The Year That Was - 2012

Waiting for a train

I realise I've missed the boat a little on this one, but I had it half-written at the end of the year and just needed to return to it to add the finishing touches (photos, links etc)

January - Enjoyed the summer holidays and my flourishing veggie patch. Had a great bunch of basil, sweet juicy corn and more beans than I could keep up with. My tomatoes struggled because we had too much rain and the plants were infected with fungal disease. Took a simple family trip to Sydney to show the little guy some new sights and experiences!


Term One - Returned to work for a new school year teaching a Year 4 class three days a week and Preschool one day a week. Revisited the Rowan of Rin unit of work I taught previously and enjoyed the greater availability of both video cameras and laptop computers this time around. Also began using CARS for assessing and teaching comprehension strategies.

Struggled a little initially as I tried to determine what "Penny the preschool teacher" entailed. As it turned out, I was trying to squeeze too much into the day and over thinking things. Came up with a plan to simplify in Term 2.

My professional development focus was on the Quality Teaching model. I was a little disappointed to miss out on some other PD opportunities due to working part time or lack of available time in the evenings due to being a mum of a toddler. I have the passion and desire, but no time!

Holidays - prepped my veggie patch for my first winter crop which resulted in great garlic and onions come summer - but spinach and Asian greens were unsuccessful. It felt like the garden just froze until spring! Enjoyed Easter and had our first egg hunt with the little guy in the backyard.

Term 2 - Taught a Year 4 geology unit of work and, towards the end of term, started an Australian History unit. As we were using the new Australian curriculum, much of the content was new to me and I needed to do a bit of research in order to understand and explain how volcanoes/mountains etc are formed. In ICT lessons we began to explore responsible digital citizenship within our system's online learning community. Students began designing their homepage and wrote a blog entry.

At the Preschool I taught fundamental motor skills - catching, kicking, balancing, running, jumping. This meant I no longer had to organize table activities for the students and gather the materials. It made for a more relaxed day. The morning group also partnered up with their Year 4 buddies for activities on a fortnightly basis.

Holidays - Spent time preparing for our big trip to the USA.

Term 3 - We finished the Australian History unit and began a Technology unit involving textiles - my favourite Year 4 unit. Students learned new skills in sewing, knitting, crochet, macrame etc. For their main assessment task, they designed and made a gardening pouch.

The Preschool fundamental motor skills program continued as did the buddies program.

Holidays - I took long service leave for the last week of term and my family travelled to the USA to see friends on the West Coast. During this time we visited San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma, Portland, and Seattle.

Term 4 - This term got a little messed around with sickness. There were some weeks where we bounced from Matthew being sick, to me being sick, and back to Matthew being sick again. Despite being vaccinated, he managed to catch a mild dose of chicken pox, during which time I decided to toilet train him! It was time well spent!

When I did manage to get back to class, we were very focused on getting assessment and moderation completed and reports written. We finished off our Technology unit and saw the year out with a range of craft activities.

At the Preschool, I ran an ICT program to introduce students to the basics of using the computer lab. They logged onto the network and brought up the Maths Circus program from a Maths Activities folder. The key fine motor skills they learnt were coordinating ctrl + alt + del and double-clicking with a mouse. They enjoyed playing the Maths Circus games, modifying the difficulty level and sharing their achievements with their friends. At the end of the lesson they closed down the program and logged off the computer. Basic skills - but essential. I was really proud to see how far they came over the term and to know that their Kindergarten teacher has no excuse for not taking them to the lab now!

It was a good year all 'round, and I'm looking forward to what the next one has in store. Happy New Year all!

The Year That Was - 2009

I've been doing lots of thinking about the year that I've had and the many things that filled it. It was possibly the most productive year I've ever had, but I don't feel I had time to really live and enjoy it. Here's what happened...

January - Enjoyed the holidays and joined the Twitter 365 Project group with Flickr. Unfortunately I couldn't keep it up for long once school started back! Started Tech Tips Tuesday and The Teaching K-6 Blog Carnival. Camped a night with my sister at the coast. Did lots of coast trips with my hubby and dog to put more kilometers on the car for our car lease!

February - Started school again, back where I feel challenged and inspired, and began teaching Year 4. Started a unit of work on the book Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda. Joined the School Board as a teacher representative. Organised Harmony Day Assembly.

March - Started my Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership. Began mentoring an intern teacher.

April - Presented at the Edna Mini-conference. Went to my Nana's 90th Birthday in Gosford. Began using the Flip Mino and Blue Snowball microphone in the classroom. Began weeding on the Ridge.

May - Went to Sunshine Coast for Microsoft Innovative Schools Conference - presented during the unconference. Started an Integrated Inquiry unit of work on Australian History and a Literacy unit on the book New Gold Mountain by Christopher W. Cheong. Year 4 Camp to Warrumbui.

