Paddle Boat Ride

This weekend I got to take a paddle boat ride on the Danube River with the Nam family. One of the Nam daughters was in my class last year and I have tutored both girls in English during their two years in Vienna. It was a beautiful, sunny day for a boat ride and we had a wonderful time together.

Mr. Nam has already returned to Korea and his family will join him there this summer after the school year ends. It will be hard to say good-bye, although the Nams may visit Vienna for Christmas next year!

Music History Field-Trip

The fifth graders have been studying music history this year in Music Class. After learning about some of the great European composers, Miss Altstaetter took the class on a tour of music history sights throughout Vienna. We saw the outside of several apartments Mozart lived in and then toured the inside of an apartment Beethoven lived in. We also saw two beautiful pipe organs in St. Stephens Cathedral.

The class posed for a picture in front of a Mozart statue in the Berg Garden. On the backside of this statue is a carved picture of young Mozart and his sister Nannerl on tour with their father.

We ended our field-trip with ice-cream bars for everyone! What a great Friday afternoon away from school!

Annie Get Your Gun

The VCS spring musical was "Annie Get Your Gun". These students took the audience back to the days of the wild west and introduced them to characters like Sitting Bull and Annie Oakley. Surprisingly, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show really did travel through Vienna in the past, performing for Emperor Franz Josef and his court in Prater Park.

Here's Frank Butler, one of the greatest shooters in the West! The costumes were amazing and helped bring the show to life.

A 12-member pit band played the music for the show. I had the best part - hitting the snare drum to make the gunshot sounds in the shooting matches! I also turned pages for Sandi at the piano.

Ste Agnes, France

Over Spring Break, I had the opportunity to travel to France with my roommate, Sandi, and my cousin, Susanne. We had great weather throughout our trip and enjoyed the semi-tropical climate of the south of France.

We rented a tiny cottage for the week in a small mountain village called Ste. Agnes. It was an old, picturesque town with stone streets, plenty of flower pots and window boxes, and a view of the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. From the highway, we wound up a narrow road about 800 meters to reach the town.

We took several day trips from Ste Agnes, visiting Monte Carlo in Monaco, Nice, and a couple small towns in Italy. Here Susanne and I stand in a Japanese garden in Monte Carlo. This garden was designed for Princess Grace.


In Nice, we visited a park with a great overlook onto the Mediterranean Sea. The water was clear and beautiful shades of blue.


We also strolled through the popular flower market in the old city section of Nice. This seemed to be an ideal time to visit this area - all the flowers and trees were in bloom, the weather was pleasant, and we avoided the swarm of summer tourists. On a personal note, this was a very special time of memories made with Sandi and Susanne before they move back to the States.

Class Birthday Party

We love celebrating each other's birthdays in 5th grade. We interview the birthday student about the day they were born, sing multiple versions of "Happy Birthday", offer a prize from the birthday prize box, and of course, eat birthday treats together. This particular birthday party was for Stacy, on her 12th birthday.

Book Character Costume Party

March is Book Month! Our school librarian threw a Book Character Costume Party this month to celebrate. I dressed as Ms. Franny Block, the librarian of the Herman W. Block Memorial Library, in the book Because of Winn Dixie. This is Jae Gyung, dressed as Captain Hook. I tutor Jae Gyung after school two times a week in English and enjoy working with her very much.

Here is a photo of the elementary teachers who dressed up for the costume party. On the left is the host of this fabulous party, Mrs. Dax. She came dressed as the caterpillar in Eric Carle's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Other teacher costumes included Amelia Bedilia, Minnie Mouse, and the Cat in the Hat!

After the students showed off their costumes, we ate a long caterpillar cake in honor of Eric Carle's 80th birthday. That's a lot of candles!

Sheila Comes to Vienna!

My friend, Sheila, came to visit over her school's Ski Week. Sheila teaches 4th grade in Prague. She brought a friend and fellow-teacher named Nicole with her. We had a wonderful time talking and laughing together. Sheila came to school with me one day to see what 5th grade at VCS is all about.

It's hard to take pictures of yourself while you're teaching, so Sheila caught me in action on the day she visited. I'm giving instructions for reading class and getting ready to pass out the books.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the computer lab to work on the non-fiction books that the students are writing. Mrs. Klein, our computer teacher, and I have teamed up to make this a digital (paper free!) project.

At home, we made delicious taco salad one night while Sheila and Nicole were here. In this photo, Nicole helps Sandi and I brown the taco meet and chop salad toppings while Sheila documents the fun of four cooking in our tiny kitchen.