Day 18, 30.10.2019

Our day started at 9.15 am at Norman North. We to an elementary school in Norman, with some parents and our teachers Mrs. Hiller and Mrs. Schmitt, where one of the elementary school teachers showed us around. We saw the cafeteria, the gym, the library, the basement, and the tornado shelter, which is where people can go to be safe when there is a tornado. In general, the school was bigger than most of the elementary schools in Germany and it was decorated with different things the students had made.

A small part of the school was decorated like a haunted house, through which the fifth-graders are allowed to go to trick-or-treat. It was quite spooky with bloody skeletons, skulls, and cut-off limbs hanging down from the ceiling. A huge difference compared to German elementary schools is that the students go to elementary school from first to fifth grade, and not from first to fourth grade. We also had the chance to see the kindergarten, which is in the same building. At the end of our visit we taught all the fourth-graders how to count to five in German and how to say hello. That was fun. The children could also ask us all kinds of questions about Germany. Many of them were about German food, sports, video games, and the Internet. Some of the students came up with excellent questions about German landscapes and geography, about climate change and school subjects.   

After all the questions had been answered we went back to Norman North, where we had lunch. In the afternoon we visited different classes and studied for our school in Germany.

A few German students went to a Harry Potter party, where we could drink some butterbeer, make our own wands with pretzel sticks and chocolate, or take a picture in front of Platform 9 ¾. That class was a Special-Needs class and the teacher had invited us to the Harry Potter party a few days ago. For seventh hour we went to Earth Science class, where we learned things about Earth’s surface. After school was out we went home by bus and started to pack.