Last school day of 2011

And so we get to the very last day of the school year.  In one way I'm happy because I find this time of the year things just become so busy and with the last day of school it means things will start slowing down (I hope) and I can catch my breath and reflect a bit on what's happened this year. But wait, I am not ready to do a whole reflection post (come back another time for that one).

But while I'm happy the last day of school arrived for the above reason, am also rather sad to be honest.  Bianca had a fantastic school year this year in Year 3.  And I know it is all thanks to the amazing teacher she had. I wasn't quite ready for her to be done with this school year!

Bianca absolutely loved Paul Forster's teaching style.  He had a way to bring out the best in Bianca.  And to be honest, I've never seen a teacher showing as much passion as he did for his teaching and for the kids that he was responsible for.  One of Bianca's favourite things of all time was glossary.  Suddenly this year she started thinking of different words to use and she would even insist we use them too.  And she's especially proud that she's learned to spell words like "inexplicabilities" and "circumstantialities" (and yes, Bianca is 8!!!). 

Something that I will never forget was when Paul told me at the start of the year he is committed to ensure each child will have fun in his class and be sufficiently challenged.  And I thought to myself that I've never actually met another teacher who said this.  I was really really impressed!  Here was a teacher who wanted to make sure every single child in his class had opportunities to grow and to learn.

And every afternoon as I sat there waiting for Bianca I could just see how much the kids loved Paul.  How excited they would get when he would bring out his guitar and they would sing together.

We were incredibly blessed that Bianca had a chance to be in Paul's class!  I have my fingers very tightly crossed that in 2014 Caitlyn too will have the chance to be in Paul's class!!!

Paul, thank you so very much for everything you did for Bianca.  You were (and are) an amazing teacher!  Bianca always tells me that you are the very best.  She wanted to give you something really special.  Something well deserved!  I hope you liked it :-)

And finally am able to share this poem from me to you:

For a year you were the world
To the children in your care
With the excitement that you showed
And the passion that you shared

You taught them the wonders of glossary
And showed them math was fun
You encouraged them to sing and dance
When the day was done

You found a special way to teach
You always did believe
That each child had just what it takes
That they all should achieve

They might not be good at everything
But all children deserved the chance
To keep moving forward
Without a single backward glance

You gave the children your everything
You should feel incredibly proud
I often heard how much it meant
As they shared it out aloud

Never again will they have
The year they had with you
From the very bottom of my heart
Thank you for everything you do!

What an amazing day and what a very special surprise!!!!!!

Remember when I did this post?  Where I wrote a poem about the journey we've had with Bianca?  Remember that one? 

Today at the Funrazor Paul gave me the best and most special surprise ever.  He actually went and put music to my poem.  He performed it at the start of our event!  I absolutely love how it came out!  It is definitely one of my favourites.  Click here to listen to our song (my words, Paul's music and vocals).

Wow!  I was completely and totally blown away. Thank you Paul, it was an incredibly special thing you did!!!

I must admit that last night I felt really stressed.  As I sat there finishing the last few things I kept thinking "what was I thinking?  What do I know about putting together events like these..."

And this morning I kept hoping that there was nothing major I forgot about, but as it turned out, I didn't have to worry.  I had an amazing team on my side who all jumped in and helped.

I remember that recently I was so worried nobody would be there to watch it all happening and I didn't have to worry....

 Bianca did a speech and I was really impressed with the way she delivered it.

And then it was time for the big shave:

Don't you just love Catherine's expression?  Catherine is a fellow child cancer parent and we used to catch up in the corridors when both our kids were stuck in hospital.

One of the things I did was really effective.  I had 2 display boards and I put 4 kids' photos and stories on these boards.  And many people looked at the photos and read the stories.  For me it was important to show people what child cancer is all about.  Make it more real. 

Organising the Funrazor event was everything I thought and hoped it would be.  It was incredibly full on.  One of the biggest things I've ever done.  It didn't start off big, but it kept growing and growing.  It was also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.  Knowing that I was able to do something and give a little bit back to say thank you to the Child Cancer Foundation for everything they have done for us.  When I started this I really wanted this to be a community event.  Not just my event.  And it was.  Way more than I ever imagined.  People who joined me today shaving their hair, people who sprayed their hair, people who turned up to watch and support, people who donated to CCF.  All the companies and people who helped me make today a success.  I am absolutely blown away by it all.  How will I ever be able to say thank you?

And now some more photos:

 

 

 

A special offer

Yesterday I picked up Bianca's cold.  She's had a cough for a few days now and finally I caught it (I really need to teach her that sometimes sharing is not really caring...  I mean if it was chocolate she was sharing, then sure, but a cold... not so much!)  So today I'm just taking it easy and actually just need to update my to do list so I can feel a bit more organised.

