Hey all,

Sorry for not posting this last block until today, but we'd had internet/computer troubles, so here is the last update now!

I started off in the high school again on friday morning. The students here were putting the final touches to their presentations so that the primary school students could come through soon after. I helped the USA group again make Statue of Liberty torches for each primary school student. I spent the whole morning up until recess doing this, with Mr Brouwer handing out milky way inspirations to all of us throughout the morning! :) The USA group worked through recess, and after their recess I headed out to the primary school, who now had morning recess. I headed to the Grade 3&4 class with Cassie Hart after recess, and helped the students with sound waves. After Sound waves, they each had to make their own 'who am i.' One girl named Julie fired a few questions at me and made me the subject of her 'who am I.' :) At the end of class, another girl named Olivia walked up to me and gave me a massive hug because she didn't think she'd see me again, although i received a number of hugs from her throughout the day! :) During lunch time I headed outside again and had a number of photos with many of the primary school students. I headed to the Grade 1&2 class after lunch, who had library and from there I read them a few stories, before heading out to the bus where we met up with the prep class and their teacher Hannah Coote, to go swimming. We 'supervised' their swimming classes and at the end of the day took them back to school, finished off and then followed the many goodbyes. It was really hard to leave school, because I really enjoyed the week! Overall.. this week was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I thank the CIE committee greatly... because I'll always treasure this wonderful experience! I'll upload some photos later on again as well! :) 

Steph

Today was another very exciting day! I met Mrs deRuiter before school, who had her birthday today! I started the day off in the Grade 3&4 classroom, with Cassie Hart as teacher. They started off with singing and Bible story, before heading out to do the daily excercise, where they joined with the Grade 1&2 class and played Corners. Math followed this, and I took the the Grade fours for math, while the grade three students went with Cassie. I supervised their Math Check books, and then took them outside to draw a birds eye view of the playground and put compass points on their drawing. It took a little bit to make sure everyone was on task, but it was definitely fun! :) After recess I headed off to the Prep/Kindy classroom with Mrs Veltkamp. I helped them weaving little people and then helped decorate the classroom because today was Mrs Coote's birthday. She came in around lunch time to take over the prep/kindy class from Mrs Veltkamp. After lunch I headed off to Mrs Elgersma's class again for music. She had the primary school students (from grades 3-6) for choir first, and then the grades 7&8 for recorder. After this session we headed over to the senior school who were doing their cooking challenge for the different countries they are representing. This was rather exciting as Mr Brouwer, Mrs Eilander, Mrs E, myself and Shimone were all in the class along with the students who were all busy cooking! Pizzas, apple pies, chips and the like were being made. I chatted to Mrs E for a while as well, my fellow muso (actually, so is Mr Brouwer!) about different uni studies regarding music, which certainly helped a little for me! It's definitely helpful to gain different people's opinions and ideas about the courses you can take! We did a whole heap of dishes and tasting food before helping to pack up the kitchen! It was definitely an exciting day today... and I'm dreading the end of tomorrow when we'll have to say goodbye to everyone! I won't upload any photos today, but if I don't get the chance to do some more while I'm here I'll upload them when I get home!

