Term 4 has been flying by! This week has been filled with lots of learning. In the four weeks that I have been here, I have already noticed some of my students growing as individuals. It is truly amazing how much young children develop in a short amount of time. On Wednesday, my parents came to check out school. My students were so excited that morning when I told them we were going to have special visitors. They were thrilled that “The American’s” were coming because they think our accents are so funny. Being only five and six years old, many of them couldn’t wrap their heads around how I was staying in NZ and not sleeping at my parents house while I’m here. It was a confusing concept for them to understand. They were excited to show my parents how much they have been learning in math and writing. It was really neat that my parents were able to watch me teach while I am here. Just like myself, they couldn’t believe how amazing the school structure is here, how independent the kiddos are, and how much freedom they have. This is truly a place where kids can be kids.
This week we finished up talking about day and night and my students created an oil pastel art project. Who knew that kiddos would find oil pastels tastey!! The little ones sure do like to put anything in their hands into their mouths. But, in the end their project did turn out very cute and they were able to explain the differences between the two by expressing it through art. I absolutely love the amount of art time students are given.
We have also been working really hard in math working with volume. Student had fun experimenting with different 3-D shapes to see which one held the most water, teddy bears, blocks etc. In NZ, they measure in Liters and Milliliters, so my co-op and I tried explaining to them how the measurements we use in America are different. Even though many of them may have not fully understood it, it is great exposure for them.
Today, we had athletics day! It was a BLAST!!!! We brought the whole school to the stadium and every student as able to compete in various events. Bringing them all to the stadium was so fun, but exhausting. We were there all school day and in the sun majority of the time so everyone was wiped on the bus ride back to school. Running long jump was a success in case you were wondering and so was competing in the staff race. The staff here is so fun and energetic. The kiddos loved laughing and cheering us on!
In just a short 3 weeks we are going to be putting on our Christmas concert, so we have been practicing our dance a lot. We are dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Boogie” and doing a sign language song called “Paradise” which is truly amazing to see them do. The best part of it all is that the staff is even participating in the concert and will be dancing to two songs. Really the kids just want to laugh at us so it will be entertaining for everyone. Don’t worry someone will get it on tape because let me tell you, it is going to be pretty great.
