Weekend Trip to Hamilton, NZ

The Beach house!!


Beach View


At our hotel before leaving for the Rugby Game


On Saturday morning I had my first facial/massage. It was neat to experience this for the first time in New Zealand. It was very relaxing it almost put me to sleep. After the massage Jane and I went for a walk on the beach. Then I arrived back home and Karyn and I began our trip to Hamilton to watch the All Blacks play against the Wales. It was so exciting, I did not know much about Rugby prior to this adventure. I have learned so much about Rugby in the past few weeks, it reminds me of American football the only difference is that in Rugby the clock does not stop for Time Outs and such it is an 80 minute game and the only time the clock stops is at half time.

Getting Candy for the Rugby Game


My First Rugby Game!!!


On Sunday morning we woke up in our hotel, Narrows Landing and had breakfast. I had poached eggs for the first time in my life. Karyn and I then packed our bags and went into Hamilton and went down River Walk. This is a walkway that overlooks Waikato River, the largest river in New Zealand. We then started our trip home and stopped at Candy Land for New Zealand chocolate and fudge. We had a great weekend adventure in Hamilton, I can’t wait for the weekends ahead!

ALL BLACKS vs. WALES


Food of the Day: Thai Food, Poached Eggs, Blue Cod Fish, Cadburry Milk Tray, Dairy Milk Macadamia Nut, Ernest Adams Raspberry Slice, Pinky Bar, Gold Rush Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, Chocolate covered jelly beans from CANDY LAND and Gooey Caramel Memphis Meltdown (Tip Top Ice Cream Bar)

Week 7 at Point View Primary School

Second Week of Full Control!

The finished web with spiders and WILBUR poems!


After a long day of teaching!!


Teaching is getting more natural and rewarding every day for me. I am learning so much every day as well as the students. On Monday, I showed a PowerPoint about Georgia and my life as a child raised on a farm. I showed them pictures of me showing pigs at the county fair. Jane and the students call me Fern. It is so funny how my life correlates with our class novel, Charlotte’s Web so nicely. My personal PowerPoint also helped get the students more excited about our thematic unit, Charlotte’s Web. Monday I noticed that I am more confident and excited about Mathematics than I ever have before. Mathematics is something that you have to plan on a daily basis. For example, today I had to change my whole MATHS lesson because the students do not understand fractions and therefore do not grasp the concept of (1/2 past, ¼ past, ¼ to) when reading the clock. I am so fortunate to have such a great supervising teacher. Jane has really stood back and all the students see me as a teacher. I am also learning that it is not always best to use pre-cut-outs. The class made spiders on Tuesday and the American side of me wanted to give them a design to cut out or trace. However, the New Zealand side of me allowed the students to create their own unique spider. It was amazing how funky and creative the spiders turned out just by me not touching the pencil and letting the students be creative in their own way.

Wednesday was a big day for me, I got observed teaching a reading lesson. I used new Guided Reading teaching strategies that I learned over the past weeks. We had lunch to celebrate my successful teaching observation. We had lunch at the Plant and garden center. Haha In New Zealand they have restaurants in furniture stores and even in a greenhouse. I must say it was kind of weird eating in a store with lots of plants.

In New Zealand the teachers have to teach physical education. I am finding that very challenging. I feel that you use a different tone of voice when you are teaching physical education. It is almost as if you form into a new teacher when you teach this subject area. The children respond so differently when they are outside and they have free reign to move around.


All Whites Spirit Day!


On Thursday all the students wore all white to cheer on New Zealand as they play in the World Cup this week. It was fun to see all the creative costumes that the students came up with at school. On Friday morning the children arrived at school around 6 a.m. to watch the ALL WHITES play in the Soccer World Cup. The students, faculty and staff are FIRED UP, to say the least! This is the first time that the ALL WHITES have scored in the World Cup in 28 years. Everyone is ecstatic.


Thursday night I had real Mexican food for the first time since I have been in New Zealand. I had chicken quesadillas, chips and salsa. Jane, Marie (another teacher at Point View School) and I then went to a live performance at the SKYCITY Theatre. The show was called Stepping Out starring Suzanne Paul, dancing with the stars champion. The show was very entertaining and at the end of the show two male dancers jumped off stage and came running to dance with me. So in front of the whole audience I had a chance to dance with the male performer from the show. It was hilariously funny and Jane, Marie and I left the theatre laughing hysterically.

