The last 4 months!

In my last blog post I said I would do better. Well, lets just say life is busy!!! 

I am currently back up in Wellington for a couple more weeks (been up since just before Christmas). It has been wonderful catching up with whanau and friends. We spent Christmas up in Taranaki and it was very very busy but also really good. 

Since my last post, a lot has happened. Here is a list of the happenings in the world of Melody

• In holidays (October) 2 friends and I went to Akaroa (about 1 1/2 outside of Chch) for a few nights. It was the most wonderful time. I love those girls!
• Maria (my sister) came to stay for a weekend. It was very brief but we travelled around the city on bikes. Saturday was a glorious day and we had a lot of fun! For dinner we went to Burgers and Beers with my flatmates
• Centre Block: in our 3 week CB we had our special education fieldwork. This was so awesome! We got to work one-on-one with a child who is very below. I really enjoyed this fieldwork - it was challenging and so rewarding!
• Kellie (sister) came down for a long weekend which was also awesome! We got to relax and spend time together because she was here from Friday morning-Monday arvo. 
• Placement: For my fourth placement I was at North New Brighton (not far from Central New Brighton where I was in term 2). I had a year 4-5 class. They were awesome and I enjoyed the placement! I was able to teach lots of things I hadn't taught before. I really enjoyed the Christmas units that I taught. 
• Show day: It's real weird. For Canterbury Anniversary there is a 'show day' (or show week). My flatmates and I attended this. It was interesting and smelly. 
• Weekend home: In December I had a wedding in Wellington so I went home for the weekend. The same weekend was also my birthday so I was able to spend it with whanau and friends. We had a brunch on the Sunday morning which was yummy!!!
• Bidding week: Bidding week was pretty good and I was mainly finished by Thursday (had to hand it in on the Friday). We had a BBQ at one of the teacher interns houses and farewelled a number of people from my primary intake. It was sad to see them go, but so awesome for them! 
• Christmas: like I said before, I am back in Wellington now and we spent Christmas in Taranaki. 
• January: I am spending a lot of time catching up with friends this month. I have just booked flights to head back to Christchurch on the 18th of January. We start back on the 27th of Jan. It will be nice to spend some summer time in Christchurch as well as spending sometime doing some preparation for my fifth (and hopefully final) term. 

Arohanui

I said I would do better...opps...

Kia ora koutou e te whanau,

As I write this blog I think, flip, it’s been a long time! I am sitting at the Co-op for my usual Sunday planning session. I have gotten into a pretty good routine with my planning, and so I do not spend as long as I usually have to on it, which is always really nice.

The last 5 weeks I have been at Gilberthorpe School, over in Hornby area. I have a year 1-2 class of 19 students. They are all very cute. I am enjoying the teaching and my students. I have been teaching a wide-variety of subjects this time and doing the majority of the classroom teaching. I have enjoyed this and my confidence is growing each day. The students seem to be responding well to my teaching. It’s quite different at this age in terms of rapport with students. I felt that at the older age, they wanted to know more about me, and there was more to talk about with the students. This has been an adjustment, as I do not find the younger students as relational as my oldies. However, they are super cute and pretty funny at times.  

I have two weeks left there and then into Bidding Week. These last two weeks I am starting and finishing a music unit, with buckets. Looking at beat, rhythm and tempo. I’m really excited for this and hoping it will work out well! I have completed a number of units already so today I spent tidying up them, making sure that I had filled in all parts of the unit, ready to start bidding on them.

I have a week holiday after Bidding, but will not be coming home for that. I decided that since I am coming home for a wedding in December (2 weeks before the school year ends) I would go on a holiday with two of my friends. We are heading over to Akaroa and I am so excited for this! We are going to spend 3 nights over there. I haven’t been there yet, so it will be exciting to see the sights. The following weekend, Maria is coming down for 2 nights. I am hoping that it will be a nice weekend, as last time it was rainy rainy!

Anyways, enough from me! Tell me about you! Email me people! J

Arohanui

xx

The weeks that were...

