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)!
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