How long is your school day?

                            *Each paragraph represents a separate student response.

Well, we get up at 6:30 AM and get dressed.  At 7:00 AM is breakfast.  We go eat together in the big dining room until 7:30 AM.  From 7:30 to 8:00 we study our stuff in preparation for German School.  We have to memorize lots of stuff so that it comes right out of our head.  From 8:00 to 8:50 we go to German School and learn about the Bible and the German language.  We learn two forms of German, High German and Low German.

At 9:00 we have English school with our English teacher Mr. Cummings.  We begin by reading the newspaper for about 30 minutes.  From 9:30 to about 9:50, each student reports on an article from either the Saskatoon Star Phoenix or the Globe and Mail to the rest of the class.  We usually try to discuss these articles and relate them to what we are learning in social studies about communities.  At about 10:00 AM, Mr. Cummings reads orally to us from a novel that we choose.  We like to read about the world of nature in our novels and try to pick stories about the Inuit too. 

My favorite time during the morning session, is the oral reading by Mr. Cummings because by this time we have been going to school for a long time it seems to me and being read to is very relaxing.  I also like the way that Mr. Cummings reads the stories to us.  He uses lots of expression so it helps to understand the meaning of the story much easier and makes the story more interesting.

Mr. Cummings reads until 10:30.  Then it is recess until 10:45.  We try to get back into the school and to work soon after.  At this time we do our journal writing.  This is important to us I think because we seem to do so much of it.  It helps me to be a better writer, thinker and speller.  Sometimes we do grammar or have a spelling test during this time as well.  At 11:45 we go to lunch with the rest of the colony members for about 30 minutes.  After lunch break, we go back to school to do math for about 45 minutes each day.  Then we either do social studies, science or arts education. 

We do not have a recess in the afternoon because it is important to us that we leave a little earlier than 3:30 so that can help out with the chores around the farm.  Most important at this time is the gathering of eggs.  At 4:00 PM we come back to the schoolhouse again for German school until 5:00 PM.  At 5:00 we have supper until about 5:30.  At 5:30 we go to church for half an hour.  From 6:00 PM onward we can do anything we like until bedtime. Bedtime for most of us is about 9:00 PM.  It is a long day and I am usually tired by this time.  This continues until we are 15 years old.  At that time we leave English school for work training on the colony, but still continue learning German and studying the Bible for many more years to come.