Kia ora whanau,

Well, it has been a long time since I updating my blog! Seems like a lot has happened! The last two weeks of my teaching practice at CNB were pretty full on, getting everything sorted to leave is always hard! The last day was sad. I felt so apart of the whanau at CNB, and I knew I was going to miss my kiddies! My class threw a potluck lunch party for me, which of course I had no idea that they were going to do this! :P The feedback and cards I received from my students were so unbelievably amazing! My supervising teacher also gave me amazing feedback. My favourite moment, but also a moment that did my head in was during lunch. We had just finished celebrating in our room, it was lots of fun but I was also developing a headache from all the noise! I escaped to the staffroom, but a number of my female students were following me, not letting me go inside. I ended up going inside and they began chanting at the door “Kirkland, Kirkland, Kirkland”. They wouldn’t stop!! It was pretty funny!

Bidding week was good. I got through all bidding that I could/wanted to and ended up finishing even earlier than I had intended! I even spent the afternoon watching a movie before I boarded the plane to Wellington. On the Friday (the real last day of Bidding), two of my dearest friends got married. It was an amazing day! Nothing could bet it. Perfect. I then spent 9 days at home, catching up with people which was really nice. My Grandad was also down helping with Mum and Dad’s house so I was able to see him. It was awesome to be able to see the progress of Mum and Dad’s house, it was looking good. Even after a three weeks-ish, a lot has changed with the house! Its pretty crazy, next time I will be up in Wellington, they would have moved into their house and it will all be finished. I also spent a week down here in Chch before I started back. It was really nice to have a holiday in Chch (although I did do work because I got bored) because I have only ever been down here for Grad School.

I have had two weeks back at Grad School already. It has been really good, and I have been able to get a few academic bids out of the way. This is where you present ‘bids’ for boxes in our assessment book i.e. Treaty of Waitangi –background, differences, social/political/educational life from 1840 and then critiquing schools on the principles. I have one more week left of Centre Block and then into a school again for I think it is 7 weeks this time. I am not too sure what school I am going to yet, I find out this week. My guess is that I am probably going to be in New Entrants/Year One, since I have done Years 5, 6, 7 and 8. They will no doubt give me a big contrast of levels. I am hoping for a school on my side of town this time, so fingers crossed for that too!

Anyways, that’s a very quick update on my life…I will do better this next placement…I promise! Haha

Here’s a photo of Sophie and Jonie’s Wedding…some of us bridesmaids and the wedding party! So beautiful!

So proud!!!

Kia ora koutou e te whanau, 

Well, I have two weeks left at C.N.B. which is quite sad because I am becoming quite fond of this school and of my kiddies. I've had a very good week, but I am quite exhausted from it! I have carried on with my Te Reo Maori, and we have now finished our mihimihi and are starting to present them to the class from tomorrow (Monday). I'm first up presenting my mihimihi so hopefully my students will feel a bit better and less nervous about doing so. I've been practising over the weekend, and I think it will go alright....but we will see. :P

On Wednesday for Te Reo Maori we celebrated Matariki. I took them through what Matariki is about and showed them a youtube video on one of the myths behind Matariki. The students really enjoyed it. As the activity for the day, I talked about how Matariki, because it is the Maori New Year, its a time of new beginnings, and that when we celebrate the calendar new year around the world, people make new years resolutions and goals. So, I got my students to write a goal for the next 2 weeks for Te Reo Maori....what they wanted to achieve. So proud of my students, they made some fantastic goals that are totally achievable!!! Annnd, my new girl is loving our school...slowly getting her to start learning...but thats going to take awhile!! 

On Friday we held a Disco at school. It was so much fun and I so enjoyed dancing with my kiddies. The disco went extremely well and we raised a decent amount of money for one of the classes camps thats 3 weeks away. 

The weekend has been busy in some senses, but also really nice in others...I am going to do nothing this afternoon as I am very tired!! Not long till I come back home...in fact 18 days!! Horraaaay!!! I am very much looking forward to Sophie and Jonie's Wedding!! It is going to be greeeatt funnn!!!

Arohanui my dear friends xx

Halfway through!!

