My Last Week

I am officially done with my first student teaching placement - wow that is weird to say. Although it was extremely bittersweet, I had an excellent last week with my students. My teacher asked me to plan a five day unit based around the book, A Very Hungry Caterpillar for my last week that is what my afternoons consisted of. I did a variety of different activities to help understand many different concepts; for example, sequencing, word recognition, math, and best of all ART. Besides the unit, my week was busy with all of the other things we accomplish during the school day. During the week, we had something called a Kaley - all of the girls gathered in the hall and performed Irish dancing. It was fun to see the girls show off what they knew, and I could tell everyone was having fun. I also did a little irish dancing :) Although the week was busy, I could not stop thinking about how sad I was going to be having to leave on Friday. The week was also busy with practicing for the St. Patrick's day parade. There was so much preparation put into the parade so we wanted the girls to practice what marching in a parade was going to be like. They did a great job :) Not only was Friday my last day at school, but it was also green day - aka the girls did not have to wear their uniforms and everyone in the school dressed in ALL green! Of course I didn't bring any green so my teacher took me to Tralee to buy some green. We both found loads of cute things so we were all set for green day. We also had a nice dinner together after shopping - I am really going to miss spending time with her! She is so lovely. Friday finally came, and I was a wreck. I did not think I would be as emotional as I was. I gave the kids some little gift bags and explained to them that I would not be coming back (which is a hard concept for junior's to understand). It was a really grand last day. Once the day was over I said my goodbyes to my host family, and the staff memebers. I am so thankful for all of their kindness throughout this entire process. I am really going to miss them all so much.

Overall, I had the greatest experiences for which I could have ever asked. I couldn't have dreamed up a better situation. Looking back on the goals that I set for my experience, I would say that I have fully accomplished those goals. It's amazing to see how much you grow in a short amount of time. I am so proud of myself for taking a leap and grasping this experience while I can. It has taught me so much, and while everyday wasn't the easiest I think I have truly grown from what I have learned throughout this process. I am so thankful for all the people in my life who have helped me get to this point. For my final blog I will leave you with some pictures of my last week :)

dancing 

dancing

dancing

green day

green day - my class!

green day

green day

green day

green day

Nearly There

This past week was very busy with a number of different things. Monday we worked on our mothers day booklets. Each page had a different things that their mommy does, for example; my mommy cooks, my mommy cleans, my mommy gardens. In the booklet the girls colored in the pages and also added a little message to each page. We sent those booklets home on Friday with the girls so each mom would have them for mothers day (which was sunday). That kept us pretty busy throughout the week. This past week the girls also performed at assembly - each class takes a turn every Monday preparing some sort of poem or song. This past Monday was our turn, so we performed the hokey pokey in Irish. I had some help from my cooperating teacher with that (considering I know little to no Irish). The girls did a great job with their performance! On Tuesday we carried on with our normal schedule. The rest of the week from that point on was pretty calm. Since it is a new month, we started a new oral language poster  - we are talking about home. I did a number of different lessons on this concept - it was a lot of fun hearing the kids talk about their homes and compare and contrast their home. The girls really enjoyed it. We also learned a few new songs. Since the girls don't have what we would call "specials" in America - we teach everything (art, music, Irish etc). So I taught a few new songs which they really enjoyed. The big topic in school is St. Patricks's day. I did a few different lessons on St. Patrick's day last week which got the girls excited about the parade. I will unfortunately not be able to be there with the kids when they walk in the parade, but last week and this week we have been preparing - with the kids and planning the entire thing with the staff as well. It is going to be absolutely gorgeous - I have been really busy with helping as much as I can! The other main talk in the school this past week was my teachers wedding!

In preparation for the wedding, one of the staff members took me to Tralee to help me find a dress. While I didn't find anything, we had a great time. We had a wonderful dinner, and it was just nice to relax outside of school. This weekend one of the teachers I have been working with got married! She invited the entire staff (including myself). It was an amazing time. I could not think of a better way to spending my last weekend in Listowel. My teacher looked absolutely amazing! It was also a blast just being able to spend time with the staff outside of school. I never thought coming to Ireland that I would get to experience a real Irish wedding. Overall. it was a great last weekend in town. I am very sad to be saying that this is my last week teaching in Listowel. I have become so close with so many different people (staff and students) I really do not want to have to say goodbye. I am sure I won't be thinking much about it this week because it is a really busy one! But the positive thing is that my mom will be arriving in Ireland come Friday :) I am so excited to see her!

at the wedding!

Only two weeks left

Why does time have to go by SO quickly! I am trying my very best to focus on this wonderful experience for what it is, but can't help and think about how I only have two weeks left. Everything is so natural now. I have formed such wonderful relationships with all of my students. I have formed wonderful relationships with the staff members. My host family has become like my real family. I feel like I have been living and working here for years. I absolutely love Ireland and all it has to offer. I think back to my first week of being here in Ireland and student teaching, and I am really proud of myself for how much I have grown, learned, experienced, etc. in the past ten weeks. I still have two weeks left, and I will be focusing on all the positive that is to come in those two weeks!
But for now, I will fill you in on what I did last week. One of the main goals I had for my students this week was not school related but rather health realted. Convent Primary school does something called "W.O.W" which means  walk on wednesday. This is a school wide thing, and it is pretty much a program that encourages the girls to walk to school every wednesday. The rules go like this: which ever class has the most students walking wins the "golden runner". The purpose of this is to get the girl out there, and to encourage them to be healthy and active - even if it is as simple as walking to school. This week I really encouraged my students to walk to school. I told them that we had to win the golden runner before I left! The results were great :) we had every girl in the class except one walking to school. Today at assembly we were awarded the golden runner. !!! I was so proud of the girls and they were really excited! Besides our golden runner award, the week was pretty calm (which never happens) Mothers day in Ireland is March 10th, and St. Patricks day is coming up so we have been working on a lot of themed activities and lessons! We made a beautiful mothers day art project that the girls will be taking home with them this week. Besides school, I decided to do a little traveling this weekend! I went to Cork and visited some of the friends I made in Killarney. They go to school in Cork so I had my very own personal tour of the city! I really enjoyed Cork. We spent almost the entire time outside walking around and taking in the sights. We had a beautiful weekend of weather :) My cooperating teacher is getting married this coming weekend and she asked me to the wedding! So while I was in Cork I did some shopping and found a dress for the wedding. I am really excited so be apart of her special day! Like I said so much to which I can look forward!

beautiful church in Cork

UCC

Cork