Yesterday afternoon I managed to secure the hair salon.  Rodney Wayne at Coastlands Mall has kindly agreed to help us out. 

Yesterday also Paul kindly offered to become involved with the Funrazor event.  He (and hopefully a few of his students) will be there performing some of his songs.  So that is entertainment sorted.  Now if I can sort the crowds, I would feel much more confident... 

Paul has also made another very kind offer.  For every copy of his book / cd "You're not eating me" that he will be selling, he will donate $5 to CCF.  So this is your chance to not only contribute to a great cause, but it is a chance for you to buy an affordable present for a lucky someone this Christmas!  Let me tell you about this book.  It was written by Paul Forster and beautifully illustrated by one of the students at Waikanae School - Chelsea Osborne.  I tell you, the detail she has put in these illustrations are amazing!  This is one of Bianca and Caitlyn's favourite stories right now.  And they simply love the songs on the CD that is included with the book.

Here are some photos showing a few of the pages of the "You're not eating me" book.

On the CD there are 13 songs including the title track "You're not eating me".  This is the same song Paul recently performed during our hospital visit.

Tracks on the CD:

• You're not eating me (click to listen to a snippet)
• Chasing Rainbows
• Back to nature trip (click to listen to a snippet)
• School year starts
• Run with the wind
• Day off school
• Innocent creatures
• Vigour of youth (click to listen to a snippet)
• School age friendship
• Haven't done nothing (click to listen to a snippet)
• Battle of life (click to listen to a snippet)
• Summer holidays
• Seems only yesterday

To buy a copy of this delightful and beautiful picture book along with a CD of songs, you can email Paul directly at jo.paulf@paradise.net.nz.

Meeting somebody new and a song stuck in my head...

I have discovered a brand new song that Bianca absolutely loves!  And I must say I also find it really cool to listen to - so much so that I now have it stuck in my head and find myself singing parts of it :-).  Listen to this song (click here).  It was written by Paul Forster (Bianca's teacher) - isn't it beautiful? And you can also see him perform some of the songs he wrote.  Now you might think that all teachers have been teachers all their life -  but Paul actually has quite an interesting story of where he started off in his career.

Speaking of Bianca's teacher, in about 2 weeks Bianca, Paul and I will set off to Wellington hospital where we will visit some of the children and hand out a few activity packs.  If you have some ideas for some cool activities for kids stuck in bed, please let me know!  Paul will be bringing along his guitar and entertain some of the kids.  Any bets on how many Justin Bieber / Myley Cyrus requests he might get? ;-)  And some lucky children will be getting a copy of Paul's book "You're not eating me" which is one of Bianca's favourite things.  It is actually quite a fascinating story how this book happened. 

We met Sarah yesterday.  Sarah found us through my blog and we've been in email contact, but today we finally got to meet, which was really nice.  The kids loved meeting her and insisted that she plays a bunch of games with them so it was loads of fun!  I am keen to find out some of the cool ideas Sarah has for our end of the year Christmas project.

A new blog and a challenging day!

Bianca's teacher has just started a new blog.  Not only is Paul Forster a brilliant teacher, but he is an extremely talented athlete and very passionate about his music, singing and songwriting.  (It is at this point that I can hear Bianca shout "glossary word" because "extremely" is one of her glossary words...).  I am particularly interested to see what running tips Paul might share on his blog that might help me finally be able to run a 5km fun run.  But from what I can see Paul will be writing about a lot of different things.  Go and visit his blog and say hi!

Speaking of running, I found today's run / walk session quite challenging.  I didn't do anything different, I had a rest day since my last one and I didn't have sore legs after the last run / walk session.  But today my knee joint area (whatever it might be called) felt stiff and vaguely painful.  Not significantly, but noticeably.  So today I really wondered at which point the running will become easier.  How am I ever going to manage week 3 onwards?  But I guess that is life.  If you really want something you have to put the effort in.  (Now remind me again why I chose a 5km run as my goal...)

Today I realised again that what drives me is the memory of this day.  (Click here to read about it).

Tomorrow is going to be an extra special day for us.  I will let you all know shortly!

So who has started thinking about Christmas yet?

I know it is only September, but Christmas is only about 3 months away.  And right about this time is usually when shops start hauling out their Christmas stuff to tempt the buyers into gearing up for the Christmas season. I haven't seen it happen just yet, but I'm sure pretty soon the Christmas trees and decorations will start going on display.

