Last few Weeks

My terrible apologies for not creating a post in about two weeks! These last two weeks have been so incredibly busy I have completely lost track of time!
We have had the Christmas Concert, End of the Year Field Trip, End of the Year Parties, Koromiko Athletics, Team and Staff Meetings and Parties, and lots and lots of goodbyes! Its been so crazy that I have not even realized that tomorrow is my last day at Swanson School! Tears are starting to form as I realize I will no longer be teaching with this amazing staff or working with the kids that I have come to love. I packed up my room last night and am getting ready for my trip down to the South Island for my last five days here in New Zealand. It hasn't set in yet that I'll be leaving here soon...I guess I'll just have to come back!
Oh this is a great little story: Yesterday I was chatting with two students about who their teachers will be next year. We were having a lovely chat about what they thought about moving on to Year 7 and the Totara team, when one of them asked me "Miss Scheibe, who do you have in your class next year?" I told them I won't be having a class because I'll be going home. Then the other chimed in "Well yes, you live with Miss Bishop." I said, "Yes, right now I live with Miss Bishop, but I have to go back home to my home in America." They looked at me blankly for a minute and then the first boy simply said "Why? Aren't you going to stay here with us?"
It was sooo sweet and made me smile! I really don't want to leave!
My smile grows bigger knowing that Bruce (the principal here at Swanson) has personally complimented me on my teaching here and has told me that if I ever return to New Zealand I will have a job at Swanson!
It's been tough saying goodbye as well because Rebecca is leaving too. She is heading off for her OE (Overseas Experience - a common trip New Zealanders take to the UK for about 5 years). So everyone has been saying goodbye to both of us. I am hopeful and excited though that Rebecca and I will meet up again, maybe in New York one year for Christmas!
I have so much to say and so many thoughts going through my head, but it is 10:00pm here and I have just arrived home from Rebecca, Fiona, and my goodbye party so I am tired and need sleep before my last day with the kids tomorrow. I promise I will have a better blog entry, a good long one, soon. Probably a great reflecting entry on the 26th of December after I have arrived safely back home in Wisconsin.
The lasting thought right now is that I am loving it here in New Zealand. I don't want to leave Swanson School and I will miss my friends, colleagues, and students that I have met while working here in NZ. I am excited though to bring my talents and new experiences back to Wisconsin!

Athletics Day and Rainbow's End

The past two days have been awesome experiences for me where I was able to learn as well as reminisce. Yesterday, I was asked to go along on the Koromiko Athletics (Track and Field) Day at the Trusts Stadium. Here, the Track Meet was held during the school day starting at 9:00am and ending at 2:30pm rather than after school or on the weekend. I think this was so that every student is able to participate in the events regardless of whether or not their parents could transport them there and back. So 39 students, 3 teachers, and a few parent helpers all took off to the event. We had a very skilled team going with the expectations to win a lot of events and have fun!

The events the students participated in were:
800m
400m
60m
100m

High Jump
Long Jump
Discus
Shot Put

They separated the events by age, 8-11 year olds, and by gender. The 800m and 400m races were ran first because we wanted to get them done with early in the day before it got too hot out. Our kids did wonderful! Some of them were put into the race just to have the chance to compete and see what it is like to race against others. A few of our students though are amazing runners; in our ten year old boys 800m run one of our students took 1st place and another took 3rd place after smoking about 7 people in the last 200m! I was very impressed!! In the sprints, one of our girls took 1st place in the 100m dash. She was the big surprise of the day because we expected her to do well, but she really stepped up to the plate and performed!
The only disappointment of the day was that by the end of the day the events were running late and we were unable to stay long enough to finish off the events. In the end we had to leave before the 10 and 11 year old boys were able to run their 4x100 relay and before any of the girls were able to run their 4x100 relay. It was a shame because many of the students were looking forward to the event, but we had to get back to school because our bus needed to do its school route.
Being at the Athletics Day brought back memories of when I was in Middle School at our track meets. I remember being their age and competing in the events. It was fun to watch them cheering on their friends, chatting with other schools, and succeeding/struggling in their events. I can remember myself being in their shoes and experiencing the same feelings they had. It made me laugh though and look around for Mr. Borden and made me miss Amanda Rodman and our triple jump experiences!!

