What Color is your iPod®?

We have the pleasure of working with the students today at Priory Integrated College.  Mr. McKenzie, Ms. Gilman and Mrs. Caviness will work with the Year 8 students - our equivalent to 6th grade.

Before that, the students and staff of Priory will be holding a short assembly to introduce all of us to the school.

It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Northern Ireland.  The temperature will be about 48 degrees

I hope to be adding pictures very soon.

We spent the first day in airports and on airplanes!

Well today is finally here!  It is Sunday, April 6 and we leave in just a few hours!  We are all getting our last minute packing done and will meet at Norfolk International Airport soon! 

 I checked the 10-day forcast for Northern Ireland, mid 40’s and rain most of the week.  We better pack our umbrellas!

Ginny-J (my nickname for Virginia-Jewell, my travel buddy, named by the students) is ready to go with passport in hand or fin or flipper, whatever frogs have.  

Hopefully we will be able to post some pictures while we are waiting at the airport in New York!

Mrs. C

Thank you to our newest sponsor!

We really, really appreciate your support!

The KMS AVID Classes

Our Itinerary for the week!  We will be busy!

Monday 7^th April
9:00 am Arrive Belfast International Airport
Visit Priory Integrated College
12:30 pm Lunch at Priory
2:00 pm Check into Clandeboye Lodge Hotel, Bangor, Co Down
Telephone:  +44(0)2891852500
7:00 pm Dinner Clandeboye Hotel  

Tuesday 8^th April
9:10 am School based activities
7:30 pm Town Hall:  meet members of Corporate Committee
8:00 pm Mayor’s Dinner 

Wednesday 9^th April
10:00 am Visit Clifton Special School
12:00 pm Depart Priory
1:00 pm  Lunch St Malachi’s High School: Visit special education unit
3:00pm Tour of Mountains of Mourne
5:30pm Dinner at Ardnabannan Outdoor Pursuits Centre with Mr S Sloan, Chief Executive South Eastern Education and Library Board   

Thursday 10^th April
10:00 am Murals Tour of Belfast
1:00 pm Lunch at Clifton House Belfast
2:30 pm Shopping
5:30 pm Attik Restaurant Holywood
7:30 pm Musical Event ‘Re-inventing the need’ at Bangor Heritage Centre  

Friday 11^th April
10:30 am Visit Oakgrove Integrated College L’Derry
2:30 pm Tour Bushmills Distillery
3:30 pm Visit Giants Causeway
6:00 pm Dinner at Bushmills Inn  

Saturday 12^th April
8:30 am Check out of hotel
11:20 am Depart Belfast International Airport

Northern Ireland’s currency is the British pound (sterling).  The pound is divided into one hundred pence (100p). Notes are issued to the value of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pounds. Coins are issued to the value of 1 pound, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and lp.

How do we know how many US dollars will equal 1 British pound?  The currency exchange rate is based on the world market for gold.  To get the most current exchange rate we can visit a website such as Yahoo Finance which will provide us with the most up to date information. As of March 29th, the dollar is worth about .50 pounds. We won’t be buying too many souvenirs at that rate!

What will the weather be like in Northern Ireland when we are there?  Having a rough idea will help us take the proper type of clothing.  As you may or may not know, Kempsville is an official WeatherBug Station.  We have a link on the KMS Wiki that compares the current weather conditions at our school with that of Belfast Northern, Ireland.  https://kempsville-avid.wikispaces.com/weather .  But what of the long range forecast so we will have some idea of what type of clothing to take?  For that information we have found a great site at MSN that gives us the 10 day outlook and the yearly average temperature for the month of April:  http://weather.uk.msn.com/monthly_averages.aspx?&wealocations=wc%3aUKXX0015&setunit=F.  Hopefully this will help us out.  14 days from today we leave!

Wow, we just got our itinerary from our hosts in Bangor, Northern Ireland.  Not only will we have a very busy week visiting several of the schools in the area, but we will be lucky enough to be able to visit some of the scenic locations below:

Mountains of Mourne
http://www.mournemountains.com/

Murals Tour of Belfast
http://www.belfastmurals.co.uk/

Giants Causeway
http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm  

Bangor Heritage Centre
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/museum_gfx_en/NI000008.html

Clifton House
http://www.cliftonbelfast.org.uk/home.htm

Thank You Anna Davis Little at Prudential Decker Realty for your support.  Anna is the best real estate agent in the world.  That is probably because she was a teacher, like us, in her other life!  The KMS Team!

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