Western Springs and Micheal Joseph Salvage Memorial

After church today, Paea took Nancy and I to see Western Springs. It is a gorgeous park with a large pond about 20 minutes from where we live. We were going to have FHE with all of the girls there last week, but we changed locations because of rain. It was such a pretty day to go. The walkways and pond were gorgeous. We do not have parks like that in the states. The only personal comparison I have is Hyde Park in London.

 There were heaps of ducks and swans in the water and the willow tress around the pond just made the scene. There were freshwater eels in the water, which is pretty cool. I have never been that close to an eel before. It really was an amazing park.

After the park, Paea drove us up to Bastian Point to see the Micheal Joseph Salvage Memorial, who was the 1st Prime Minister in New Zealand. The memorial is on some gorgeous Maori land. It is so well kept with beautiful gardens around the memorial.The views from the top of the memorial looking into the ocean were breathtaking. It seems like everything I see here in the land of the long white cloud is beautiful.

Afterwards we had a picnic lunch at Mission Bay before going to the Parnell rose gardens on the way home. I read about the gardens before I came to New Zealand and really wanted to go. I am so glad Paea brought us to see it. The roses were beautiful and all in bloom.

 The views of the roses with the ocean in the background were amazing. It was such a great day in the land of the long white cloud and I am so grateful that Paea showed us so many beautiful sights in Auckland.

New Zealand lingo!

Bush-forest

Kiaora-hello

Rubbish-trash

Lou- bathroom

Waiata-song

Haere mai- welcome

Paki paki-clap

Mana-honor

Hui-meeting

Kai-food

Whanau-family

Kai pia-good

Morning tea-brunch

Primary-elementary

Junior-lower grades

Learnt-learned

Mozzie –mosquito

Mum-mom

Try-goal

Nicking-pranking

Chemist-pharmacist

Hard case-really funny

Heaps-lots

Trebling-tripling

Boot-car

Auckland Museum and Kelly Tarlton

We went to the Auckland Museum today. It is an absolutely gorgeous building with heaps of exhibits. I could ahve spent the whole day there. The first floor of the museum I devoted to the Maori culture. The workmanship of the Maori's is amazing. They were able to make and crave so many gorgeous things out of wood, stone, and bone. I was such a sight to see.

 We had the opportunity to see a Maori cultural performance as well. The performance was amazing. The Maori people are very talented with music and dance. They performed some traditional Maori dances with poi balls and te rakka sticks. At the end they did the hakka. It was such a sight to see.

The Maori people are so kind and it was fun to see there culture. The men in there culture stick their tongue our for the hakka and the women make their eyes big. So we tried both for picture. So funny. 

On the 2nd floor of the museum was lots of stuff about the Natural World. There were dinosaur, ocean, land, coastal, ect exhibits and some exhibits on Asia and other cultures. We went into the volcano house to see what it felt like during a volcanic eruption. It was a cool simulation. 

The top floor was devoted to exhibits on the world wars and how New Zealand was involved. It was pretty cool. I am such a World War II nerd. Everything about it just intrigues me. And seeing holocaust exhibits always bring me to tears, but I still like go to them. Going to the museum was such a great experience. I just love museums. 

After the museum, we drove a short while up to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater water, which is an aquarium in Auckland. The aquarium was rather small, but it had a cool penguin encounter where we got to ride around and see some penguins.

We also got there just in time to see the stingrays get fed, which was pretty cool. I don't think I have ever seen stingrays that big before.

Some of us decided to have some fun at the aquarium too and act like little kids. We climbed inside a shark's mouth, and I put my hand in some polar ice for 30 seconds. It was so cold. My hand hurt from the cold and was freezing for a few min after.

All in all it was a pretty great day and adventure down in Auckland. I had the opportunity to see so much and it was fun to explore with the whole group.

Devon Port!

After school on Thursday, Nancy and I went to Devon Port with Alison, Kara, Jessica, Christine, David, Graham, and Nick. We piled into a 10 person van and drove about 45 min. away to the site.

 Devon Port is a cute old town near Auckland. In the town is Mt. Victoria where there are some bunkers and cannons left from the war when America tried to invade New Zealand. Devon Port is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It over looks the beach and the foliage there is gorgeous.