Today we went to Rainbow's End which is an adventure park similar to Six Flags Great America. Rainbow's end is a much smaller park consisting of about 10 bigger rides and a number of small carnival rides. They have one roller coaster, a log flume, a "giant drop" (Fear Fall is the name of this one), some other themed rides, and go-carts.
The students we took on this trip were the community helpers at our school. They are the peer mediators, road patrol, library and P.E. monitors, classroom councilors, and other various helpers around the school. This was their reward for doing such marvelous work around the school throughout the year.
We had 95 students, 5 teachers, Craig Holt-our deputy principal, and various parent helpers going on the trip. We organized the students by having a set check-in point where we kept everyone's backpacks. The students were allowed to go around the park as they pleased with their friends to enjoy the various rides. They had to check in with us at 12:00 and then be back to be ready to go on the bus at 1:45. These were strict rules with the students! If someone did not check in with us at 12:00 they would have to stay with us the rest of the day. Well done to all the students though, because we did not have one issue all day long. Everyone behaved, everyone checked-in, and we only had to issue on band-aid. It was a fabulous day! As for us teachers we roamed around the park checking in with kids as we saw them and of course enjoying some of the rides ourselves. We would have two people staying at the check-in point in case there was an issue, but otherwise we took turns going around and riding the rides with the children. It was great fun! At the end of the day 5 students came back early, so Rebecca and I took them to the roller coaster for one last ride. We ran all the way across the park with them and hopped on. It worked out nicely because many schools were also leaving at this time so the queues were short. We road the roller coaster with them and then headed back to hop on the bus.
This trip also brought back memories for me, because only 5 years ago did I do this same trip to Great America, but I was the student. I now was seeing the trip from the eyes of Dr. No (Mr. Nowakowski) my physics teacher.
Its strange and cool now seeing and doing the same activities with my students as I did when I was their age. Only now I'm the teacher and I'm supervising rather than participating. I'm not sure whether it makes me feel young or old...
There are only two weeks left as of today! Tomorrow will bring practice for our Christmas concert which is on Tuesday and Friday is Jandal Day. Jandal Day is a Push/Play Beach themed day where the kids are invited to wear their jandals (flip flops) to school and beach themed attire. The day will be filled with everyone participating in various activities outside, such as relays, obstacle courses, and other fun activities. We are doing this as a fundraiser for the Surf Life Saving Team. We ask the kids to bring in a gold coin donation ($1 or $2 - both are gold coins) to earn donation money to the people who volunteer for surf life saving. These are the life guards down at the beaches all summer long volunteering their time to watch the public.
I'm looking forward to a fabulous end of the year, and this weekend David and I are off to the Coromandel for a weekend of camping, beaches, and tramps (hikes)!

Only a few weeks left....

I have just realized that I only have 3 weeks left here in NZ! I am getting terribly sad. Not that I don't miss everyone from home, but I don't want to leave here. I am loving it so much! I am enjoying teaching my students so much and they're all getting so fun now. With the end of the year coming a lot of times behavior goes out the window and everyone starts acting up. So we've had a big talk with the students and have laid out the rest of the year with them. We had this past week which is their last real tough week of working. They had to finish their Inquiry Learning Reports and are presenting them to the class tomorrow, they had to prepare the Koromiko assembly, which is an assembly held with just the Koromiko (year 5-6) classes. We also started a new and final topic in Maths. So it was a crazy busy week for them.

These next two weeks should be a blast for the kids though, we have two field trips, the Christmas concert, a Push/Play National Jandal Day (jandal = flip flops), and then the last two days of school are just cleanup and goodbyes. So this should be a blast for them. We are starting to practice for our Christmas concert tomorrow. A buddy class has chosen a song and dance routine we are going to work on. It should be very fun! Our first field trip is this Wednesday to Rainbow's End which is an adventure park similar to Great America but on a much smaller scale than Great America. Our next field trip is on December 13th to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. Right before I arrived the class was studying global warming and the polar bears. They began to really look into the Antarctic and how global warming is effecting the south pole. Kelly Tarlton's has an Extreme Antarctica exhibit that will be great for the kids to explore. Its an interactive museum and aquarium. Rebecca, Amanda, and I went two weeks ago to do a prep for the field trip. We found loads of information and tried out some of the activities that the kids will be doing. It is a very fun place. Here are a few photos that I took while us three were there:

I have realized that I only have 4 more days of actual in the classroom teaching left. Its weird to think that my student teaching is coming to an end. I have these few days left here then three weeks back at home at Aldo and I'm done. Crazy!
On Tuesday, Rebecca and I have Classroom Release which means that we get to be out of the classroom and have a reliever (substitute teacher) come in. A teacher has 2 CR Days per term (quarter) These are meant to allow the teacher to have a full day of planning or testing away from the kids. This coming Tuesday, since its the end of the year and report cards have been done for our class we are going to go to other schools for me to observe. Rebecca has set it up with some of her friends that we can go see their classrooms so I am very excited for this opportunity!
I am getting sad that I only have three weeks left. This weekend is the Staff Christmas Party and then David, his friends, and I are planning on going up north to the Bay of Islands. Then I have next weekend which we have a few ideas for but no solid plans since we have to wait to see what the weather will be like. And then the following weekend David and I are off to the South Island! Its all going so fast!
This Saturday I am hoping to see one of my students at her dance show. She found my email and she and her mom emailed me inviting me to come and see her! I told her of course I would!
Well off to do my last bit of lesson planning!