Creative Chaos
Saturday, 29 November 2014
birthday garden gifts
It is a few days until my birthday, but we went to Rogers in Mangere this morning to buy some hydrangeas and roses for me. They are gorgeous and it has made me give the front garden a really big tidy up. Loving that I will have a lot of cut flowers in the future! And adoring my sweetpeas too - the simple things in life.
Monday, 24 November 2014
The Alternative School Report
I'm one of the those parents who do a glance at my kid's school reports and then file them away. I have no time for any report written under the NZ National Standards regime. The bits I love are the general comments. I will mention that I am on a NZ school board and we fought and fought not to do National Standards until we really had to. They are not even mentioned at parent teacher interviews, such is the disdain for them at the school. But we have to follow the MOE rules...
Obviously the older they get, reports are more meaningful.
I am not sure whether exams or internal assessment is the preferred thing for my older boys - we are now on a 2 month wait for Cambridge exam results to come out. One kids is flicking to an NCEA school next year - this again is something I am not sure about.
Anyway, along with the official report which we received today, the year 6 kid had to write his own report - I loved it and am still laughing...
Reading - R does well in reading, but sometimes goes off track. He knows what lots of words mean and is great at sciming and scanning. (spelling his own)
Writing - R did better than expected. But he talks too much. (huh?). He uses well spaced paragraphs and has a good vocabulary.
Maths - R does well in maths an is always doing the right thing. He knows lots about times tables.
Religious Education - R, when he really wants to (hee hee - yes the story of his life!), will create amazeing work, But falls short on getting work done in time.
General comment - R is doing well in most things. Sometimes he goes off work. But that is what everyone will do at some point. If he keeps it up (what? the going off task?), I expect to go on and do great things.
A beaut! This is the kid who is a strong kinaesthetic learner and I was told when he was 6, that the NZ education system was not set up for kids like him... he struggled to sit still and got bored (which I suspect is still an issue)... nearly ready for a new journey kiddo. We have fingers crossed that this next school will suit you better!
Obviously the older they get, reports are more meaningful.
I am not sure whether exams or internal assessment is the preferred thing for my older boys - we are now on a 2 month wait for Cambridge exam results to come out. One kids is flicking to an NCEA school next year - this again is something I am not sure about.
Anyway, along with the official report which we received today, the year 6 kid had to write his own report - I loved it and am still laughing...
Reading - R does well in reading, but sometimes goes off track. He knows what lots of words mean and is great at sciming and scanning. (spelling his own)
Writing - R did better than expected. But he talks too much. (huh?). He uses well spaced paragraphs and has a good vocabulary.
Maths - R does well in maths an is always doing the right thing. He knows lots about times tables.
Religious Education - R, when he really wants to (hee hee - yes the story of his life!), will create amazeing work, But falls short on getting work done in time.
General comment - R is doing well in most things. Sometimes he goes off work. But that is what everyone will do at some point. If he keeps it up (what? the going off task?), I expect to go on and do great things.
A beaut! This is the kid who is a strong kinaesthetic learner and I was told when he was 6, that the NZ education system was not set up for kids like him... he struggled to sit still and got bored (which I suspect is still an issue)... nearly ready for a new journey kiddo. We have fingers crossed that this next school will suit you better!
Sunday, 23 November 2014
the week that has been
in the garden.
What a glorious weekend too - partying with 11 year olds; letter writing; knitting; pottering around the house; catching up on laundry. Amazing weather wearing tees and shorts. (H & M love). My favourite type of weekend.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
without photos...
I can't find my camera... hoping I did not leave it in Australia. I had the BEST time in Melbourne. It is always fab catching up with my friend Kristy. Kristy is a grade 6 teacher and of course we went book buying for my school - you should see the pile - 15 kg worth!!! Why, oh why are children's books SO MUCH cheaper in Australia than NZ? Case in point - the new Wimpy Kid book is $NZ8.80 in Oz; here in NZ it is $NZ18 !! There really is not much difference in the exchange rate either. Kristy was a great help in picking older fiction for the year 6/7/8 students.
And it is kinda funny going to Australia and buying a NZ label (Karen Walker Hi There) and being 40% cheaper (on sale, but still... very rarely on sale here!). And the towels were nearly half the price... And Target and Gap and H & M... oh my. It was a bit of a shopping bender after I had been so good for months. I did start a bit of Christmas shopping too. The shops/CBD go on and on and all the little laneways are cute. LOVE the city 11 years after we left to come back and live here.
