Today, I began my school visitations starting with Mellons Bay Primary which is a school located about 30 minutes south east of Auckland. This visit was especially important because my entire idea of travelling to NZ stemmed from a visit to Room 19 at Mellons Bay. Here's the back story: during senior year of college when most of us were student teaching in Salisbury and Ocean City, one of my roommates (Jaime) came to Mellons Bay for her 6 week observation. When Jaime returned, she couldn't say enough good things about New Zealand, the school, the kids, and most importantly her mentor teacher Mrs. Elliott. When I had the idea to travel over here, I contacted Mrs. Elliott who welcomed me to visit and even set up observations of nearby schools during my stay.
Well I finally had a chance to see what all the excitement was about and I'll have to say that my expectations were exceeded.
Today was the first day of school after their two week holiday. Schools here work like a year round school. They have about 6 weeks off from Christmas- February to mark the end of the school year. When school starts back in February, the students attend for about 6 weeks and then have a two week break which is the pattern that continues throught the year- sounds like an idea we should adopt in the US :)
Mellons Bay educates students ages 5-11 and they are grouped in classes based on their year in school. For example, today I was primarily with a year 4 class which was composed of 8 & 9 year old students. In NZ, you start school the day after your fifth birthday so students start at any time throughout the year in Year 0. After they complete that part of the year and get acquanited, they start year one.
The school is essentially a series of buildings that contain two or three classrooms all of which open to the outside. Traveling to the library or another classroom means running outside to get there which solves the common problem in schools of talking in the halls. Teachers here teach through the day besides morning tea and lunch- meaning the teach all special subjects within their homeroom class. The entire school has morning tea (basically snack/recess) and lunch at the same time. When the time comes, students walk outside and find a space on the blacktop or playground to eat. There are a few teachers who monitor the school and eventually the students have time to play.
During reading and math, the class (28 students) is broken up into groups based on ability. The teacher works with one group at the time to review concepts and answer questions. While this happens, all other students are focused on their work which was located throughout the room. I've never seen such a large group of students on task with little reminders from the teacher. It was outstanding!
I had some great conversations with the students about what to do in New Zealand, the differences between American English and Kiwi English, and what American schools are like. Their idea of American schools included mean teachers yelling at students to be quiet all the time! I explained that our school and teachers are similar then at Mellons Bay and they were relieved. We discussed some differences in our language- here are a few of them:
Braids= plaits
Vacation= holiday
Trash=rubbish
Napkins=servittes
Bathing suits=togs
In the afternoon I helped out with Year 0 classes in their first day of gymnastics. Each term the entire school completes the same sport/ activity for PE and each team takes a turn supplying the lessons. The kids were split into teams and I helped explain and demonstrate their gymnastics stations. Watching the little 5 year olds in PE made me really miss my Calvert kids! They are just so cute at that age.
I was so impressed with the organization of the class, and how everyone seemed to be on task the entire time. Students worked at their own speed, in their own ability group and had help when needed. Additionally, the whole school had lunch and recess for over an hour with about 5 teachers to supervise without any issues. No injuries, no arguing, no tears. Everyone seemed to find something to do and enjoy themselves. Students thrived with the freedom they had during this time to play how they wanted with anyone in the school. As a whole, the students were very independent and sweet! And their accents were as cute as I anticpated them to be :)
Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll be visiting other schools in the area. I've never visited a place like Mellons Bay- absolutely beautiful! ! It's like a beach town where every area is surrounded by the bay/water. The houses are amazing! And the towns have cute shops and restaurants. My hotel is beach front, two stories, with a kitchen and king size bed ( a major upgrade from my hostel in Auckland!) . The last two pictures are views from the hotel... I'm already considering staying another night :)
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