Last day of School before April Break

Thai schools are on their "summer break." Their school year is completed in March and starts up again in May (I believe). We, as an international school, are on the US school schedule of having June/July and part of August off, but we do get a nice 2 week "April Break" during the Thai New Year. 

The last day of school before the break the students took the time to thank and show their respect to their teachers the "Thailand way." All the elementary students have Thai twice a week where they learn the language and many cultural traditions, etc. One of these traditions is to show respect and thank their teachers, parents, etc around the Thai New Year. They do this by pouring water over their hands and saying thank you and in our Christian international school saying "God bless you."

 During the New Year most Thais go back to their families and will take the time to bless their parents/grandparents and thank them.

Third graders thanking their teachers...

you can see that they also "wai" their teacher
which is a sign of respect and we do often when we greet or thank people

The New Year is not complete without the Songkran festival...
The kids also got to play water games during their Thai classes

My roommates and our Songkran shirts...more about Songkran
in another post:)

We even got flower clips for our hair!

The kids had been reading a lot the month of March (see other posts about March Reading Month) so we celebrated (again) on the last day of school with ice cream cones!

All kids love ICE CREAM

The line...