Happy Canada Day!

Today is Friday, July 1 in Australia and Jacob and I were treated to a wonderful Canada Day at school. I had been planning to make the day special for my class by teaching them a little about Canadian culture but the day turned out to be more than I ever imagined it could be!

First, let me say again that my colleagues at St. Joseph's school have been incredibly welcoming and kind to us since our arrival here. So, it was surprising- yet not so surprising to think that they would ensure we had a special Canada Day.

I arrived at school this morning to find Graeme, my principal, heading off to recess duty in a Montreal Canadians jersey. I giggled and thanked him for remembering that this day was special for us and then went on my way to the admin building. Well, every staff member I encountered was wearing red and I began to see a trend emerging here...

I went to my classroom to continue my preparations only to be whisked out into the quadrangle in front of the school for assembly where "Oh Canada" was playing over the loud speaker! Children from various classes were even waving homemade Canadian flags! They put Jacob and I on the upper area to lead the school in prayer and awards. We were very thankful and expressed our gratitude to the school for being so wonderful to us. I wish I'd had my camera but I was caught by surprise and didn't have it handy.

When class began for the day, I had various Canadian centres for the children to visit as well as a power point of the ABC's of Canada, the gold medal hockey game highlights, "Oh Canada", etc... The centres were great and the kids really enjoyed them. They made butter tarts and tasted them (Jake's class tried them as did the staff ) and we handed out many copies of the recipe by day's end! The children did coin rubbings as they compared Australian coins to Canadian. Some kids researched Canadian animals on the Canadian Geographic for kids website. They created a beaver (our national animal) out of paper and paper rolls. We also made Canadian flags by crayon rubbing "maple leafs" and adding the red borders to white paper. It was great fun!

At recess, I went to the staff room for a cup of tea to find that it was decorated for the occasion with flags, maple leaf napkins, Canadian Living Magazines (even a July 2011 edition - WOW!) and the Canadian Living famous angel food and strawberry cake! As you can imagine, I had some tears and was amazed by the thoughtfulness and care of the St. Joseph's staff! Every bell throughout the day was "Oh Canada" and there were students wishing us Happy Canada Day regularly.

I ended the day with my class by playing a little "street hockey" in the quad. It was team Canada against Team Australia. You would have thought we were home with the CA-NA-DA chanting. The kids loved it and want to continue the game next term. I told them about how kids play street hockey back home with real nets and sticks and how when a car comes they yell, "Car!" and everyone clears the street and after the car passes, play resumes. They thought that was hilarious!

Sam also had an enjoyable Canada Day. He broke from uniform and wore his Olympic "Believe" t-shirt and carried a flag with him around the school. He said his music class began with "Oh Canada" and that he had lots of well wishes today as well.

What more can I say? It was a Canada Day I will forever remember and I am sure the kids will too! Happy Canada Day to you all at home and I hope it is as fun and memorable as ours!