Going through the trenches and caves was so cool. There is so much history there. We climbed up on one of the cannons for pictures. We took so many pictures, I am sure we looked like American tourists.

 As we walked around Devon Port there were so many rolling hills that could have easily been where hobbit houses were for Lord of the Rings. It was all so gorgeous. We went through many of the caves would poke our heads through the holes in the trenches. One of the best trips I have ever taken.

After wondering through the caves, we went up on top where there was cannon and saw the most breathtaking site of Auckland. All of us sat down and we took a silloette of us looking out at the water and city. It was such a site. We sat there for hours and just talked and took in the site of seeing the sunset over Auckland and the lights of the city. The city of Auckland at night with the harbor and the sky tower is one of the most breathtaking sites in the world. I am so glad Kara and Alison invited us to go with them.

After seeing Devon Port, we also went up to the waft/ pier where people where fishing and saw another beautiful view of the ocean and city at night. Everything I saw tonight was so gorgeous. Devon Port is definitely one of the most breath taking places in the world and a must see in Auckland. I could so live in a place this gorgeous. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to see so many natural wonders of the world. We really do live on a beautiful planet.

Science

Science has been a great experience this week. At times it is boring with the lectures, but the activities and all we are learning makes it way worth it. On Monday experimented with air and pressure. We started by tipping tables upside down and blowing up balloons and then placing the balloons under the tables and standing on the tables to see how many people we could get on before the balloons popped. We got up to ten which was a new record for the classes he has taught. It was pretty fun and a great experiment.

We also made our own helicopter seeds from paper and tried flying them inside. After making some alterations to try to make them spin or fly better we took our paper helicopter seeds outside and let them fly in the wind. The moving air made them go so far and many of them were blown over the fence near the church. Kids could have fun doing this for hours.

On Tuesday, we did activities dealing with the material world. We discovered why the gingerbread man jumped on the foxes back. The gingerbread man knew he and his button would dissolve if he touched the water, so he was trying to stay out of the water. We did this experiment with ginger biscuits and M&Ms. The ginger biscuits floated at first and then sank. As the biscuits dissolved, the water became yellow and the biscuits became mushy. After awhile the biscuits floated back to the top, were a lighter color and were all mushy.

We dropped the M&Ms in water as well and let them sit. There colors began to separate from the m&m fairly quickly. Then a while coating started to peel off of the m&ms and the m on the candies floated to the top of the water. Afterwards only the plain chocolate was left which remained hard. We experimented with this several times. And then role played what we observed by having different people be each layer of the m&m.

We did a few activities with heat and balloons. We filled a bottle with hot water dumped it out and then placed a water balloon on top  and the heat allowed it to slip through the hole in the top of the bottle. We did the same thing but put an empty balloon of the top of the bottle and saw that the air in the bottle went into the balloon. We also did one similar where we put the lid back on the bottle and the bottle shrank because there was less air in it. After doing all of these activities with physical changes, we did one with a chemical change.

We took a bottle and poured some vinegar in it. We then put some baking soda in a balloon and placed the balloon on the top of the bottle. When  the baking soda and vinegar came in contact with each other, a chemical reaction occurred which caused the balloon to expand. It was a pretty cool experiment. I think kids would enjoy all of these activities and they would really help to teach them about the material world.

We experimented with sound by looking at a music box and learning that without the box for the sounds waves to travel through, it doesn't make much noise. We continued our sound experiments with balloons and ended up making a balloon band with balloons and different objects in the balloons like hexagonal washers, berries, ball barrings, etc. just to see what sounds they make. It was so much fun. We added a reed instrument to our balloon band by playing the straw. 

After experimenting with sound, we looked at balance. We balance a hammer from a table and played for almost an hour with plastic helicopter spinners. It was such a blast. The wonder in our eyes was like we were 5 years old again.

On Thursday, we got to teach each other different physical science activities. It was great practice for when we actually start teaching minus when we teach each other we intentionally misbehave. Nancy taught us how there is actually water inside popcorn kernels and that when they are heated the water evaporates and they pop! I can’t believe I never knew that about popcorn.