As a matter of fact I have started thinking of Christmas.  For one I want to do the little boxes again.  Not only was it a lot of fun, but it meant that we could do some quality activities again.  And of course the girls were able to experience the true meaning of 'giving'.  So that means I have to make little boxes again.  They didn't all stay nice unfortunately so I can't really re-use them and if I start now then I will have more preparation time to come up with some fun activities.  We will definitely deliver biscuits again to one of the local retirement villages (and in fact just next week Bianca will do this too as part of one of her home learning challenges).  But along with that I am also thinking of getting a few small presents together that the girls and I will take to the children's ward at Wellington Hospital and deliver it there.  I remember when we were stuck in hospital how frustrating it felt at times so maybe we might be able to brighten some children's day.

Speaking of Christmas - If you are looking for the perfect stocking filler - Bianca's teacher, Paul Forster is selling his picture book titled 'You're not eating me' that he wrote and published (how cool is that?).  It is this really cute story beautifully illustrated and along with it is a CD with 12 songs that Paul wrote including the 'You're not eating me' song!  Bianca has a copy that her teacher gave to her for her birthday and it is definitely one of her favourite things!  And I bet if you ordered a copy and asked Paul, he would even be happy to write a special message for the recipient.  Just think you can give somebody a signed copy of this book! How special!  To order or to get more information please email jo.paulf@paradise.net.nz.

School Feedback

And it is school holiday!  Hard to believe that there are only 2 terms left.  These school holidays we are not really doing much.

Next week Terence will be flying to Melbourne where he will attend some or the other course for work.  So it will only be the girls and I.

Caitlyn will continue with daycare (except Mondays and Fridays when she is home with me) and in the first week of the holiday Bianca will have a netball holiday programme Monday to Thursday for 3 hours each day.  Hopefully she'll not only have fun, but learn some new skills and techniques.

Bianca really enjoys netball and this morning's match was really good to watch.  Bianca played GK and the teacher was really impressed - twice saying "I really like you in that position".  At this age though, they rotate every week, so every week she plays a different position until she is a bit older.

Earlier this week we had parent-teacher interviews.  There are a few small areas Bianca needs to work on (nothing too big or serious), but she got really great feedback.  In particular she is turning out to be a really good teacher assistant.  This meeting confirmed again what we have known since the start of this year - Bianca is with the right teacher.  A teacher that not only believes learning should be fun, but that kids should be challenged to help them reach their potential.  And Mr Forster has put a lot of focus on Glossary which really really helps with building vocabulary.  So much so that Bianca often points out when she hears a glossary word in conversation or in an advert and will often insist on using a different word to describe things.  Maths too.  Bianca absolutely loves maths - which I'm so pleased about because maths was really a weak point when I was at school.

One thing that I've noticed about this teacher is that he has so much passion for what he does and that feeds through to the kids and I have seen kids so excited about school and learning.  Even doing the weekly homework sheet is something that Bianca feels very very excited about. 

And so I'm starting to feel just a little bit anxious about what next year might bring for Bianca.  You see - Bianca is gifted.  Especially with things like reading and spelling and vocabulary.  When she started school in Auckland, Bianca was a new entrant for 6 months and then started Year 1 the start of the following year.  At the start of Year 1 (age 5.5) Bianca was already reading past orange level (which was approximately age 6.5) and so along with another child in her class they started with proper spelling homework.  Her teacher always knew she was ahead and insisted on providing additional challenges and making sure that Bianca was at a suitable reading level and so on.

Then we moved here.

We really like this school, but Bianca's year 2 teacher (here) was very young and straight-away put Bianca down 2 reading levels because that's where all the other kids were reading at.  She simply did not have any suitable books for Bianca's reading level at that stage.  Bianca was already reading at silver level (actually beyond that, but her comprehension was tested to silver level at that stage).  And so at the age of 7 Bianca was at a reading level for 8.5 - 9 year old kids.  At first I didn't think Bianca's teacher really understood and as far as she was concerned all the other kids read to purple level and as long as Bianca was reading then that was all that was important.  I felt strongly that Bianca needed to be challenged otherwise reading would become boring.  So at that stage we got Bianca tested and armed with the test results met with the teacher and insisted they allow Bianca to read at silver level and since then the teacher made a real effort and offered some extra challenges.

This year, Bianca has had a great teacher. The teacher last year was good too, but I think this year's teacher is much much more experienced.  A teacher with a lot of passion for what he does.  It is obvious that it is more than a job to him.  It is obvious that he does what he loves the most.  Bianca loves glossary, she loves math and she loves singing (Mr Forster is known as the singing teacher).  Mr Forster writes his own songs and have published a children's book with a CD (You're not eating me which you can find on this website).

I can't help wondering who Bianca's teacher in year 4 will be.  Not all teachers focus as much on glossary and not all teachers are doing homework sheets.  For us it is really really important that Bianca will continue to be challenged and extended in class, something we felt Mr Forster has been able to do really well with her.  I wonder if the school will consider moving Mr Forster to Year 4 next year...