Knox Year Two Buddy Day

Hello Windsor School - We're really sorry it's taken us a while to respond to all your wonderful postings. In the last eight days we've had Buddy Day, Oktoberfest, Year Two Soiree and school Presentation Night!! Above are a few photos from Buddy Day - Year 7 students spent the morning with us. They watched our dress rehearsal for our Soiree, then we interviewed them. Afterwards we had a "Sausage Sizzle" lunch. It was great fun.

We'll add another post with photos of our other special events really soon. Hope our friends are enjoying being Third Graders!

PS Thanks for looking after Mr Whittle so well when he visited you - he's been showing us all his vacation photos in Assembly.

A few more pictures from Windsor

Some chocolate macadamia nuts all the way from Australia.

Some images from my visit to Windsor Elementary School.

Windsor students watching the DVD from The Knox School.

Lots of questions after watching the DVD.

"Why do you have an accent?" asks one of the students.

My visit to the USA

I had a great time when I visited the USA and I especially enjoyed my time at Winsdor Elementary School. It was wonderful to meet Mrs Komarek, the LMC teacher at Windsor - we have communicating for a while over the web so it was good to be able to meet in personThe day I came to visit Windsor I was up very early to catch the train from downtown Chicago. Mrs Komarek met me at the station at Arlington Heights and drove me to school where I ate breakfast with my daughter Claire and Brandon, Mrs Komarek's son. I reallyenjoyed meeting the teachers and students during my time at Windsor. It was fun being welcomed by Mr Kaye, the Windsor Principal, and having this shown to all the classrooms on the internal video system. I loved receiving my gifts from Mr Kaye and I have shown the students at my school what I was given. I hope you are able to read or look at some of the books I gave when I visited.

My visit to the Year 2 and 3 Assembly was a lot of fun and I thought all the students were very well behaved. They sat very well whilst they watched the DVD I had brought from our Year 2 students in Australia. There were many questions about Australia and my school and we could have stayed there for hours, but I knew that the teachers and students were so keen to get back to class and finish their work. Thank you to everyone at Windsor Elementary School for making my visit so fanbtastic - I would love to come and visit again!! In fact when my wife arrived a few days later,we did comeand visit again and I even read a book to a class in the Library.

My school has been back for two weeks after a three-week vacation and all the students are working hard as we have only seven weeks left of our school year.

Have a wonderful rest of this year Windsor!

Beef-A-Rama in Minocqua, Wisconsin

Beef-a-Rama is an event that brings tourists to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Minocqua has a year-round population of 3,200 people and this event draws over 12,000 people. In the morning there is a 5K Rump Roast Run. The merchants and private citizens roast a rump roast on the main street in the parking stalls. The roasts are judged for Best Chef, Best Appearance, Best Taste, and Spirit Award. Mr. Whittle's daughter worked at Camp Agawak. Camp Agawak has entered in the competition for the last three years. The chef, Ducky, won Best Chef, Best Taste and won Best Appearance this year. People dress up in costumes and they close the main street, Highway 51, for the parade. The parade goes to Torpy Park, where over 3,000 sandwiches are served. The awards are given out in the park. Notice Mr. Whittle on the sidewalk wearing a cow hat. Mr. Whittle's daughter and two other Australian counselors were dressed as Ducky's chicks. Congratulations to Ducky and Camp Agawak!

Dinner ..... Finally

We went to dinner at a nice restaurant, Wildfire, in Glenview, another suburb about 8 miles from Arlington Heights. We ordered a family style dinner. Our waiter loved the Australian accent and kept coming by to see if we needed anything. After dinner, it was back to Arlington Heights for the Metra train to Chicago. The train arrived a few minutes late, which gave us a little extra time to visit.

LMCs of the Future Meeting

Mr. Whittle participated in a meeting with the LMC Directors, Principals, and the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction, and the Director of Assessment and Technology. The focus was on LMCs of the Future and 21st Century Skills. We asked Mr. Whittle to share how the LMC, library, and computer labs are set up at Knox School. We learned about your green room and multimedia presentations. How exciting!

On to Patton Elementary School

Mrs. Costa invited Mr. Whittle to share facts about Australia with her 2nd grade class. They study Australia in the Spring. Mr. Whittle gave them the book Wombat Stew and a Wombat in a travel carrying case. He even gave the Principal a box of Australian Milk Chocolate covered macadamia nuts. She loved that! YUM!

Global Perspective

After lunch, Mr. Whittle and Mrs. Komarek went to South Middle School to meet with the Global Perspective class. Mr. Whittle created a PowerPoint presentation about Australia. He shared interesting facts about the climate, drought, and history of the continent. We learned about money and the government.

Assembly for 2nd and 3rd Grade Classes

Mr. Whittle met with our 2nd and 3rd grade students and staff members in our Commons. It is also our lunch room and stage for presentations. He talked to us about similarities and differences in our schools. Knox School students wear uniforms. Windsor students are in casual clothes every day. Knox School teachers dress professionally every day, while Windsor teachers have casual Fridays. We discussed the length of our school day. Knox School starts at 8:50 AM and Windsor starts at 9:05 AM. The students had a lot of questions for Mr. Whittle. One question was about the Yakalt Factory in Australia.

Mr. Whittle's Visit To Arlington Heights, IL

Mr. Whittle was busy from morning to night! He had to be on the 7:15 AM Metra train from Chicago to Arlington Heights. He arrived in Arlington Heights at 8:05 AM. Mrs. Komarek brought him to Windsor School, where he had a quick bite to eat before participating as our guest on the morning video announcements. Mr. Kaye, Windsor's Principal, and Mr. Whittle exchanged gifts for each school. Mr. Whittle brought his Opportunity Knox bag filled with pens, pencils, keychains, and erasers for classes. He presented us with an Aboriginal piece of pottery and some wonderful book about Australia. Mr. Kaye presented Mr. Whittle with an engraved plaque with the date and message "Global Partners in Education." Mr. Whittle presented us with a plaque from Knox School.