Journey to the Bottom of the Earth: 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!