 I taught my group how to pick up an ice cube with thread by melting the ice around the thread with salt and then the bottom of the thread became frozen to the ice. Pretty cool. Alison taught us about pushed and pulls and Kara and I had fun pulling each other. Kara did an activity with friction. We had a pretty good time teaching each other about the physical world.

We then came back together was a class and did experiments with floating and sinking by placing lots of objects in a bowl of water to see what sunk and what floated. So many of the simple activities we did this week would be great for kids to explore in the classroom.  I definitely want to teach science through inquiry.


On the last day of science, we experimented with the living world. We looked at plants through a magnified glass and took apart the petals. Inside one of our blossoms looked pretty cool.

 We also looked at some fruits and vegetables. We classified them by size, shape, color, and then fruits and vegetable. My teacher tried to convince me that peas and green beans are fruits because they have a seed, but I still believe they are vegetables. We cut the fruits and veggies in half and looked at the inside of each as well before eating them. Our fruits and veggies really are pretty. This world is so amazing.

We made volcanoes using a film canister with a vitamin C tablet and water inside and then putting it is oats and the relation in the canister made the oats fly everywhere. It was pretty cool. Kids would love it, especially boys. I have made volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar before but never the way we did today, it was pretty cool. Mom you should do it with your cub scouts.

Social Studies

Social Studies is an interesting class. I am learning so much about social studies content and things that are often not taught but should be On Monday, we learned about silences in education including the influenza epidemic of 1918. She had us try to guess this even through 20 questions and I was the only one to get what it was and that was because of the Balto movie, not what I have learned in Social Studies. It was very interesting but sad to learn about this event. She gave us different opportunities to learn about it as well by letting us write, draw, or talk about it. There are so many other silences in history that would be interesting to learn about. She also asked us who from history we would like to meet, what event we would like to see from history and what organization or group would we like to talk to. I ended up picking a bunch since I love history and it is hard to choose. Some of the people I wanted to meet included Joseph Smith, Ester, Ben Franklin, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr, Anne Frank, Walt Disney, and Abe Lincoln. I am sure there are lots of others. One of the events I wanted to see besides the middle ages because I love the middle ages was the signing of the the Declaration of Independence. We also talked about the different orientations to social studies and ways it can be approached in teaching

On Tuesday, we started by learning about a current event in New Zealand and then discussing how it is important to include current issues in a social studies curriculum. These current issues need to be centered on the issue, real-world dilemmas, based on conceptual knowledge, and they need to give the students the opportunity to make decisions and analyze multiple solutions for the issues.When teaching current issues it is most important though to choose ones that are age appropriate and ones that the children will be able to relate to or have a connection with.

We also discussed social amnesia and trying have our students see from multiple perspectives instead of the stereotype perspective. This is so important when learning about other people and cultures as well as history. Seeing from multiple views can just give us such a better understanding of the world.

On Wednesday, we  did a population/comparison activity with the m&ms taught me so much about the world and helped me to gain a better picture of the statistics. It would be a great activity to do with kids as well. I think that seeing the percentages through a tangible item will really help the students to grasp meaning from them and understand the statistics rather than see them as numbers on a page. It opened my mind to how much difference there is in consumption in the world and made me as an American feel greedy. I think that this view is important for kids to see so they can start early to think about other places in the world and their living conditions.

Reading the articles on the differences children have made amazed me. The children in the articles were able to make such a difference because they knew about the issues, we concerned about them and were willing to try to make a change. I know this is completely possible in the classroom and being involved in some ways is probably easier than it used to be. In order to motivate my students to even think about or want to make a difference, I will need to give them opportunities to learn about issues, think about solutions, have persistence, etc. I will need to consider their ideas, and it would also be a good idea to show them what other students have done to make a difference to show them that as a child they can make a difference. Instilling these ideas in our students will help them to gain the qualities needed to be an active, informed citizen.

