Fun in England

There are certain images that come to mind when people think of England:  the queen, a red double-decker bus, the "Union Jack" (England's flag), and of course...

Telephone booths!

There is a red telephone booth at the pier...I don't know if they even use them anymore or if they are just for the tourists, like me.  Red is a color you see a lot in England. 

Mailbox!

 This is a mailbox in England.  They sit on almost every corner and have many other names, including a "post box" and a "pillar box."  They are all painted red, and if you look at them, they all have initials.  This one says "VR."  The initials will tell you when the post box was built.  The "VR" stand for "Victoria Regalia."  This box was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (or the 60th anniversary of when she came to be queen) in 1897!  That mailbox is 114 years old and still being used today!

Today I went to the school where I will be student teaching.  It is called Stone Cross Primary School and has kids from age 4 to 11.  I am in a "Year 4" classroom, which is like our 3rd grade.  It will be interesting for me to see the differences between what they are learning and what I taught you!  Over here, they do not have to take any tests like the ISAT (lucky them!), but the schools here are inspected by special people appointed by the queen (called HMIs, or "her majesty's inspectors").  These people look at absolutely everything:  the students' grades (called "marks"), how the office is run, how clean the bathrooms (or lavatories) are...everything!  I am fairly certain that every teacher or faculty member in Illinois is happy they don't have to be inspected that way!

I probably will not post tomorrow.  I am going in to London with the whole group, so I will have a lot to show you on my Friday post!  Have a wonderful day--I miss you all!