Time flies when your having fun

Time does fly. Everyone told me it would and I did not believe them. And for the first few days and weeks it didn't. But now that I stop and look back, it has flown! Today was my last day of being in full control of the classroom. It was a good day. We did more christmas activities. And I had the kiddos do a worksheet where they had to match New Zealand words with American words. That was pretty good! They knew almost all of them! And then they got a treat for the last block, a movie! I have had such an amazing experience here, I will definitely miss all the kids and everyone else I have met.

In other news. My parents made a quick trip to New Zealand last weekend!! It was SO great to see them. Rachel took us to Bethels and that was great. And then we went to Waiheke Island. That was beautiful!! It was so beautiful that Cathy and I will be going again this weekend! Here are some pictures :)

Two more weeks WHAT???

Its amazing how fast time can go. A couple weeks ago I was halfway done with this experience. Now I have two weeks to go. It has been a busy couple of weeks! After my not so good week, I have had a great two weeks!!! I feel completely in control of the class. My coop teacher was just saying how the kids now go straight to me when they have questions instead of going to her.  I feel like I have connected better with the students and my classroom management skills are so much better. 

Last week was a fun week. Since it was Thanksgiving at home, I did a mini unit on Thanksgiving here. I taught a brief history, talked about my family traditions, and learned about the students’ traditions also and made thankful turkeys. Also, I showed them a video of the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade that they just loved. Overall it went good. Then Thursday night my host family and Cathy’s got together to cook a Thanksgiving meal. It was fantastic!! It definitely made being away for Thanksgiving much easier.

This past weekend, Cathy and I rode bikes to an outdoor mall to do some souvenir shopping. Then Sunday we went to Devonport, an island off of Auckland.  It was beautiful!!!! I really enjoyed the feel of the island, we climbed up an old volcano and sat at the top of it for a long time, just enjoying the beautiful day. It was the first day that has felt really warm since we have been here. I think I may be a little in shock when I return to home and its snowing! Blah! OH and on Monday Rachel and I went to Bethels Beach! It was simply amazing. I do not have any other ways to describe it. I think I will just put pictures on and you can see for yourself.  We did a bush walk, and I climbed a tree! (pictures to prove it) And walked on the black sand into caves! Just a beautiful place.

As for school this week I have been adding more Christmas activities and just fun end of the year things.  We have a Christmas concert coming up next week so we have been practicing a lot for that. I can’t believe there are only a couple more weeks. I have really enjoyed my time here and I definitely want to come back here some time in the future. It is the most beautiful place in the world. 

Bethels Beach :)

Half way there!

Half way there! What a week it has been. So many ups and downs.  Lets start with the downs.  This week I have struggled with classroom management.  I felt just a bit lost at what to do about a boy that doesn’t really respect teachers, especially myself being a new teacher he tends to give me a lot of attitude.  I am struggling with the noise level when I am doing groups.  During reading time I take a group on the carpet and then the other students do their work at their tables.  I let them talk but I don’t really know when to say quiet down, because most of the time they are doing the right thing but then at other times they aren’t.  It is a struggle to work with one group but have to still keep an eye on the rest of the class.  Thursday went much better though.  There were about 7 less kids though and that made a HUGE difference.  My class is about 24 students which is not very many for New Zealand, there are usually 28-30 students in a classroom.  I think that is part of my management issue is the range of different students. Especially the different students at varied levels of learning.  But I am working through it and Thursday was definitely a confidence booster!

As for the ups! This weekend was so much fun! Friday, Rachel and I went to the supermarket to get our Thanksgiving meal food for this Thursday! Which I am quite excited about.  Then yesterday I went to the Wellington Phoenix soccer game against an Australian team.  They tied the game, pretty good game.  Then today I went to Muriwai beach with Rachel and Ken.  It was amazing! Such a beautiful site.  Then we took a big bike ride through a pine tree forest.  Which led us to another part of the beach where there is black sand!! It was amazing just to see a beach without houses and people everywhere.  With huge sand dunes and massive waves.  Then we had a great picnic lunch and enjoyed the scenery.  Its hard to imagine that my times is half over here.  It has been an amazing experience! This week I will be teaching my students about Thanksgiving! I’ll let you know how it goes!! 

Full control & Rotorua

Wow what a great week! I have pretty much been in full control now and it is great. I am learning a lot about this age group (if you write something wrong on the board, they will catch you!!!) that is a little different than the kinders who have no clue! I do miss how oblivious the kinders are when I make a mistake! I am doing a procedural writing unit with the kids that I created.  It is going well.  We wrote how to’s last week and I think this week I am going to put them in groups to create their own games and then come up with a list of instructions.  Then I hope to have them type them up and make them into an IWEB so they have access to the games.  I am still finding the little differences between American schools and New Zealand schools. Obviously the no shoes one is a big difference! But there are many little other ones.  The students have more responsibility here, they trust them to do more things.  Such as going to the office or getting something from the staff lounge.  I love the trust the students and teachers have with each other.  I also love how much of an influence the Maori culture has on the school.  They learn some Maori words and teachers try to incorporate it in many ways.  I would love to learn some of the words, they are really hard to pronounce!!