At the SKYCITY Theatre with Marie


Eating our delicious triple chocolate trumpets!!


On Friday morning all the children arrived at school at 6:30 a.m. to watch the All Whites play in the Soccer World Cup. The game was played on the big screen and the teachers fed the students toast and jam. The children were so excited and cheered on the All Whites together as a school in the assembly hall. However, the excitement did not end there. We started the morning creating dragons out of clay. The children loved it and designed some amazing clay dragons. Then my visiting lecturer gave me a surprise visit during morning tea. He is so nice, we had a good time catching up and he recommended a few things for me to experience while away in the South Island in the upcoming weeks ahead. After school a few teachers and I went to a local restaurant and caught up on school things and just life in general. The teachers are so friendly and welcoming, I almost feel part of the teaching staff at Point View School.

Cheering on the ALL WHITES at 6:30 a.m. in the assembly hall before school!


Cutting the Clay


Creating Imaginary Clay Dragons


My supervising lecturer, Dareen and I


Food of the Day: Flake (Milk Chocolate), Pink-Iced Buns, Lemon Fudge, Milo Bar, and Triple Chocolate Trumpet

Day at Matakana Markets, the Coast and Omaha Vineyards

The Toilets!!!


Brick Bay Vineyard




Well, I survived my first week of full control teaching Year 3 and started the weekend off with a bang and a little celebration. I had an exciting weekend adventure with Jane and her husband to the Matakana Markets on Saturday. We spent the day looking at the farmer’s markets and enjoying the art galleries and other sites. We visited Omaha Bay Vineyard, Brick Bay Vineyard and Tapianos tasting wine at the local Vineyards. Then we went to visit The Craig’s beachfront property and caravan on the coast it was beautiful. We took a walk on the beach and enjoyed the breath taking view. It was a nice relaxing drive to the North part of the Island that I have yet to see. We ended the day with Fish and Chips on the coast.

On Sunday I took it easy and slept a lot to rest up from the day before. I also experienced Italian food for the first time since I have been in New Zealand.

On the Coast with Jane



Food of the Day: Picnic Bar, Vogel's Toast and Poppa Jacks (taste like Funyuns)

Week 6 Teaching side of things

Making Grandma's Recipe of Ranch House Cookies



Monday was the Museum visit, which I updated you all on earlier this week. On Tuesday I taught all by myself all day. Jane was absent from school today so I learned a lot and gained a lot of control. The students really respond to me well and I seem to have a handle on things better than I ever have. I am learning new reward systems and behavior management strategies that work well with students. I introduced my own unique reward system today. I decorated a special box and when I catch students being good they get to put their name in the box for a drawing on Friday. This Friday, the three students that were drawn had the special privilege of making grits with me for the class and teachers. I have found that behavior management is of upmost importance when teaching because if you don’t have control then the lesson is useless. I have also learned that as a teacher you must constantly think about what you must do next in the classroom and how to make the most of each day in order to get everything done. The school days seem to fly by so fast and I find myself constantly playing catch up from the days before.

Wednesday was a good day of teaching as well. Jane was busy in her office with parents and conferencing so it was another good day of experiencing full control as a teacher. I am getting the hang of it more and more each day. I feel more confident in my teaching and feel prepared for the challenges ahead. Jane says that I am doing well so she does not interfere with the teaching at all, I finally feel like a real teacher. It is a great feeling.

On Wednesday and Thursday I observed parent/teacher conferences. I found it very unique in New Zealand primary schools. At point view primary school the conferences are called “Triadic conferences.” It is were the student, teacher, and parent form a triangle and talk together about the child’s learning goals at school and home. The teacher has the student read their individual goal to the parent and teacher. The child then explains what it means and how they can practice it at home and at school. The teacher then allows the student to go play on the computer and talks to the parents alone while going over key competencies with parents alone. I found the conferencing to be very effective for the whole family and teacher.

On Friday I had the chance to make grits with a few students and we had a great ending to my sixth week of teaching. It is unbelievable how much I am learning each day. I am enjoying full control and the freedom I have with it.

Cooking GRITS with a few of the students at school.


Away from school-
I experienced Kiwi style fish and chips for the first time today! We went to the fish market where the fish is fresh and we had the opportunity to pick our fish and get it battered and fried in front of us. It was an awesome experience, the fish and chips are wrapped in newspaper....they are very tasty.

