The Start of Something Wonderful, Student Teaching in Ireland : Starting Week 5

Today is the start of my fifth week here in Ireland. Words can't describe how I am feeling at this point. It is hard to believe that my journey is almost half way over. With that, I wouldn't change anything in the past couple of weeks. I have learned so much in just a short amount of time, not only about myself but about Ireland / Irish culture. It is safe to say that I absolutely love this place. This week I noticed that I am completely comfortable with my day to day life. I have made wonderful relationships at school, with my students and staff members. I feel like I am an actual teacher there, and not just someone who will be leaving in five weeks. I look back on the first day I started, and I have made such progress. With that, let me tell you about my week. I am taking over more and more each week. I teach pretty much everything (except Irish - I am still working on understanding that). We had an extremely busy week with Grandparents day on Thursday. Prior to Thursday we spent a good chunk of each day finishing up art work, rehearsing songs, and setting up the gym for the big day. Beyond that we continued with our daily school work (everyday we work on letter writing, recognition, number writing, and recognition). We also did some art work for Valentine's Day. We made stain glass window hearts which turned out really nicely. I also did a lesson on the book, An Ugly Ducking, to help teach about inclusion and how to be a friend. The girls loved it. I completely took on math this week so I decided to break the girls into groups based on skill level and made games to help learn the numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10. Most of the junior infants can recognize these numbers based on their ability I made games to help teach them what they really need to focus on. That was the start of our week for the most part.( the weeks go by so quickly I forget what I do most of the time). On Thursday we had grandparents day! We had two different rehearsals that day so the girls felt comfortable. Grandparents day was for the junior infants, senior infants, first, second, and third class. The priest, Father Declan, was the one who lead the program. All of the girls memorized a number of different songs that were performed in-between different prayers and blessings. With the songs, each class had two girls come up and recite a prayer. The little girl who did the junior infant prayer performed it flawlessly (she even memorized it!). I was so proud of her after all her practice and hard work. The turn out for Grandparents day was about 150 people! During the program I served tea, coffee, and biscuts. It was such a pleasure meeting all the grandparents. I was introduced to a lot of the grandparents of the students in my class. It was so humbling hearing the grandparents talk about how they have heard all about "Miss Katie the American student". It was safe to say that I was happy it was over on Thursday evening. I was so exhausted from all the work that we put into the program! On Friday we had morning mass. This was the first mass that I attended, and I really enjoyed it. Friday was St. Bridget's day, (one of Ireland's most important women saints) so it was really interesting learning about her. The mass was also put on by Third class - they performed a number of different songs and did a lot of the readings. It was a beautiful mass.

This week was truly exhausting, so I took it easy this weekend. I stayed in and relaxed Friday night (just what I needed). On Saturday, I went to Tralee, a bigger town about an hour away, to do some shopping. I took the bus, which I have mastered. I am not going to lie, it is really scary going to someplace you have never been, and trying to navigate your way around, ALONE. I eventually figured out the town (with the help of a map.) I did a little shopping and exploring. I had lunch at the cutest Cafe in town - I probably sat there for two hours. It's not very often that you can just sit and enjoy something for that long - this is a moment that I know I will remember for a long a time. I don't know how many times I sat there and just said "wow I'm in Ireland" haha either was it was a wonderful day! I also found a park which was absolutely gorgeous. I strolled around there for an hour or so. Here are some pictures from on day trip on saturday - grandparents day pictures will come soon!