First Week

All About Me/School Days

  

      Well first day there my teacher asked me to make a little presentation about myself, and where I am from! I was so excited to do this! There was so much I wanted to put in there! I also was very excited because I had taken so many pictures and wanted to put them up here. But then you see it became a little bit complicated because that happened to be the weekend that my computer went down. So anyway above is the little presentation that I put on! It turned out very good! And I had tons of help with my mom and dad sending me pictures! I am so grateful for that! Hope you enjoy it! 

      Anyway, my first day there we spent about an hour introducing me! The kids loved it! They wanted to look at everything, ask questions, and just find out everything they could about me! It was so cute! Then after we had done that, we had a senior assembly. Every Fort Week, the senior grades have an assembly and they give certificates out to individuals, and welcome new students. They practice songs and things they need to know for school, and then do an activity! Well I have the cutest teacher ever, and she gave me a certificate to welcome me in! She is so great! 

           Anyway, I am just going to say what a normal day would be like. First, the students start arriving around eight fifteen. They come and they play outside for the first fifteen minutes. Then a bell rings, and at eight thirty, they can come into the classroom. This is really neat. The teacher gets a chance to talk to them all and greet them. The children are free to play outside, or in the classroom from eight thirty till nine o clock. Then another bell rings. At this bell, all the students sprint over and line up outside. All the classes line up outside right by each other. Following this, one of the teacher greets them and goes over announcements with them. Whenever a teacher greets them, as a group, they respond Good Morning (Name of the teacher) And Good morning teachers. This is really cool. They then talk about the things they need to work on as a group. If they need to work on being cleaner at lunch, or tidying up after swim, or even putting the rubbish in the rubbish bin. Following this they all repeat the Senior Whakatauki "Kaua e rangiruaitia. Te ha o Te hoe. E Kore to tatou wak. E u ki uta. Do not lift the paddle out of unison or our canoe will never reach the shore." Following this, a few of the students share what they think this means. After this is done, the students wait for their teacher to dismiss them, then they walk back down to the classroom. When they walk to the classroom, they line up outside the doors, and wait for all of the teachers to enter the room, before they enter. 

    Once inside the classroom, they all sit down on the mat. They begin the morning reading tumble. The tumble is like centers in the states. Only here, guided reading groups last a longer period of time. My teacher sees each leveled group once a week. She works with one group a day. This is how she feels like she can get a lot of depth of the reading time. This goes on until ten o clock. Then at ten o clock, they change to writing. Each person has a draft book, publishing book, spelling list and a word book, where they can work at their own pace to get their stories done. The teacher takes a group and will focus on one specific aspect. This continues on till Ten forty. At ten forty, it is fitness time. All the senior classes do a different sport each term. Then each class goes with that teacher. I am teaching mine volleyball right now! They love it! Following this a bell rings at eleven and it is morning tea.

     Morning tea I think is the best thing that was invented. I love morning tea. It's a perfect little snack time, and you get to go drink Milo and socialize! I'm pretty sure it's crazy that's like eighty degrees over here, but yet I am drink Milo (like hot Chocolate) and loving every minute of it! It's rather funny! 

    After morning tea, we go back to class for maths! I love maths! Over here they level their maths too! It's so incredible! They start with a warm up game, each individualized for their group. Following this, they all have a skill they are working on (usually the same skill), just on different levels. They all come to the mat, Read the Walt (We Are Learning To...) then go back to their groups and continue working.

    Once maths is completed, we go to Maori! This is where right now they are learning their pepeha! I am learning mine as well. So far I have Ko Scott toku papa. Ko Kaylee toku Mama. Ko Nancy toku ingua. I'm pretty good right! Don't worry it'll be longer. Those are the last three lines!

     Following Maori, at one o clock, we go to lunch! The students sit outside on the ground and all eat the cold lunch they brought. While the teachers go to the staff room (Where morning tea is) and socialize and get a break!

     After lunch, we line them up for swimming! We then take them out and teach them swimming. Yes, swimming is part of the curriculum. Following swimming, they change and we do a little bit of health, and it is 2:45 it is time for them to go home, And that is the day.

     It's a great day of school! It feels so short! I swear the time goes by super fast!