Kia Ora whanau and friends, 

The past two weeks have been filled with lots of fun but has also meant that I am quite exhausted! I am thoroughly enjoying my placement at Central New Brighton. It is a lovely school and my class is amazing...honestly, I have the best class! My main teaching is Te Reo Maori, Fitness, Reading and Maths. 

My tamariki and myself (and my supervising teacher) are all loving Te Reo Maori. It's so fantastic cause I don't have to do much Behaviour Management during these lessons because they are so engaged. It blows my mind! It shows me that the more engaging the session is (and the more they want to learn it) the less behaviour management you have to do. I KNOW! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!!?? :P We have been focusing on our mihimihi and I plan to finish it off this week and spend the next two weeks focusing on aspects of Tikanga within our classroom and within the school. They will be presenting their mihimihi's at the beginning of each Te Reo Session for the remaining two weeks...so we will see how that goes...I don't think I have told them that yet! During my Te Reo Sessions I do a Maori Vowel sound excercise..using short and long vowel sounds. It works like magic! I have started to do this during transition periods, breaks, on the buses etc. It gets the volume level down and everyone is engaged...even other classes are starting to pick this up. Woop! Honestly, Maori Vowel Sounds are magic...not even kidding. 

Last weekend I took a trip back home for 2 nights for Sophie's Hen's Party and Kitchen Tea. It was so wonderful to see lots of people again...even though it had only been 5 weeks! I also really enjoyed being able to do 'bridesmaid' stuff with the other bridesmaids...as I haven't been able to do that which I find really sad. :(

This weekend has been lovely and relaxing...I have watched far too many movies in the past couple of days though! I went to the Re:start Mall yesterday...man I love that place...especially on a good sunny day. Annnd, once again I am at the Coffee Co-op for my usual Sunday Morning Coffee and Slice. 

As I head into my fourth week at C.N.B. I am picking up more teaching and we are swapping our Maths  Groups around due to my assessment on where they are at...so yay! my assessment is actually doing something! haha. 

In less than 4 weeks I am back up in Wellytown...getting ready for Sophie and Jonie's Big Day! It is going to be flipping awesome!!! I cannot wait!! 

Anyways, bye for now! I will talk with you all very soon! Don't forget to email me! :) 

Arohanui! xx

It's been far too long!!!

Kia ora friends,

Well, it seems as though almost 7 weeks has gone by with no post. FAIL. So, here goes an update of the last 7 weeks!

I spent 11 days back home where I got to hang out with some of my favourite people! Some highlights of my time there were, going on a hot date with Lizzie, an evening stroll with Becky, helping Sophie out with Wedding decorations (or maybe more, she decorates, and I sit there talking), enjoying QUALITY coffee, spending time with the parentals, helping Mum make a wedding cake (oh the joys!), and discovering a new part of Wellington with Billy.

I came back to Christchurch a day or so before I started back at Grad School, I was refreshed and ready. The last day of my holidays, I had a picnic with my flatmate Claire and her friend Bethany. We went to my favourite bay in Christchurch, Rapaki. That was my second time there, and already its top of the list!

First week back at Grad School we had our art seminars. It was lots of fun, even when you suck at Art! I have lots of great tips and ideas for implementing art into my classrooms, and even produced a couple of pieces I like. Mind-blowing. I know. During that week we also spent a day with Sport Canterbury. It was a fantastic day and we all got lots of tips and information about P.E. and P.A. in our classes. The next day, we were all very sore!!! Myself and two Grad Schoolers spent the weekend working on our academics. We did the Curriculum Vision, Principles and Key Competencies. It was a long weekend, but it was so worth it! Not only did I get to spend it with two of my favourite Christchurch Ladies, but I also now understand the Curriculum vision, principles and KC's in full detail.

The next two weeks were spent doing Numeracy Fieldwork at a Primary School. Each Intern had a group of Year 5 students to work with. I really enjoyed my students and what I learnt on fieldwork. It is so great because I can now fully implement Math programmes into my classes as I understand the curriculum and the supporting documents/booklets. My students responded to me well from day one, which is always awesome!

