Almost Summer

Hello dear readers of our blog. The weather outside has been great and it is difficult to sit still in front of a computer.

A quick update on our lives:
-School is done!!
-Kristy has 7 more days left in her teaching practicum. (I think her students will miss her.) Kristy says that her time in the classroom has become more relaxed and she seems to be hitting her stride. Her advisor has been giving her glowing reviews and the kids are showing more respect to her in her position as an educator.
-We have a summer rental lined up for possession on May 1st. It is about a mile away from the Rempel farm so my commute will be short. My cell phone will stay on but our Winnipeg land line will no longer exist come the middle of May.
-Kristy has secured a part time gig in Lorette as a nanny for a one year old and so her commute will also be quite short.
-Nothing new from Grenada since the last update but we will be sending them a reminder of our need for a budgetary outline (so I can fill out the appropriate forms for partial funding from Menno Simons).
-Currently we are brainstorming fundraising ideas for our trip to Grenada (we will be paying our own way, volunteering our time and covering our own room and board) so any input would be greatly appreciated.



Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather because we all know that those little flying vampires will be along very shortly!! With the rising gas prices, it is a great excuse to ride your bikes more often!


Jason

99% Confirmation

Well, today we received some excellent news through the ether of cyberspace. We hadn't heard from Judy, our contact at GRENCODA, in a while and we were beginning to wonder if they had forgotten about us. Today I received word from my former professor, the lovely woman who hooked us up with GRENCODA in the first place, that GRENCODA had been experiencing some computer problems and may not have been received our most recent emails. But she mentioned that she had talked to Judy directly and that GRENCODA is looking forward to our visit. Sounds like confirmation to me.

Only two more exams!!

Jason

Practicum of another sort

Well, since we don't have very much to report on the Grenada front except that we have been filling out applications for funding from Menno Simons for the practicum. We are still waiting to hear again from Judy Williams, our contact in GRENCODA. We last heard from her about a week ago and answered a number of questions for her in regards to what we would like to be doing with GRENCODA and where we would rather be placed (urban or rural). We sent her our answers and are eagerly waiting for another email. In other news, Jason finished two of his exams yesterday, handed in a paper today and now has only two more exams to do on monday. yeah!

For me, practicum with my grade 2 class is going well. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed earlier in the week, since I'm teaching every day. I have also found that since I am there every day, other teachers stop my co-operating teacher for meetings when they see her in the hall, trusting that I will handle the class. This means that I am getting to make more decisions in regards to how I want to introduce new topics, or how and when to transition the students from one job to the next. Sometimes, my co-operating teacher has said that she wants to do something with the students, but when she doesn't come back to class I have to decide what to do with the students! It is fun, yet stressful, mainly because this isn't my class. Things have definately been getting easier, with the sequencing of lessons still being the place where I feel the most insecure. I worry that I am not covering the topics as well as I could, but so far I have gotten positive feedback from students, co-operating teacher, and faculty advisor. Well, I suppose that I should stop rambling about things that are completely unrelated to Grenada, we will post again as soon as we know more of what is to come.

Kristy