Today’s activity was working with Clay.  A lady in town has offered to fire the plaques for us so at the moment they are all drying out somewhere without a fan (which is a bit tricky in our house as we have overhead fans happening all the time in every room!)  The kids did very well – some making name plaques, others making signs and yet others just making a decorative plaque.  It was a lot of fun, didn’t get as messy as we thought and didn’t take a lot of time.  I think we may well do this again.

Once again we gave the kids opportunity for an oral presentation.   Josh wrote a mystery/detective short story, which he read to his audience. 

Jessica wanted to share her foreign money collection but wanted to say more than this is this and this is this.  She made a whirlwind trip around the world stopping in every country for where she had a currency.  She used different modes of transport and had the country’s flag ready to pin onto the map as she went along.  She handed the money out so every one got to touch one piece of money rather than everyone seeing everything, which takes a lot of time.  She ended her presentation as the captain of Qantas airline thanking the tourists for flying with them.  It was a very creative presentation, which I believe she carried off well.  Everyone’s attention was held which was her aim.

Nomi shared about her scar.  She did a lot of research on the digestive system.  She handed out a piece of apple and started off her talk saying, “If you were to eat a piece of apple….” And she tracked the apple’s journey through the system.  I think the audience was a bit on the younger side to get this but the apple gave them something to do while she spoke.  (She was the last one in her group so this bit of food did help them!)  She ended up with a poem she wrote about her scar.  Though she answered the kids questions well there is still some areas of her story she doesn’t understand so it was good that I was there and able to help her through some of the finer details.

Daniel started off saying all week that he didn’t want to say anything but woke up Friday morning exclaiming, “but I don’t have anything!!”.  We had earmarked a robot he and Jess had made from the junk box so it didn’t take us long to have him ready.  He jumped in the car, having not spent any time with him on the words he would say, with him saying, “I’ve just gotta think!”  He did well.  It is hard for him and for the audience but he did well and the audience asked him questions.  It is good that he has these supportive peers while his speech is still so unclear.

I took the session on our Character Trait.  Earlier in the morning I was not myself as I had a bad night – dragged myself there.  Wished I could cancel.  Had to prepare the Character session – hadn't done so.  Wanted to cancel.  Had a look at what trait we were studying – God does have a sense of humor – Dependability!  What could I do but quickly prepare! 

It was a good trait to talk through with the kids – helping them to realize that when they say “Yes Mum” they are making a promise and they need to do what they say.  For the older ones I focused on the fact that sometimes things get hard but we still have to keep our word.

The families with older children gathered at a local park for lunch, giving the mums some time to chat the kids a time to run around together.  They ran in the sprinklers, talked and ended up playing clapping games in the shade of the trees.  Josh, being the only older boy, read his book!