On Wednesday and Thursday I stayed at school until 6:30-7:00 with Parent/Teacher Conferences. On Friday a few teachers and I went out after school. It was fun and exciting to mix and mingle with a few of the staff members away from the teaching side of things.

I spent all day Saturday with Jane and her husband at the Matakana Markets and other areas North of Auckland!

Food of the Day: Neenish Tart and Toffee Pops

More pictures from the Medieval Banquet

Mrs. Craig, Kyle and I before the Medieval Banquet


Teaching the class how to make cinnamon toast


Getting ready for the feast!


Reading to the class before the banquet


Teaching room 15 how to make cinnamon toast

Day at the Museum June 14th

Before we went to the Museum I finished Charlotte's Web. The children are so excited about our new vocabulary words and theme Charlotte's Web.


The Museum was full of lots of information on the wonderful and unique life on the islands of New Zealand. The museum was divided into galleries. The first gallery was about the origins and the story of the country's beginning. The next two galleries were about land and ocean taking the students on a topographical journey from mountain top down to the shore and out to the sea. One gallery was about Volcanoes and even allowed students to experience a pretend volcano eruption. It was a little scary, I must say. The last gallery was about fossils and dinosaurs.

The very rare kiwi bird


Well, today was my first day as Miss. Burton as the teacher, fully in charge and in control of the 26 students of room 15. It was a great success and an awesome experience for me. I have learned so much over the past few weeks, but actually being in charge of 26 excited students in a museum was quite a learning experience. I have learned that parent help is an essential with whole day class field trips. The parents that Jane and I picked to help out with the field trip were exceptional, there were four parents plus Jane and I. The four parents already knew all the students name through volunteering in the classroom over the past few months so they were great help.

The whole class in the Auckland Museum!!


The FAB 5 a.k.a DISCOVERERS

My beautiful group of five students that I took around the Museum today we called ourselves the Discoverers



We also visited a dinosaur exposition in a classroom taught by a Museum Educator. The session was a hands-on session where students had the opportunity to handle rock collections, fossils, lava bombs etc....The students at Point View have been studying about dinosaurs so the course was very interesting and educational for all students. Even I learned a little something about the difference between fossils and dinosaur bones!

Food of the Day: Vegemite Sandwich (YUCK!!!!), New Zealand Apricot Jam, Seedless Blackberry Jam and New Zealand Peanut Butter, Gaiety, Caramel Oaty slice and Karyn’s famous FUDGE!!!

Weekend Update June 11-13

Jane, Jessica and I out on the town!!

Wow, I can’t believe I have just finished my fifth week of student teaching. Time is flying by so fast. I had the opportunity to catch up with Jessica Srdar, who is student teaching in Auckland as well. She is a student of the University of Georgia so it was good to see a familiar face and catch up with an American and talk about our experiences. We met up with my teacher, Jane and her husband at a local restaurant. On Saturday I went shopping with Jane and a friend, Marilyn at Sylivia Park, the biggest mall in New Zealand. I then came home and made Hokey Pokey with the Webster family and then we went to the Cock and Bull for dinner and wine. After we arrived back home for dinner we ate Choc Bars and port wine while watching All Blacks (The notorious rugby team of NZ). I have found that you have to have New Zealand chocolate with New Zealand/Australia Port Wine. On Sunday we went to the Victorian Markets. I am beginning to love New Zealand people, I have been said to look like Carrie Underwood, Reece Witherspoon, talk like Britney Spears and today a lady asked if I was a model!! Needless to say, my self-esteem has increased immensely. The highlight of my day was buying New Zealand UGG Boots for only $100 US Dollars. Anyone who has bought UGG Boots knows that this is a STEAL!! I found out that the UGG Boots originated in New Zealand and Australia just stole their idea and put UGG on the back...supposedly NZ called them UGGLY BOOTS!! haha

Karyn, Deanna and I at Sale Street!!


All the children with our new UGGLY BOOTS (Deanna, Kathryn, Nick and I)

New Drink of the Day: Shingle Peak New Zealand Pinot Noir, Kiwi fruit Vodka and Midiori and Pinapple
Food of the Day: Choc Bar, Banoffee Dessert Pizza, Hokey Pokey, Chocolate and Caramel Slice and Steak and Stout Hot Pot, Wagyu Burgers and cookie bear chocolate chip cookies

Teaching Side of things-Week 5 and The Medieval Banquet

A few of the teachers and our velvet princess costumes


Week 5 at Point View School was a huge success. I did a lot of planning and preparation for the next three weeks of full control. I am on full control from June 14th-July 2nd. I have begun to feel more confident in my teaching and behavior management system.

