I have loved getting to know my host family! They have been so nice and very helpful as I adjust to a new place.
This week was a great week at Glenageary-Killiney National School! I have a schedule where I go into all of the classrooms. In the morning, the students start to arrive into the classroom at 8:30; assembly (if they have it) is at 8:45. Teachers are in their room giving instruction until 10:45, when there is a short ten minute break. The students have a snack and go outside while the teachers have coffee and tea together in the staff room. At 12:25, the bell rings for the students to eat their lunch and get their coats. At 12:30 the students go outside until 1:00. The junior infants (the equivalent to a U.S. preschool) and the senior infants (Kindergarten) leave the school at 1:20. The rest of the students are in school until 2:15.
When I am in each classroom, most teachers have given me the job of small group or individual attention for students needing extra support. I have spent most of my time in Junior Infants. I am with them every morning. In this class, I listen to each student read individually about every other day.
One morning this week, I took small groups of students and talked about magnets and let them play with magnets and let them explore what types of objects the magnet will or will not attract. Also, on Wednesday, the teachers were holding parent conferences. These conferences started before the end of the school day, so I was in charge on 6th class. I showed the students a map of the United States and pointed out where I lived and let them ask questions about the States.
Afterwards, I had the students write the alphabet down the side of a piece of paper and let them write poems. I showed them an example on the board. Because I was talking about America, I told them that I would write my poem about America, but that they could write about anything that they wanted. I had them help me write the first few for my poem. For A, I said “America is where I live.” They came up with “Barack Obama will be my next president” and “Canada is my neighbour.”
Looking back on it, because they had so much knowledge about America I wish I had had them write their poems about America. I find it really interesting that they know so much about America and the culture.
This week is green week at the school. The teachers have talked about recycling in their classrooms and each class has prepared something for Friday morning’s assembly. The senior infants have made music instruments from recyclable material and the fifth class has created dramas to share. I have learned that Ireland is much more environmentally friendly than the United States. It is wonderful. There are bins for rubbish, for milk cartons (which the teachers rinse out at the end of every day), for plastic and paper and for leftover foods for compost. At the end of the day, there really is not that much trash. They are not wasteful at all. Even the pencils are sharpened down to an inch.
It is not just the schools that are environmentally friendly, at the grocery stores, you have to pay for your plastic bags, causing most people to use the reusable shopping bags. I think that this is a cultural difference because it seems as though most (not all) Americans are pretty wasteful and do not put effort into recycling. I think it is wonderful how resourceful Ireland is!
Last weekend I did some travelling with Sierra Parker, the other student teacher from ASU. We went on a Paddywagon tour of southern Ireland. It was beautiful! On Friday, we went to Clonmacnoise, an Early Christian site founded by St. Ciarán on the eastern bank of the River Shannon. The site includes the ruins of a cathedral, seven churches (10th -13th century), two martel towers, three high crosses and the largest collection of Early Christian graveslabs in Western Europe.
On Friday night we went to Galway and listened to some Irish music at a pub. On Saturday we went to the Cliffs of Moher. It is by far the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. It was gorgeous! On Sunday, we went to Blarney Castle and I can now say that I have kissed the Blarney Stone! It was a wonderful weekend full of lots of great sites!