Watching the story about Iqbal made me sad, and opened my eyes to so much.Iqbal was sold into slavery as a young child in Pakistan to make carpets. he escaped when he was ten, did 6 years of schooling in 2 years and then at age 12 started to speak out against child labor in different countries. He even came over and spoke in the US, but when he returned to Pakistan, he was shot and killed. Some of the students in the US that has met him, then started a project to build a school for children in Pakistan. It was such a sad story and really opened my eyes to some of things that happen in the world. There are so many issues and things going on in the world today that we don’t know about and sometimes think about in America as a thing of the past, but these things would be important for kids to know about and to know that slavery for example does this occur. Informing the students about some of these issues is important we cannot let them continue to be silences. Children really do care and can make a difference if provided with the opportunity to do so.

On Thursday we did  a workshop  looking at  many resources that could be used in a social studies classroom. I sometimes worry that I do not know enough social studies content to teach it well, but there are so many great resources available where I and my students could discover more content and find answers to questions we have. I also enjoyed reading the children’s literature books and seeing how much social studies material is available in children’s books.  Having a discussion on social studies being marginalized is one I have been waiting to have. It is so sad that it happens in so many schools are brushing off social studies partly because it isn’t tested, but just because there is not a standardized test for it does not mean it should not be taught. In class it was said that goals of education are the same as the goals of social studies to help students to become informed citizens that can make reasoned decisions for the betterment of society.  It this is the case, then social studies should be focused on much more than it is currently in the schools. I hope that when I start teaching, I am able to find a way to teach lots of social studies even if I am only given a specific time slot when I am allowed to teach social studies. It can be integrated in to other subject, but there are so many aspects of social studies that need to be taught in order for our students to become informed, active citizens. 

On our last day in social studies, we played Scattergories with current issues and social studies content. It was really funny and way fun. We also watched a movie on a protest that occurred in 1981 in New Zealand concerning the All-Blacks rugby tour with the South African rugby team. Huge riots broke out in protest because many people did not want a country that promoted apartheid and segregation to be in New Zealand.  I learned a lot but it was a long movie. The past week in social studies has been pretty good and I learned so much especially about social studies content. I am excited to have the opportunity to teach it. 

FHE Dinner

January 24th, 2011

On Monday night we had a big FHE for all of the BYU girls and their host families. There was heaps of great food. We ate lots of great food some of which was some traditional Maori and New Zealand food. We had it at the Lord's house which is beautiful and they have a great view from their backyard. It was fun to socialize with the girls and their families. We all get along so well it is crazy. It just goes to show that the group of 16 we have is who is supposed to be here.

The Lord's have the cutest little girl names Alexis that played the piano and sang for us. She is so cute and fun to play with. Makes me miss the kids back home so so much. It was such a fun FHE and I got to try Pavlova which is an amazing New Zealand dessert. I really hope I get all of these recipes. I definitely ate way too much food but it was so good and I had so much fun with the girls and their families.

Tongan Otai!!

January 23, 2011

Today was the best Sunday here so far and one of the best I have had in a long time. Nancy and I went to church, which was great. I love how we have friends at church who really want to see us and love having us here. The lesson in relief society was on President Monson's talk on the last conference on the three R's of choice. It is such a great talk on choices and decisions. After church Nancy and I had choir and then went to Steph's house. We met Steph's family and spent most of the afternoon there. Her parents are really nice and her little sister Jess is hilarious. Roy was there and taught all of us how to make a traditional Tongan drink called Otai. It was so much fun and is one of my new favorite drinks!

We grated out two watermelons with forks and then added pineapple to that. We then had to scrape out the coconut using one of Roy's tools. It was way cool and a little messy.

After mixing all of that in a bowl, we added heaps of sugar and some ice and then served it with ice cream in the glass as well. It was soo good. I am so glad was willing to share and teach us how to make such an amazing drink. I can't wait to make it for everyone back home. We had to much fun making it too because Roy, Steph and Jess are so funny and love joking around. I love being friends with them. I made some pancakes as well because Roy wanted Nancy and I to make some good American pancakes and everyone loved those too.

Afterwards, we went to the stake YSA FHE. It was pretty fun too. Nancy and I know so many of the YSA in the stake already and have made some great friends!! At FHE we had a lesson, played some fun games and had heaps of refreshments. It was so much fun. Nancy and I were called Kiwi's today, we are officially apart of New Zealand now. I love it. I caught up with Leone, Paige, and Anthony at FHE and then made heaps of new friends as well. I also spent  a lot of time joking around with Steph and Roy. Roy is one of the funniest guys I have ever met and is so much fun. Having friends and knowing the people here might just be my favorite part about being in New Zealand so far.

