International Inspiration

This week's favorite thing is being at a school that is so internationally focused.  Bliss Charity participates in the Comenius Program, a project supported by the British Council to help schools connect with European partners for the purpose of exchanging knowledge and understanding.  It is a wonderful way for schools to build intercultural relationships for students and teachers, much like the Fulbright program.

This week Bliss welcomed teachers, parents and students from Sweden, Romania and Greece.  They visited our classrooms and attended assemblies.  They also had the chance to do some sightseeing with their British host families.  I had the opportunity to go out to dinner twice with the international teachers and it was wonderful!

I had some great discussions with the Greek teachers about their system of education and I received a whole packet of beautifully written letters from a Romanian class.  I can't wait to have my students write them back!  This wasn't the first visit by foreign students or staff.  Earlier in the year we also had students visit from Poland and a teacher from Switzerland was observing at the school for several weeks.  It was a special treat to hear him read the story of "Heidi" aloud to my class!

This whole experience has taught me so much and this week was an opportunity to learn even more from teachers across Europe.  There are so many different ways to work effectively with children and it has been fascinating to hear about some of these differences, and the many things that we have in common.

Before Stonehenge........

......there was Woodhenge and Strawhenge..."    Eddie Izzard

This week Abbie and I ventured two hours south and visited Stonehenge.  After hearing about this ancient ruin for most of my life, it was breath taking to actually see it in person.  Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain, in the middle of huge fields.  We crested the hill on the motorway and there it was......its iconic shape silhouetted against the sky.

A sunny but windy March day on Salisbury Plain

These stones are huge!

Our English Heritage membership paid off as we were able to skip ahead in the queue, grab our audio tour and head through the tunnel to the field on the other side.  Emerging into the sun from the underground walkway, we found ourselves on a path just outside of the ring of stones.  Tourists are no longer permitted in the inner circle of stones, but I found that having a designated path around Stonehenge actually allowed everyone to have a clearer view.

No one really knows why Stonehenge was built

It is estimated that only 40% of the stones are still here.  Many were taken to use in building elsewhere.  Incredibly, in early tourist times people were allowed to take hammers to the stones and take "souvenir" pieces.

After our tour of Stonehenge we decided to drive to Avebury, the location of a stone circle that you can actually see close up.  On our way we saw some chalk horses carved into the hills.  We ended up seeing three of these horses, some were a few hundred years old, one was about 2,000 years old.  History here is a little mind expanding!

A chalk horse from a distance

This horse is "only" about 200 years old

Avebury standing stones

These stones make two huge circles that weave through the village of Avebury.  This structure is actually older than Stonehenge.

Abbie's warrior druid pose on top of a hill!

Silsbury Hill - a prehistoric chalk mound created about 6,000 years ago, just outside of Avebury.

Abbie makes a run for the Hill!