Steph  

Today was a very different day compared to the other two, because for the first time I was in the primary school! I started the day off in the year 1 and 2 classroom. They start off with singing and prayer, and when asked for any prayer requests, one of the little girls said, 'Can we thank the Lord that Stephanie is with us today?' That really touched me, and it also really showed the difference between high school and primary! Bible story followed devotions. Today they had a story on Haman, Mordecai, Esther and King Ahasuerus. Their eagerness was obvious, and it was with much reluctance that they stopped the Bible story, for each little person really wanted to know what happened next! Daily Phys Ed came after that, so we all went outside while they played 'stop lights' and 'corners.' I was in their class for Math also, where I took one group while Sharene (Terpstra) took the other group. All of the students were very accepting that I was there to help them, and often came to me for questions or to have their sheets marked. After recess I headed off to the grade 5&6 classroom with Mrs Posthmus as the teacher. I heard many stories about my parents from her so that was quite interesting. The grade 5 and 6 students were busy with limerick poems, so helping some students with that was quite fun and interesting, as well as learning new names and faces. After lunch I was in the music class with Mrs Elgersma. She called the grade 5 and 6 students in, and they (a class of around 8 students) all came off the play ground with their shoe laces tied together. It was really cute to see the friendships they all have together. They're learning the recorder at the moment, so I listened to their lessons with Mrs Elgersma and Mrs Hidding. Next week they also receive a guitar and start to learn that as well! The grade 3 and 4 students also had music this afternoon, and they dealt a lot with the red, yellow and black thinking caps. They would listen to music and say what they thought about it (the red cap), what they liked about it (the yellow cap) and what they didn't like about it, or what could be improved on (the black cap). One thing that Mrs E really stressed was not to spend too much on the black cap, particularly because some students would play the music on their recorder, because that can cause negative thinking. She stressed that the yellow cap was also important to put on, because we tend to find it difficult to say nice things about people. I really liked and appreciated the way she taught these different caps and ways of thinking to the students, and also found it as something to think about myself! All in all, it was a very eventful day, and I had a lot of touching moments, especially as some children came up to me with questions such as 'Can you come out to recess with me?' I think the prayer request was definitely the highlight of my day!

Until tomorrow... Steph

This morning was another cold morning, but not quite as bad as yesterday! :) Once again, I started off in the high school math classrooms. Mr Swarts sent quite a few students my way, and thankfully I could help them work out their problems! :) I marked a couple tests for him as well, and it was interesting watching another teacher's way of assessments and marking with the students!

During recess I got stuck into a game of soccer with all the students, as well as lunch recess. It's definitely different playing with a softer soccer ball on a basketball court, but still certainly lots of fun! The fog was still hanging around during recess, so it was definitely quite cold!

After recess they once again got stuck in to their significant places project. I helped the American group again, fixing up and doing their flag! Mr Brouwer handed his camera over to me as well to get a couple shots of the students working for him! 

This afternoon, each group presented a series of drills on a certain sport from their country. The five countries being studied are: USA, South Africa, England, India and Italy. It was quite interesting watching the presentations of the different groups, and the responses of their peers. Mr Brouwer and I 'supervised' these sport activities and it was an afternoon of fun. Two groups organised drills for soccer, two for basketball, and the 'India' group presented a totally different sport altogether. I must admit that I can't remember the name, but it looked like they were having fun! :) 

As I was in the same classes today as yesterday, today wasn't much different, but definitely exciting and full of fun. Tomorrow I hope to be moving around the primary classes a little more, including the music class, so I definitely look forward to that! 

Steph

We left the Mulder's house at a chilly -1 degrees this morning... ready for our first day. Mr Brouwer welcomed us this morning at school, as did a few other teachers who happened to be around when we first walked in. He showed us around a little, and then pulled us into his office to hand out a timetable to each of us before taking us to the senior school classrooms. This week the Year 10 class is in Canberra, so the rest of the high school has combined classes and are working on a special project called 'Significant Places.' We sat in on their double maths period this morning, helped out a little and met a few new people. After recess they started on their 'Significant Places' projects, which began with a smartie auction, where I also walked around amongst the groups, helped out here and there and got to know a few different students. I met a few more people in lunch time and after lunch they also did their Significant Places project. I stayed mostly with the group who was assigned to America and helped them make their American flag. It's going to be one huge flag! :) Tomorrow I'll also be in the senior school and on wednesday I'll start moving amongst the different classes a bit. Mr Brouwer also invited us to attend the staff meeting after school, which we both did. I was really glad we stayed for that, as it becomes obvious the amount of work which is put in behind the scenes. The teachers also made us feel very welcome and we could also meet the primary school staff. It was great to 're meet' a few teachers, like Mr Brouwer from 2 years ago, Mr Swarts from way back in Albany already and also my cousin Sharene. All in all I had a fun day, and look forward to the rest of the week! 

Steph