when you get assigned a group of four boys and two girls, between 8-10 years old, to walk through a classical museum?

I swallowed, took a deep breath, desperately tried to memorise all names (o, why am I so bad at names again….) and gave it a go! After I joined Luka’s excusion to the Werribee Mansion last term, it was now time for me to join Kai’s excursion.

The last kid returned his permission slip that morning, then every one was ready to get into the bus and put our seat belts on.

This was an interesting bus, it had five seats in the back. That together with the excitement of the kids made it look like we were in a roller coaster ride.

National Gallery of Victoria

I got assigned a group of four boys (including my own) and two girls. The teacher had prepared the trip really well. We received a booklet with routes that highlighted some of the paintings and provided extra information and questions. Had I been able to figure out the way the maps worked, find the designated paintings, keep all six children together and remember their names – all at the same time-, that probably would have been very helpful.

Luckily the museum is very big and there were different parts that easily kept it fascinating the whole morning. Although the museum guards seemed a bit more worried than I at times.

So, I survived the morning, but how are you keeping the spirit up after they all sat down for lunch? That turned out to be a lot easier then I thought, as the second part was a really cool and interactive part.

Making a radio commercial

After we had lunch we walked five minutes to The Channel, along the Yarra River. This is where they all made their own radio commercial.

The day before they had written their plots for the commercial they were going to make. In groups of two or three they recorded their own text, played around with it, put music and sounds effects into it.

It is amazing how natural this all comes to the children. They only need very little explanation and they go for it. The result was very impressive.

I am promised to receive the recording, so as soon as I do I will add Kai and Brody’s very own radio commercial here.

Although I was exhausted (quick reminder why I did not want to become a teacher) it was a very rewarding day!