In the middle weekend, I had my lovely friend Becky come down for 5 nights. She was down here for a block course. It worked out really well as we were both busy during the day but were able to hang out in the evenings. She even fitted in my bedroom...which is quite an achievement!! I spent most of Saturday working on Academics, while Becky was out with her Praxis Crew. On Saturday Night we went down the road for dinner with my flatmate Claire. It was so yummy and we ate the BEST beer-battered fries EVER! On Sunday we went to the Addington Coffee Co-op and had Brunch, then to the Botanical Gardens and the Re:start Mall.

Last weekend I had another visiter, one that I had not seen for 4 months! Maria (my sister) came down to Christchurch and we had a lovely time, even though it was raining pretty much all weekend! We went to the Co-op for coffee each day...Maria couldn't get over how awesome it was. We also went to Riccarton and the Re:start Mall for a bit of shopping. It was a nice time.

This past week I have been on Placement at Central New Brighton School. It is a lovely little school with five classrooms and under 100 students. There are 5 of us Grad Schoolers there, so yes, one in each classroom. The students and staff are enjoying having us which is always really nice! I have got a Year 6-8 class of 24 students. It is a really nice little class and I have already begun teaching (hooorraaaay!!!). Starting tomorrow (Monday) I am beginning a Te Reo Maori Unit with my class. I am doing 4 30 minute Te Reo Lessons each week. I have started to plan this and I know I am going to have fun! SO PUMPED! I have also picked up a Math Group, 2 reading groups, P.E., and I am team-teaching Science with my Supervising Teacher (ST). It's so great because my Supervising Teacher keeps saying to me, run the programme what ever way you want and I will support you in this. For me, this is really good! But also a bit scary. I think she is quite keen for some new ideas in ways of doing things.

This next week is going to be a bit tense at School as they are receiving a decision on their School Merger by the Ministry. So will see how that goes!!!

I am super excited because this school is a DUFFY BOOKS SCHOOL! In a couple of weeks we are having a Duffy Assembly and we will be singing the Duffy Kids Song...which I still remember from Rata Street Days. Wooop!!!

My Dad is arriving in Christchurch this afternoon for a few days, so that will be nice to see him.

Until next time (and no, it will not be 7 more weeks!!),

Arohanui xx

5 things I have learnt from Christchurch

As I head home to Windy Wellington for 11 days it seems appropriate that today I reflect on what I have learnt from Christchurch these past 11 weeks. 

5 Things I Have Learnt From Christchurch (Part One)

1. It is okay to ask for help. You see, I'm not one that asks for help that often so Christchurch has really tested this in me. Whether it is in teaching or moving flat.
2. That not every pedestrian intersection will make a sound for the 'green man'. This often resulted in me standing dumfounded at traffic lights for 5 minutes before I realised that I need to be alert at all times. 
3. A city in midst of destruction is still beautiful and alive. In conversations I have had with Cantabrians I have seen such passion for seeing their city rebuilt in a new and sustainable way. There is always something happening in Christchurch whether it is markets, flower festivals, busker festivals, children's fun day or the upcoming Craft Market Weekend. 
4. Bikes are a great way to see the city of Christchurch. Honestly, when you come and visit me, we are going to rent you a bike and you can experience the joys of biking in Chch. I have loved biking to and from Elmwood and Grad School. I reflected on this in a few of my bids. I noted that biking to and from School has allowed me to centre myself for the day, go over lessons, and to bike out stress at the end of the day. Of course, I haven't experienced that many horrible weather days..so this may change. But at the moment. It is fantastic! 
5. This is not so much learnt but confirmed...teaching is for me. As you will be able to tell by my previous blogs and if you have had phone/skype dates with me, I absolutely love teaching. The special moments throughout the day where children 'get' what you mean, students enjoying themselves, students bringing you cookies and smiles and laughs as you joke with them is priceless. Thank goodness that this was confirmed huh! 

So...there is my reflection. I am looking forward to seeing everyone very much over the next week or so. Many laughs, tears (yes, I am capable of crying...in fact it comes alot easier these days), smiles and general friend 'stuff' will be shared and had. 

Arohanui friends and whanau. I will join you shortly. P.S. I expect to be busy every night. Tues, Weds, Thurs next week are still free!! :) 

xx and I might even put some hugs in there...oo