We took the 16 year old over to help move the business and re-set up all the computers in the business - he is having a fab time! Totally amazed at how big Melbourne is and being a public transport nut, had a great time jumping on and off trams and trains. he remembers little from when he lived there.
I am totally gutted that the memory stick I had in the camera decided to play up. We took the 16 year old back to his old kindy, all the old playgrounds, to our old suburb and house ... actually I was nearly in tears seeing it all again, as it has been so long. The camera took the photos, but in between one day and the next, it decided not to "write" the next photos to the SD card and it seems everything on it is not there... I am gutted. I never ever use my cellphone to take photos and am kicking myself ... of all the photos to lose... I was so upset.
Anyway back to reality; the others come back home tonight. I have over a week's laundry and housework to sort... the place is a tip..... I have several hundred books to find from stocktake, on Friday I am supposed to be at a year 6 leaver's parents Mass and morning tea and at the other school, cooking 500 sausages (few non teaching staff drive or have cars, so it is me driving to get food for entire school and parents on Athletics Day)... I am going to Mass and I am going to cook the sausages too - one school might just have to wait a bit longer... and give me help :). No PTA....
Hope everyone has contacted their swap partners - I need to crack on with that too!
happy week...
And it is kinda funny going to Australia and buying a NZ label (Karen Walker Hi There) and being 40% cheaper (on sale, but still... very rarely on sale here!). And the towels were nearly half the price... And Target and Gap and H & M... oh my. It was a bit of a shopping bender after I had been so good for months. I did start a bit of Christmas shopping too. The shops/CBD go on and on and all the little laneways are cute. LOVE the city 11 years after we left to come back and live here.
We took the 16 year old over to help move the business and re-set up all the computers in the business - he is having a fab time! Totally amazed at how big Melbourne is and being a public transport nut, had a great time jumping on and off trams and trains. he remembers little from when he lived there.
I am totally gutted that the memory stick I had in the camera decided to play up. We took the 16 year old back to his old kindy, all the old playgrounds, to our old suburb and house ... actually I was nearly in tears seeing it all again, as it has been so long. The camera took the photos, but in between one day and the next, it decided not to "write" the next photos to the SD card and it seems everything on it is not there... I am gutted. I never ever use my cellphone to take photos and am kicking myself ... of all the photos to lose... I was so upset.
Anyway back to reality; the others come back home tonight. I have over a week's laundry and housework to sort... the place is a tip..... I have several hundred books to find from stocktake, on Friday I am supposed to be at a year 6 leaver's parents Mass and morning tea and at the other school, cooking 500 sausages (few non teaching staff drive or have cars, so it is me driving to get food for entire school and parents on Athletics Day)... I am going to Mass and I am going to cook the sausages too - one school might just have to wait a bit longer... and give me help :). No PTA....
Hope everyone has contacted their swap partners - I need to crack on with that too!
happy week...
Friday, 14 November 2014
Awesome little things
I've had such a good week!
* my presentation went well - yes you have a dead library if you have zero budget... (many NZ schools do...)
*snail mail love - and a divine snail envelope with gorgeous sweet things in the envelope
* socks - hilarious to me - kinda a pair but then not really.... i have plenty more wool to try and match them both up with a real mate :)
* day after presentation heard about my 2015 library budget... at the moment it entails spending around $250 a week - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH - of course I can do that! Still getting over hearing that figure - holy moly... it might still go up more apparrently - cue hysterical laughter at principal from me :)
* one weekend coming up in Melbourne - whoop! Book buying for school and a bit of clothes shopping too. And moving a business across town.
What has been happening in your week?
* my presentation went well - yes you have a dead library if you have zero budget... (many NZ schools do...)
*snail mail love - and a divine snail envelope with gorgeous sweet things in the envelope
* socks - hilarious to me - kinda a pair but then not really.... i have plenty more wool to try and match them both up with a real mate :)
* day after presentation heard about my 2015 library budget... at the moment it entails spending around $250 a week - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH - of course I can do that! Still getting over hearing that figure - holy moly... it might still go up more apparrently - cue hysterical laughter at principal from me :)
* one weekend coming up in Melbourne - whoop! Book buying for school and a bit of clothes shopping too. And moving a business across town.
What has been happening in your week?
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Hanging with the animals on a birthday
Every single day I drive past the zoo for school pick up. On a birthday last week, we stopped and went to the zoo. It will be 13 years at the end of this year doing this trip and the last year of doing school pick up and drop offs for me. I am seriously excited about this! It will also probably mean I hardly ever drive past the zoo ever again. It is the best time to go to the zoo with hardly anyone there and easy to see all the animals. I love the Tasmanian Devil photo - a total fluke.
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