A great night with YSA

January 22, 2011

 Jan 21st was my first day of my last two classes!! I have social studies and science for the next 6 days. Our science teacher was born to teach science. He likes to lecture but knows his stuff and did some fun hands on activities like giving us the opportunity to discover how to make a piece of paper float across the room by dropping it, not throwing it like you do paper airplanes. After we tried for a while he taught us how to do it. It was pretty cool and all of us were fascinated. If a bunch of 20,21 year olds are fascinated you know the kids we teach will be fascinated and engaged. I am excited to see what else he has to teach us even though he is giving us  a lot of homework.

 I really like our social studies teacher too. She taught us how to write a pi pi ha first thing which is a way for us to introduce yourself in Maori. I wrote mine...

Ko Hannah Kern Taku Ingoia
Ko Appalachian taku Maunga
Ko South taku whenua
Ko Atlantic taku moana
Ko Chattahoochee taku awa
Ko Georgia taku marae
Ko Kern English taku waka
Ko Shannon Kern me Marshall Scott Kern taku Matua
Ko Hannah ahau
Kia ora koutou katoa

We discussed the meaning of social studies during class and what children need to know, need to know how to do, need to do, and what the students should value. It was a great lesson for me and helped me to realize how much really is apart of social studies. I hate how social studies is so marginalized and forgotten about in some places or just seen as a subject that only needs 30min a week. Social studies is essential and so important the things our students/ kids learn in social studies teach them about the world and its people it prepares them and helps them become informed citizens who can make reasoned decisions for the betterment of other and the world. It is so essential to know about the world we live in, its people, the past, present, and future, the patterns that have occurred over time etc. Okay I'll get off my soap box but what can I say I love social students and history. It fascinates me.

After school Nancy and I hung with some of the other  BYU girls for a while before walking home. It was pretty fun. Katie and Becca are sweet girls.

Last night Nancy and I went to a multi-stake YSA activity. It was so much fun. We played some games inside and there was music, dancing, food, etc. Nancy and I played Ninja with Teina, Steph, Paige, Leone, Generva, and Pahu Li from our ward which was pretty fun. We have a great group of YSA in our ward. All of us girls also had some fun dancing around being crazy. I think it is kinda funny how the boys just hold up the wall just like in the states. There were heaps of YSA there though and Nancy and I made some great new friends including Chris, Roy, John, and Paige.They also had a variety show with great songs and they showed some dances the YSA did during their YSA conference a few weeks ago. I love how everyone here can sing and dance and are amazing at it. It is so cool. I loved how all of the YSA who had just been EFY counselors were still on a high from it. They all love that I was one in the states and love EFY since it is the second year they have had it in New Zealand. I got to hear the EFY cd for this year. It is pretty good, but I think last year's was better. Spending time with them makes me miss EFY and excited for it this year. I really hope I get to be a counselor again.Steph and Roy taught me some pretty fun dance moves including some rugby moves, skank (new zealand ragaee)and Roy's signature move. It was so much fun. They are so crazy and fun. I love having friends here. Afterward Nancy and I got some take out food with Steph, Roy, John, and Paige. Nancy and I tried Sea Dogs for the first time which are like hot dogs but with crab meat. It was pretty good and we had so much fun. The YSA here are so great and so fun. I love that I have YSA friends here and that I am going to get to have more fun with them. The people you know and spend time with can really make experiences even better. It was such a great evening.

Jan 22, 2011
Today, Nancy and I figured out phone stuff here so we could have a phone and keep in touch with people here. We also did some homework and hung out. It was pretty nice to just relax. It was a colder (high 50s, low 60s) rainy day all day. So kinda the perfect type of day to relax. This past week was pretty great I am loving being in New Zealand and the time here is flying by. I can't believe January is almost over.

