So we've finally got some pictures back from Australia day.
We had to rely on other people's photos this year because Monday was soooo much bigger than last year. With the addition of around fifty new Grade 1s, we were expecting an attendance of approximately 100 kids, compared to the 50 or so that we had last year.
In order to deal with the increased numbers we had six simultaneous activities running. We did the flip-flop basketball and kangaroo races from last year, and we added an Australian Football handballing competition, emu races (carrying a beanbag on top of a long pole), koala toss and an over/under relay with a blown up plastic kangaroo. We had extra help with Dave, the sports teacher, the sports teacher's sister, one of the Grade 1 classroom teachers, Laima the Lithuanian volunteer and Amanda and myself. We were ready.
In order to deal with the increased numbers we had six simultaneous activities running. We did the flip-flop basketball and kangaroo races from last year, and we added an Australian Football handballing competition, emu races (carrying a beanbag on top of a long pole), koala toss and an over/under relay with a blown up plastic kangaroo. We had extra help with Dave, the sports teacher, the sports teacher's sister, one of the Grade 1 classroom teachers, Laima the Lithuanian volunteer and Amanda and myself. We were ready.
(Un)fortunately, we've had a huge bout of sickness at school that has corresponded with the recent fall in temperatures over here in Eastern Europe. Many of our classes have been decimated, so our 100 kid estimate was probably more likely around 80 kids. This was okay though as it meant that each team was around 13 kids, which let each kid have at least one or two goes at every activity.
At the end of each round, we added up the scores for each activity and sent the kids on to the next station. Little did we know, however, was that Amanda was multiplying her scores by three so that where everyone else was giving scores of 5 points or so, Amanda was giving them out in lots of 20. So the koala toss was the real game changer.
After everything was done and dusted, the top two winning teams came up to receive their prize packs (wonderfully supplied by our Australian friends and family). The kids absolutely loved them. Each pack had a kangaroo or koala toy, either a bouncing ball or medal or some other secondary toy and a handful of stickers or temporary tattoos. In fact, the prize packs were so sought after we had a number of the kids in tears when they didn't get anything. Thankfully, there were plenty of Minties to go around so nobody left empty handed.
Overall it was a really fun, if exhausting day, and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.
Check out the video to see each of the activities in action!
- Daniel.
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