Placements!!

We finally have found out our placements! I was originally placed at a State School in a Grade 5 class (again) - but the next day I recieved an e-mail saying they had confused my prac and I'm actually in a grade 2 class!! Yay I can't wait....

The only downfall is I have to take a city bus and it's over an hour bus ride! yay... oh well... So I'm back to being nervous about how it's going to to - but I'm sure it'll end up being fine just like my last one!!

One more week of class then off to prac!

(Week of) September 5th!

Can you believe that it's already September? Because I can't....

I have three weeks of school left and then 6 weeks of placement! Wow!! We don't know our placements yet but hopefully by the end of next week we should know!

I have one week of class and then I'm on holidays for a week! I don't really have anything exciting planned - just hanging out on the coast - I may do some day trips with my roommate Shannen and her brother - but that's about it... well besides trying to get ahead of homework.

This weekend was pretty quiet - I had just handed in a massive assignment on Friday (47 pages and 11000 words!) and I don't really have anything due for a couple of weeks - so I took a weekend off and relaxed... I cleaned my room, bathroom and kitchen (so much fun) and then just watched some tv and movies! I did do a bit of homeword but really not a lot....

That's why I thought this was an appropriate picture for this weeks picture of the week!

So here's to a weekend of lazing around! You know it's a tough life living in this climate - especially when you're a kangaroo!

I do have to say though I really wish I could have been home this weekend! Congratulations to Mark and Kaitlyn on their wedding day!! I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you - but just wanted to let you both know that I was thinking about you the whole weekend! I hope you guys had a great day - and I can't wait to see the pictures! 

Anyway yet again not a very exciting blog update - but apparently even in Australia I can lead a boring life. Who would have thought?! Anyway keep posted because hopefully the next one will have information about placement - and maybe I'll have something exciting to say after the holidays!

Hope everyone is doing well - and talk to you all soon!  

(Week of) August 29th!

Update about me?? EDU 652 - Understanding the Student (40%), EDU 641 - 3 Day Lesson Plan and Jurisdiction (30%), EDU 615 - Teacher Identity (20%), EDU 615 - Your Story (30%), EDU 340 - Portfolio of Teaching (30%)....... sounds exciting doesn't it??

I wish I had more exciting things to tell you but I don't - the last week has been spent doing homework... however it is starting to get nicer here (you know above 23 degrees) and sunny - so hopefully the 'nice' summer weather returns soon....

Oh yeah here's some news - my flight home is booked! November 27th (at midnight) I will be arriving back home to Ottawa!! It is absolutely scary how fast time has gone by! But three months left to enjoy myself here before returning to the snowy, freezing cold weather....

Anyway that sums up my week - so the quote/picture of the day - I figured I would talk about the start of a new school year at home.. it seems there are many people at home that are starting new positions, starting a new school, leaving home to attend a new University, or even if you're staying where you were last year - I want to wish everyone the best of luck this year with their new or old jobs/schools! Happy New School Year!!

Quote: The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows :D

(Week of) August 22nd....

And my blog is 100% caught up!!! Look at me go.. I know it took me a long time to get there - but hey I'm here now!

This week is pretty low key - tons of homework to do.. so that pretty much sums up my weekend yay...  :)

So here's to trying to keep this thing updated... I'll try and touch base at least once a week and if I have nothing to say I'll have a picture of the week or a quote of the week... so here's to trying...

The picture of the week:

Here's to Havelock and all the fairs in full swing at home at the moment - oh how I miss them! I hope everyone is enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer!

(Week of) August 15th!

Finally a relatively quiet week! By that I mean first time all semester that I have nothing going on Thursday and Friday - and I can get some stuff done!

We're right into school at the moment so that's taking up a lot of my time.... but it's all good. Didn't get up to too much this week but on Saturday we decided we needed to get out of the house... So we went to EKKA! Apparently that is short for Exhibition here...

We went to a fair!!!!!! And it made me feel at home - I won't talk too much about it cause we all know what a fair is like - but it had everything rides, games, horse shows, monster truck shows, and even a lumber jack show! It was sweet as.....

Here are the pics!!!

haha funny band... and pants

ps.. father's day is in September here

Whoa Baby!

Nicest car I've seen here!

Oh yesss.. they are riding bulls... Bulls with cowboy hats on too.... There are hillbillies (Bogans - as they are refered to here) in Australia!

 Ohhhhh - Gator Races... haha

(Week of) August 8th - Camp Week!

Another busy week ahead – but I’m really looking forward to this week! I only have two days of class this week because on Wednesday I am heading back to the school I did my prac at to help them with their year 5 camp.

They offer camp to all grades starting at year 3… but this camp was the longest that they had been staying away from home. We went to Somerset Dam which was an absolutely beautiful spot overlook a lake. The first night we slept in cabins – that had kitchens, and a bathroom and a living room that looked out onto the lake.. it was spectacular. I had a room to myself and was watching 8 girls in the bunk up a few stairs from where I was sleeping.

We did activities over the next three days that included canoeing, low ropes, orienteering, bush cooking (we made damper! Yumm) and archery. The meals included lasagne, roast chicken, potatoes, veggies, pancakes, omelettes, sticky date pudding, ice cream and Sunday sauce! I ate so good away at camp!

The first night went alright – I had two girls completely spooked by what two other girls said. Two girls spread the rumour that they thought they saw rat (red) eyes underneath their bed and of course scared the rest of the girls. I managed to talk them down and convinced them that there are no animals under their beds and they stayed the night in the cabin. The second night we slept out in tents – freezing and the girls beside my tent talked the WHOLE night.. not a great night but I guess it was up to me to make them stop talking – and that wasn’t working so well.. so in a way it’s a touch of my own fault. Oh well.. it was a great experience and it was great to see the kids again – and see them outside of the classroom where students who may not normally shine were fantastic on camp!

I took a few pictures – I’m not going to post many because of privacy reasons but I did take a few of the back of heads which I’ll post because you can’t see who they are (not that you’d know them but – ya know…)

This was the view from my cabin's porch... the view from the dining hall was even more spectacular...

One of the awesome activities we did - with their helper 'Des'

More Archery - And 'Des'' Partner in Crime 'Troy'.... get it Des and Troy... DesTroy....

Busy Week! (Week of) August 1st

Late night and back to school for a bright and early 8am start…. Sucked…. But again I only had to get through 3 days of school before I was back enjoying another long weekend! That’s never going to get old….

It was another busy week though – I had class and meetings because I was volunteering at a learning conference on the Friday. So Friday rolled around and I had to be at the school for 7:30, Lise and I (and lots of others too) volunteered for the whole day – we had to speak and thank the speakers and present them with gifts and usher people in the right direction. It was a good learning conference though – very interactive and very helpful. So the conference went until 3:30 or so and the volunteers stayed until about 3:45-4:00 and then us Canadians went to another conference from 4:30-6:30. We had to go to a ‘CANTEACH’ conference where Mike – who is the guy who got us here – was holding a conference on how to apply to Ontario. Yep – it was an ecstatic and exciting Friday…. Whoooo….  But it was all good…