On June 8th we had a Medieval Banquet, to end our thematic unit on the middle ages. The teachers dressed up as princesses, Robin Hood and even the court jester. The children dressed up as knights, princesses, court jester and kings. We ate vegetable pottage, cinnamon toast, jam tarts, chicken drumsticks, and blackcurrant juice like medieval wine. It was a fun celebration for the students and teachers.

My whole class before the Medieval Banquet


Year 3 at the Medieval Banquet


At the Medieval Feast with a few knights and a King


I have learned so much in the field. I have gained more confidence everyday and learned that positive reinforcement works magic and students respond to positive feedback more than anything else. By the end of the week I had students eating out of my hands because of all the praise and acknowledgment that I recognized. This student teaching experience has shown me how to give students the attention they need in the correct manner. I found that before this experience I would only give students attention when they were bad and misbehaved. However, I have quickly learned that is possibly the worst thing you could do as a teacher. Students are dying for any attention whether it is positive or negative. I feel that I have come a long way in these five weeks of teaching and can’t wait to see what is ahead in the weeks ahead.

The children with their medieval Food: a drumstick, vegetable pottage, cinnamon toast and jam tarts


On Thursday and Friday I completely finished my planning for the week ahead. I also took down the medieval castles and made the bulletin board ready for my weeks of full control. Since I am centering all my lessons around our class novel, Charlotte’s Web, I decided to make a huge web and throughout my teaching I will put vocabulary words in the web and other projects that we do with this theme.



Away from Teaching side of life…

I had the chance to go to movie and dinner with a few teachers and friends this week. We went to see Sex in the City II. It was so fun to socialize and hang out with people away from children. Haha One of the ladies told me that I looked like Reese Witherspoon from Sweet Home Alabama and Legally Blonde. I was star-struck!!! We all know that I look nothing like Reese but after a hard week of teaching I took the compliment and ran with it! I told them they could call me Reese any day of the week. Jane laughed and said that she would definitely remember that and call me by my new nickname when needed at school! I love Jane she is so fun to hang out with away from school. She is full of energy and excitement.


Food of the Day: Mellow puffs, jam tarts and jelly tip Ice Cream

Trip to Rotorua

The Skyline View of Rotorua


“It smells like someone farted on top of shaved ham,” Deanna says as we drive into Rotorua. As funny as this sounds, this is exactly how this town smells because of all of the mud pools and the geysers that let out steam it smells like rotten eggs. The water underground finds a geyser and pushes up and turns into steam. The whole town smells like poo!! However, you get use to the smell very fast! The locals call the town RottenRora. haha

Rotorua is a good 3 hour drive from Auckland. So we did not arrive until really late on Friday night and just made a quick trip to KFC (In NZ you do not get wedges you get fries with your combo meal) for dinner and settled into our “Holiday House.” It was very nice just relaxing and eating lots of chocolate. We had Cadbury’s Turkish Delight, Whitakers Milk Caramel, Fudge Duets and Honeycomb Tim Tam’s and hot tea and lots of milk!!!

On Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn! The children seriously woke up at 5:30 a.m. We then went to the Skyline and rode up on the gondola to the top of the mountain and then took the luge (almost like go-carts just on a sled). There were three tracks (Scenic, intermediate and advanced) we went on all three tracks. When you get the bottom you then get on a chair lift and it brings you back to the top where you go down again!! After a few hours of the luge we had a New Zealand lunch consisting of Mince Pie, Lolly Cake and of course hot tea.

On the luge with Nick


After we finished at Skyline we then headed to Paradise Valley, a wildlife park nearby. We had the opportunity to pet a lion cub, see live wallabies (almost like Kangaroos), donkey, lamas, goats, sheep, wild pigs and huge mean lions. I felt like I was in the movie Lion King, they were so close to us. When we ventured off to the lions den it sounded like they were having a disagreement. The lions were roaring at each other, it was intense and a little scary. We also fed wild pigs, lamas and lions. The children couldn’t believe it when I told them that I used to feed my own pigs peppermint and circus peanuts. They could not believe that I touched the pigs without fear. Haha. It is crazy how everyone thinks showing livestock is so strange; nobody understands it here in New Zealand.