Maths

We started MATHS this week in classes. We had 4 days of MATHS for the whole semester, which I am supper happy about, but I am going to miss it, which is so weird because I usually don’t love math. Our teacher, Helen Walters is just amazing though. She helped me see math in a whole new light. I love how they teach math in small groups rather than always as a whole class. It is such a great way to help the students understand math and its underlying principles instead of parroting the teacher and not learning. She taught us a heaps of math games in the classroom that I am going to use when I teach including a rocket game to teach order, a card game to teach what comes next and before, a warm up game of I have who has, tens and one with popsicle sticks, place value with money, ect. It is such a great way to teach and really helps even students that struggle to understand math. My favorite maths activities though were creating a garden by measuring parts of our body and making a tapa. They were rich activities and not only taught math but the other subjects as well. We made the garden by working in groups and measuring different body parts and then using those measurements to make the different flowers, trees, etc. It was way fun.

 Then for the tapa we gridded out some paper and drew patterns, dyed our paper and the bleached parts of the art. It was so fun to plot out our own pattern and create cool Maori art that involved so much underlying math. It took most of the day, but they look so cool and were really fun.

 On the last day of maths we played a bunch of math games that would be great for kids and then did a statistical analysis with pebbles/ m&ms. We made a pictograph with the candies, a bar graph, a strip graph, and a pie graph. A great fun way to teach kids about graphs, comparisons, and percentages and it was fun.

We also made New Zealand costumes out of newspaper and had a fashion show which doesn't relate much to maths but it was fun. We had some traditional Maori and Pacifica costumes and a rugby player. So fun.

Kids would love to learn through doing these activities.  It is one of the most effective and applicable classes I have taken for elementary education.

Fireside with Elder Anderson

Last night, Elder Anderson was here in New Zealand to give a fireside! Nancy and I rode up with the YSA in our ward. We sat in the second row and were within 8 feet of Elder Anderson for the fireside. I love having the opportunity to hear from apostles. It is such a blessing that we have living apostles and prophets on the Earth today. Before Elder Anderson spoke Elder and Sister Coasta and Elder and Sister Hamuai from the seventy bore their testimonies. Sister Coasta reminded me of the 3 D’s in life quoted by President Monson as how decisions define destiny and that our testimonies are the most important thing we have. I have such a strong testimony of the gospel and it is mine. I am so grateful for my testimony and the strength and peace having one brings into my life. Elder Coasta told us about some of his heroes including Nephi, Ammon, David, the sons of Mosiah, and Alma. All of these men had faith, courage, exemplified obedience, had strong testimonies, and ALL accomplished great things as young single adults. Which pretty cool and shows how important the YSA are and how YSA can accomplish great things. It was nice to not hear a YSA fireside on marriage for once. It was such a blessing to hear from Elder Anderson, he spoke about four people and gave us 4 scriptures. The 4 people were Thomas S. Monson, Brian, Peter, and Laura. The last three were YSA he had met that had challenges in their lives and who had trusted and had faith in the Lord, always relying on Him. The scriptures were Proverb 3:5-6, Mosiah 3:19, Matthew 7:7-8 and D&C 84:88. They are great scriptures and helped to remind me of how important it really is to trust in the Lord, exercise faith in Him, and how He is always there to help guides us if we turn to Him. He also gave us a scripture the Savior said in the New Testament that says, “Be not afraid, only believe.” It was such a great fireside and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go and hear from him live. After the fireside the YSA in our ward went to Wendy’s. We really do have such a great YSA in the ward here and I am making so many new friends. I am having so many great opportunities in New Zealand I didn’t even expect including having my testimony grow in numerous ways.

January 19, 2011

A cyclone hit New Zealand this week. It was so windy and rainy for a goof bit of the week and the humidity was over 100%. I like humidity but it was just ridiculous I felt so wet. I am glad I never had to swim though the street with all the rain, and that the weather is gorgeous again now that it is past. On the way to school on Tuesday, Nancy and I saw a dog walk up to a crosswalk, look left cross to the middle crossing, look right, and then finish crossing the street. It was so bizarre, but defiantly one of the coolest dogs I have seen. And the dog is better at looking both ways and crossing the street than I am. I am lucky I have never been hit since I hardly ever look both ways, but I am getting better. I think I just missed the day of preschool when that was taught. On Tuesday, Nancy and I also got to meet some of Paea’s grandkids and play with them.  They are some of the cutest kids and are so funny, ticklish, and curious. I loved playing with them.