Maraetai Beach School

I wish that I could go back in time, move to New Zealand, and go to Maraetai Beach School. It was a very nice school with a beautiful view! Who wouldn’t want to go to school on the beach? When we arrived at the school we met with Lesley Pether, the principal, and the deputy principal of the younger children. They gave us a quick synopsis of the school. It is a decile 10 school which was quite different than decile 1 school Koru. Deciles rank the economic status of a school with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. It was a very small school with only about 200 students.

The first school that we went to was a Year 2 classroom. The students read a big book aloud with the teacher. she stopped to have students recognize the beginning sound of some words. One thing I really like was that she had a wheel with "ig" on it and it rotated to put a letter in from of "ig." The students had to read the words (ex. fig, pig, rig, jig) and act them out. Afterwards, they split up into groups and did different activities such as spelling words in play-doh, reading with the teacher, and playing word games.

The second class we visited was the New Entrant class. Students were in groups all over the classroom working on different activities. They had one child who was having his first day of school, because he recently celebrated his 5th birthday. One activity had students writing get well soon cards to a character in the book that they were reading.

After morning tea, we visited a class that had both Year 3 and 4 students. This class was also split into groups (I am starting to see a theme!). Students were reading, working on their spelling lists, or playing word games. I really liked that there were 4 different spelling lists. In the U.S. all students are given the same vocabulary words even if they are too hard or too easy for them. Another surprising thing was that there was a cat in the classroom! Schools in NZ are so laid back. There was also a cat that roamed around the staff room.

The last classroom we saw was a Year 5 and 6 class. The teacher had students read silently for a couple minutes, and he called a few students to his desk to read out load to him. Students them went into their reading groups to read. At the end of the period, the students got our recorders and xylophones to practice for their upcoming assembly.  The teacher was very talented at the guitar, piano, and recorder, and his passion for music was displayed in the classroom. One thing that I found interesting was that graded work was hung up in the class. I guess that is another aspect of NZ's openness, because in America grades are always kept confidential.

After lunch, we stayed in the classroom and chatted with the principals. Lesley gave us some great resources since she was a literacy adviser for 6 years. Also, she gave us the name of a great college in Christchurch that we are hoping to visit since Canterbury University cannot host us. Overall, I really enjoyed the school. We are definitely starting to see patterns in what the schools are doing. Almost every classroom we have visited has had the students put into ability groups and the classrooms have all of the walls covered with students work and literacy posters. Also, the teachers are always on the floor with their students and never in desks.
Tomorrow is our last school of the week. It is the school where Dr. Lindsey’s sister, Bryony, teaches at. Brittany will be teaching two lessons tomorrow! I am glad that I don’t have to teacher a class while I am here. I am jealous, however, that Brittany can say that she taught in New Zealand!