Feeding the friendly donkey


Paradise Valley


Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!!


Baby Kangaroo


After we left the park we then went to Te Puia were we took the cultural tour and experienced mud pools, geysers, and even a cultural show of the Maori people. On the tour we actually had a chance to the see the water underground find a geyser and push up into smelly steam. We had to put our hoods on and run for cover because the mist from the steam was pouring like rain on us. We also saw live kiwis this was neat because they are so rare and almost extinct. We then had dinner at the Lone Star, where I had Mexican food and heard country music for the first time since I have been in New Zealand! I must say, I miss American Mexican food; it is just not the same here in NZ! However, the New Zealand chocolate makes up for the bad Mexican food!

Te Puia


Geyser Explosion


On Sunday we took it easy. It was a very rainy day so we just decided to go to the Agradome, to see the sheep show. It was very interesting and we had the chance to see a variety of different animals. I even ran into one of my students from school at the show. She came and sat with me during the performance, she was real excited to see me in real life and out of the school setting. I felt loved!! We then had lunch at the cafe and then came back to our holiday house and took a Sunday afternoon nap after lunch and ordered “Hell’s Pizza” for dinner and had Trumpet Ice Cream for "pudding" a.k.a DESSERT. We then watched the Whale Rider (A New Zealand Movie). It was a great movie and made a lot more sense now that I am more familiar with the culture and the Maori People.

Bella, one of my students, holding a baby lamb at the Sheep Show!


The friendly sheep showing some love before the show!


Food of the Day: Magnum Almond ice cream, Cadbury berry pancetta, beef mince pie, lolly cakes, Cadbury’s Turkish Delight, Whitakers Milk Caramel, Fudge Duets, Honeycomb Tim Tam’s, and Trumpet Ice Cream Cone

Week 4 of Teaching May 31-June 4

Paavan pretending to be a Walrus while making his crown for the medieval banquet next week.



The girls working on their henens for the upcoming Medieval Banquet


Thursday night out on the town with Kate and friends!!



Over these past few days I have had full control throughout the school days with a little help from Jane. I am continuously gaining more confidence in my teaching and gaining children’s respect more and more each day. Jane has been absent two days this week, Monday and Wednesday. The reliever teacher (a.k.a. substitute teacher) has given me great feedback and observed my teaching along with Jane. It is good to gain feedback from various adults. Everyday I am learning more about myself and as a teacher.

Over the past few weeks, I have also been introduced to a new reading comprehension resource book written by Sheena Cameron, New Zealand author. I actually had the opportunity to meet and speak with her on Wednesday of this week; she came to Point View and held a 3-hour workshop with all the teachers in the school. It was a great learning experience and I gained many ideas from Sheena Cameron’s workshop on reading comprehension strategies and how to teach them. I plan on using the strategies in my three weeks of full control, which are approaching very quickly!!

Over the past few weeks I have really been focusing on behavior management. It is unreal to observe how students respond to positive reinforcement. Students love praise and recognition! This week I put a star on the board and if I caught students being good I would put their name in the gold star and give them a sticker at the intervals of the day. It was so funny because the students seriously wore the sticker they received on Monday every day of the week. It is amazing how students here react to positive reinforcement, students will seriously eat out of your hands just for a little bit of praise and attention. I am learning so much from Jane everyday. I can’t wait to see what lies in the days ahead.

During the week days away from School:

I went to dinner with a few friends on Tuesday night; we had Portuguese food at Nando’s a local restaurant here in Auckland. Then on Wednesday night we grilled on the “Barbie” it was so much fun!

The weather here is so weird. One minute it is pouring down rain and then ten minutes later the sun is shining and it could not be any more beautiful. It is days like these when I realize that I am living on the coast of the island! I feel like I am living a dream, living in NZ still does not feel like real life and it has been a month already!

Thursday night I went shopping with Jane and her daughter Kate. I found some cute NZ teaching/going out clothes. Kate is a hair-stylist so I will definitely be going to see her in a few weeks for cut and color. haha I then went to a local club with Kate and some other friends. It was lots of fun and interesting to compare the nightlife to the U.S. It is funny to see how much of America is here, especially the music (It is all American rap and pop music)! I love it because it makes me feel at home!


Food of the Day: Tofu, Trifle Dessert, Mince Pie, Prawns and Passion Fruit Cupcake, Cadbury Bubbly White Chocolate Bars, Mars Bar