This past weekend Cathy and I went with her host mom Jan and son Cory to Rotorua! It was awesome!! Just the drive there is breathtaking. The scenery is absolutely amazing.  Cathy did some skydiving! I stayed on the ground and watched from there! We went to a Maori Hongi. Which was AWESOME! We learned more about the culture, watched their dances and songs and had a great dinner.  The hongi was cooked underground.  They have coals in the ground and then the food in baskets, then covered with blankets and then dirt on top.  It was delicious.  And today we got to enjoy Kerosine creek, which is a hot spring.  It felt sooooo awesome! I am just amazed at how it is a natural hot spring.  In all, this week has gone good and I am ready for another one! Its hard to believe that this is basically half over! Time flies! Enjoy the pictures :) 

Week Two

This week was great! I got to teach two full days! Deb had work days on wednesday and friday so I got a lot of teaching in! I am really enjoying it. The kids are great and they just love hearing about the differences in America. So my host mom and I decided at some point it would be soo fun to do a lesson on the different words that we use.  Oh and this week two lambs came to school! IT was SO cool, considering dogs aren't usually even allowed near school grounds at home.  The kids loved it and I think I  loved it even more! They got to pet them and everything.  It was very enjoyable.  I am still getting used to the structure of the day. I didn't think it would be so hard to have the two different breaks but it is. Its just hard to sit down and then realize you still have a lot of the day left! But I am getting used to it.  I was observed by the deputy principal this week and he seemed to have enjoyed it so that makes me very happy! I will be in full control pretty much the rest of the time now. VERY fast but I love it this way. I want to get everything I can out of this experience so if that means being thrown into that I will take it! I can't believe two weeks have already gone by! Its crazy.  Only 6 more weeks.  And it is going to fly by. Cathy and I planned to go to Auckland today to explore but the plans get switched so we went to Crystal Mountain with her host mom Jan.  Its this place with a bunch of crystals, animal farm and kiddie rollercoaster.  We just looked at the crystals and had some coffee.  Tonight are fireworks so that should be fun!!

One Week gone!

Well Cathy and I have officially been here over a week! And it has been a busy week! Last week was the first week at Swanson Primary. It is great! Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly! Just like everyone in New Zealand! I actually have been able to do a lot of teaching! I have taken over fitness, role, and diary writing. I love having fitness in the morning. Kids need a time to run around and get their blood flowing. I really hope in my future classroom I can incorporate this everyday. On Thursday I got to take over the first two hours! Which was exciting! I learned a lot about kids this age. First thing, they remember EVERYTHING, and I mean everything. I did not line them up the correct way and they made sure to tell me that it was the wrong way. So I better make sure I do things the way they know! So now I will be taking over subjects more and more. It is going much quicker than I anticipated but that is because the term is only 7 weeks. And I am quick to do whatever I can. I want to get every experience I possibly can so I am happy to jump in whenever possible! There are so many different things I have learned in just the first week that I know I want to incorporate in my future classroom. On Friday they had a team assembly and at this time they sang songs, passed out certificates and read a story. I love how the team is so connected and work so well together. It shows off to their students.

This past weekend Cathy and I took a trip to the Bay of Islands. That was beautiful. I can’t even put it into words how pretty it was. It was the most amazing place I have ever seen in my life! We got to see the beauty of New Zealand on the bus ride up. So many hills and beauty around every corner (and tons of sheep). New Zealand is amazing!!

Hello New Zealand!

Hello New Zealand! Today was my 4th day in New Zealand and I am feeling a little more relaxed now! Cathy and I arrived on Saturday at about 6am. The flight was absolutely wonderful, minus sleeping sitting up! But can’t help that. Air New Zealand is fabulous! Saturday felt like the longest day of my life! I stayed up for most of the day until 5, then, I just crashed! But the jetlag is gone now, so that’s good! I will be staying with Rachel, a teacher at Swanson, and her partner Ken. They are very nice and so welcoming! It has been an exciting time to be in New Zealand, with their win of the World Cup! Cathy and I took a trip into Auckland on Monday to watch the parade. It was very exciting to see the pride the country has for Rugby. I had never watched a Rugby game so that was very exciting and different to watch! Such a rough and scary game! Today was our first day of school at Swanson Primary. My cooperating teacher is Ms. Debra Logan. She is wonderful! I love her classroom management skills. And after just one day, I feel like I have learned SO much. The students clearly respect her and she respects them. We had a Powhiri today. It is a traditional Maori welcoming for visitors. There is a new Deputy principal and a new teacher so we were welcomed a long with them. This was a very interesting experience! It is to welcome the visitors but then to make the visitors or the manuhiri into the Tangata whenua, which is like a part of the community. I love the Maori language! It is fascinating. Too bad I butcher the words horribly! Oh well I better practice! The school day seems much different than home. There is fitness every morning (which I will be in charge of tomorrow!) Which is wonderful because at home the kids are lucky if they get gym twice a week for 30 minutes. The day is also broken up much differently. 9-11 first block 11-11:40 Morning tea (Students eat part of their lunches) 11:40-1:10 second block 1:10-1:55 Lunch 1:55-3:00 Third block I think I am going to really like this schedule. I am really excited for this experience; I know I will learn so much from Debra! For this weekend, Cathy and I planned a trip to the Bay of Islands! We are both very excited for this!