Visit From Davo and Miss W

Today we were lucky enough to be visited by Australian teacher and Edublogger, Miss Wyatt and her Tasmanian Devil friend, Davo. They are on a 2 1/2 month holiday driving around the United States and Canada to visit friends and blogging classrooms. Mrs. Schmidt started to consider moving to Australia when she found out that Miss W is being paid by her school while she is on this holiday. Australians in a service job for 10 years get 90 days of paid leave and then 9 more days a year for every year after that.

Miss W and Davo taught us many new things about their country. We learned about how Tasmanian Devils are an endangered animal. They are dying off from a disease called facial tumour. We talked about other Australian animals like the kangaroo, wallaby, koala, wombat, cockatoo, and possum. Miss W said that she passes a wooded area on her way to work everyday and she has to be careful not to hit the wallabies bouncing on the side of the road. They will also come up to your door sometimes looking for food. If you want to feed them, do not give them bread. It can give them a sickness called lumpy jaw. If you were to meet a kangaroo in the wild, you should not approach it as they are as tall as people and can be dangerous. Miss W is luck enough to have a flock of cockatoo birds who visit her yard often. We were surprised to hear that there are no squirrels or chipmunks in Australia.

We enjoyed seeing a map of where she lived, asking questions about Australia and sharing facts about Pennsylvania with Miss Wyatt and Davo. We logged onto her blog and left comments, looked at some of the 600+ photos on her Flickr stream, and wrote our own blog posts about Australia. You can view our movie below for more photos and to see the presents Miss W brought us. We gave her a small Liberty Bell, a Phillies hat, some Hershey chocolate, and a mug and pens from our school. We also had a little party to share local food with her. She tried a hoagie for lunch, Philadelphia soft pretzels, and TastyKakes.  Click the link to see how we enjoyed the Vegemite that she brought us.

It was so neat to learn about Australia first hand today. Thanks again for coming Miss Wyatt and Davo!!