June - Prepared nomination for my school in the Excellence in Teaching Awards. Year 4 students performed Fairytale plays and Fife and Drum music for their parents. Went to Gosford with my Mum to visit my grandmother.

July - Began a higher duties role in my school which continued until the end of the year - this involved less time on class and more time working on school projects and planning/managing/mentoring etc. Began training in Microsoft Peer Coaching. Ordered and kept chasing laptops for the school (which didn't actually arrive until late November!) Year 4 visited the Ridge for more weeding and made the local paper.

August - Ran in the City to Surf road race in Sydney. Went to Pink's concert. Had my first go at geocaching. Presented at ATESOL workshop. Started Integrated Inquiry unit of work on Textiles and Design. Experimented with Cooperative Reading Groups in Literacy. The Showboating Showoffs began to learn creative dance which they later performed in an assembly.

September - Had an article published in EQ Australia. Worked on ABC 3 Promos using claymation and other video production. Year 4 excursion to the CSIRO. My class attempted geocaching for the first time. Returned to New York City for a couple of weeks holiday - enjoyed all the favourites yet again and caught up with friends. Ran in the New York Fifth Avenue Mile race.

October - Began an Integrated Inquiry unit of work on Space. Struggled through the rest of my uni studies. Trained our school's team for the GATEWAYS challenge. Bought Guitar Hero for XBOX 360 - great stress relief at the end of the day!

November - Collected and sorted data about enrichment programs at my school and presented these to staff and also to principals from my district. Year 4 excursion to Questacon. Went to a friend's wedding in Sydney.

December - My youngest brother got married. We drove to Melbourne to pick up an old fashioned bathtub to hold drinks for Christmas. Struggled through the last few weeks of school. My class did another geocaching adventure on the Ridge and helped our department's Learning Technology Support Officers to create a video about geocaching. Cleaned and cooked for Christmas lunch at our place.

I considered putting in links so that you could read more about these things, but realised that that would make for a lot of hyperlinks and would be annoying to read. Instead, if there's something you want to know more about, you can probably find it in the archived items for that month, or if it's a unit of work - in my Units of Work section.

The Year That Was - 2008

January - Spent most of the school holidays rennovating our new house - ripping up carpet, sanding and polishing floorboards, painting, etc (still haven't completed this job!)

February - Started the school year at my new school. It was a bit of a rocky start and it took me a little while to figure out how to function effectively there. Started Spanish 2 Certificate at the local Institute of Technology.

March - I had nominated to be The Primary School Sports Association representative for my school. I received no information about this, but suddenly some of our boys had missed their cricket trials. I was given permission to run another trial and manage a second team for our area. Up until this point I had never watched a full game of cricket in my life! I found some people who actually know about cricket and we worked it all out. The team I was managing actually came second!

April - My school had a big birthday. I had a couple of 1st year preservice teachers in to observe my class for a week. We did a three-week unit of work on artists - Monet, Turner and Van Gogh.

May - I ran the Great Ocean Road Marathon (well, I walked a bit of it). This was a killer and really put my stamina to the test. I haven't really got back into my running again since, but still hope to pick it up again at some point. I had another preservice teacher in to share the teaching of my class. We started a unit of work "Home Sweet Home" which involved an excursion to a local construction site, building houses from straws and paddlepop sticks, and building a class cubby house.

June - I turned 30. My hubby organised a trip back to New York City for us. We rented a place in Chelsea and lived the life for 5 weeks. It felt like we were home again. New things we 'discovered' and enjoyed this time included Hooters buffalo wings, Shakespeare in the Park, Honeymoon Beer, 4th July fireworks, weekly softball, Gordon Ramsey's "The London" restaurant, The Steinway Piano Factory, mojitos, and poker with friends.

July - I started exploring things more on the computer. I discovered podcasts and began downloading them to listen to on my ipod. I also remembered my love of reading and enjoyed reading a bunch of books.

August - I began this blog. I continued to learn and grow in my knowledge of ICT and its use in the classroom. We started a unit of work on the Olympic Games. At home, we struggled through what was left of winter without a heater.

September - I got hooked on Twitter and started my Link 4 Learning podcast. Reached 7 year wedding anniversary. Hubby was away with work so he sent a beautiful bunch of flowers and organised a trip for us in Brisbane. Started a history unit of work on "The Way We Were".

October - Went to Brisbane for a holiday and enjoyed taking it easy for a few days and soaking in some sun. Also got my iPhone. Where would I be without my iPhone!!

November - Started weeding my veggie patch and planting seeds. They took forever to grow. Wrote reports. Started new unit of work "Are We There Yet?"

December - Finished off the school year and packed up all my stuff. House was burgled on the second last day of school. Enjoyed a quiet Christmas.