Movin' On and Christmas Cheer

Yes I know, it's been quite a long time since our lat post- but we have been very busy! The last few weeks of school had me attending Christmas concerts, craft days, Christmas parties/gatherings and it has been busy on the farm as Mark nears the end of his time there.

I look back at my time here in Sale and I am so thankful for the experience I was given and was spoiled rotten by the staff and students! I came in as a stranger and left as a friend and will miss all my students very dearly. I have learned so much about myself as a teacher in these past 4 months and feel very ready to tackle teaching back home in Canada- well start applying at least- keep your fingers crossed for me!

Although farming here was very different from what we know back home Mark has loved the experience and has learned a lot about working as a team, communication, being a manager and learned how to do some things differently- he especially loved his AI job with Genetics Australia.

On the road I hope we have more time to keep up with the blog more regularly- but I thought I should share some pictures and stories of our last few weeks here and how we celebrated during the holidays!

Mark Round Baling 

Family Christmas at Inverloch


Me, Kendra, Rianna, Amanda and Mark knew headed down to to Inverloch ( a town just south east of Melbourne, along the coast) It is a very beachy town with many holiday houses, surfers, and little shops. We stayed at a gorgeous holiday house owned my Trevor and Rita Platt, who own the farm that Amanda works on. We enjoyed a walk along the beach, Christmas Dinner, opening presents, exploring rock pools and the caves and each others company. We will all be headin off in different directions soon so it was nice to spend a weekend all together.

Lounge Room

Pool and Spa

Kitchen

Outside

My (unwanted) plop into the pool

Exchanging gifts/trying them out

Hilarious!

mmmmm iced coffee!

Rock pools- full of little marine life! Such an interesting place to explore!

Fam jam!

We found lots of little star fish

Hermit crabs!

Heading into the caves

Tight squeeze

Mussles!

Eagles Nest

Starfish

Christmas Day


Rianna, Mark, and I spent Christmas day with the Steads (Steve, Kim, and their kids Brittany, Hayden, and Reagan)! Mark works on the Stead family farm and we are currently living in their home and they live in NZ but are here for the holidays. We had breakfast together,opened up presents, and played a game- it was a great morning. The three of us attended mass then returned and had Christmas lunch including shrimp on the barbie! It was delicious! We spent the day hanging out and enjoying each others company!

Opening presents for the cats

Opening gifts

playing 5 seconds- quite difficult with me being the winner! : )

Playing some footy!

Dinner on the deck

Christmas crackers!

A Day In the Life at Bundalguah Primary

It's only been 5 months since I walked across the stage and was handed my teaching degree and nearly 3 months since I stepped in the classroom all on my own in Melbourne. That day was terrifying but in this short time I have had the opportunity to grow and learn as a teacher. Being a supply teacher was a challenge - as most students did not want to take you seriously but I can now say that having your own class can be difficult as well. Not difficult in the sense that the children are not following rules etc. but difficult because everyday you change the way you organize yourself (lesson plans), find new management strategies, follow curriculum, and just trying to find enough time in the day to fit everything in.

 Words can not express how much I have learned since gaining my position as a teacher at Bundalaguah Primary School. The staff there is amazing and everyday I am learning how to better my teaching strategies. Not all days are easy- as us teachers know- but I always try to look at those days as learning experiences. I might ask myself: Why didn't that lesson work? What could I have done? How could I have made that more engaging? etc. Just as I have done during my teaching placements in university, I still write monthly plans, weekly plans, and from there write daily plans. One thing I have learned to do more often is preparing different learning centers which has the students working together and doing independent exploring, which leaves me time to work one on one with a group. I have also become more comfortable with Smart Board technology and using the computers in a lesson

I arrived half way through term 3 and now that we are into term 4 I have a permanent schedule which looks like(it seems chaotic but I love it! haha):

Monday: At Bundalaguah(generally) as a CRT
Tuesday: P.E Teacher at Araluen Primary until 1:00pm- then grade1/2 class till home
Wednesday: Prep(kindergarten)/1/2 Spelling, Prep Time, Prep ICT/Art till lunch, 2/3/4 Art class until home
Thursday: Prep Spelling, 3/4 class until lunch, 5/6 class till home
Friday: Prep Spelling, 5/6 class rest of the day.

Although I am not with these classes 100% of the time I am still responsible for the lesson planning and I attend all staff meetings, PD sessions and I am still involved in assessment discussions and long term planning. This schedule definetely keeps me on my toes! I love teaching and I know its what I want to do in life! I am going to be so sad leave!

Enjoy some of the pics I have time to snap during one of my days!:

All ready to go!

Working on subtraction with a grade two student

Maths games on the computer

Subtraction again

Prep/1/2 class

Handprint dragons we made

Me, teaching art to the 5/6 class

Charcoal portraits

Cricket day with the 5/6's

The blue tongue lizard that lives in the school garden