Jakob's Australian Adventure

In my school my teacher's name is Miss Kennedy. She has brown hair. She wears glasses. She has two kids. We have done lots of math and we do a lot of stuff in our workbook. I get a ride to school sometimes with my neighbor and I ride my bike the other days. I have 4 friends already. Their names are Nathan, Joe, Jai, and Aidan. At recess I play soccer and handball. We wear uniforms. The girls wear white shirts and green skirts. The boys wear grey pants and shirts. For PE we wear white shirts and green shorts. Our school is about 50 meters from the beach. I just signed up for soccer on Jai and Aidan's team.


This is a picture of the swim carnival at my school. I did the freestyle and I came in 3rd out of 4 boys. We had the carnival for the whole day.

This is a picture of the COLA at my school. It is where we have out snack and is part of the playground.

This is a picture of me in my uniform in front of the Old Bar School.


Here are pictures of a koala and some kangaroos. We saw the koalas at a koala hospital. There was a tour guide telling us about how the koala got to the hospital and what was wrong with them. The kangaroos we saw at Port Macquarie. We saw kangaroos out the window and we took a picture of them.
This adventure has been great so far.
Jakob

Kyle Goes to School

G'day Mates
Taree High School is the name of the school I will be attending this year. In Australia there is no middle school. The primary(elementery) schools go up to year 6. Then the kids go to high school in year 7. I'm in year 9 although I'm an average age for starting year 8. I chose to go into year 9 because when I come back to the states, I would rather be a half of year ahead of my friends than a half of year behind. Also, I will be able to finish high school early and hopefully do a running start college program.
The schedules here are heaps(a word that all Aussies say a lot) different and heaps more confusing. It is based on a two week rotation, and then starts over again. I have 8 classes total, and 5 classes a day. This means I attend classes 5,6 or 7 times every two weeks. I go to my electives less than my required classes. This semester I have 4 electives and 4 required classes. My electives are wood shop, skilled games, computer graphic design and metal shop. My required classes are english, science, PE/health and maths(the letter "s" is put at the end of math here).
At my school, we have carnivals throughout the year. Last Friday was our swim carnival. It was very interesting and the kids really got into it. One thing they did was dressing in crazy outfits in their house colours.(yes, that's how colors is spelled here) and making up crazy chants to cheer on there team and pump up the crowd. At Taree High School there are houses (such as in Harry Potter). The houses are named after rivers near by. There is the Manning, Hooke & Peel. I am in the Hooke House and our colour is green. The carnival went all day and there were many events. There were all of the strokes, for every year, in two different lengths (50 and 100 metre's(yeah it's spelled right)) and then all of the relays.
The school is about 15 kilometre's away from where we live in Old Bar. So I catch a bus to school.(the same bus as in the picture) They are huge, air conditioned, single seated, cushioned seats, city buses. And it picks me up right on the street we live on. The only problem is that after school I have to wait 30 minutes until it comes to the school.
Here I wear a uniform to school. For normal classes, I wear what is in the picture with the grey shorts and white shirt. For sport, I wear what is in the picture with the black shorts and the gold polo shirt.
I have met many friends here who have shown me around campus and Old Bar. Some of them I go surfing with on weekend mornings. I now have a friend in every class so I am never alone, and they help me know what to do because some of my teachers talk with a really strong accent.
I really enjoy recieving e-mails so please feel free to e-mail me any time you like. my e-mail address is ksteen93@yahoo.com.

~Kyle

School/work info.

How ya goin'
We are each trying to create an entry detailing our work/school experience for all you fine folks out there. Mine will be about my experiences so far at Chatham High School in Taree, New South Wales. Try going to Google Earth and typing in that info. and you should get to fly to and get a glimpse of the area. If you type in Taree High you'll see where Kyle goes to High School. Old Bar, is due west on the coast. I'll also attach some photos of my room from inside and out.
Some of the differences I've been getting used to: We have a 6 period day, but the schedule changes and rotates every day. I have 5 classes on most days, but the order is different all the time. We have recess after the second hour and lunch after the 4th. Teachers rotate having recess and lunch duties. I have 3 every fortnight. The schedule rotates back to the beginning every fortnight as well. On Friday's the students go to 1st and 2nd period then go to 'sport' for 3rd and 4th. I walk a 1/4 mile with another teacher and 27 kids to the local gym for basketball. Basketball is not the most common of sports for the Aussie kids to play...Not a lot of experience. After sport they have lunch then 5th period then early dismissal while the teachers have staff meetings during 6th period. I have one class (8th math/4) that I share with another teacher. I teach it 6 times a fortnight and he teaches it 3 times. I'm not sure how that's going to turn out. Each teacher has a group from each grade level (7,8,9,10, and 11/12). They are very equitable in how they disperse the levels. Each has some high level classes, some in the middle, and some low ones. I have 7/1s, 10/2s, 8/4s, 9/6s and 11 general. The first # indicates the grade level and the second # indicates the ranking amoung the 6 groups most classes have. So the 8/4s means that they are all 8th graders that are in the 4th out of 6 levels in their math abilities. It definitely has been a lot different. At times very challenging and at others very fun. I am worn out at the end of each day...Some of the teachers and I try to get some quick golf in after school on Mondays and Fridays. We play 8 or 12 holes. No, that's not a misprint. It's a long and not very interesting story.
I'll cut this short and pass it on to the next writer.
Mike

Old Bar Public School

G'day Mates,

Old Bar Public School is the school that Jakob and I attend. It is very different from Washington Middle school, where I go to school In the US.

One thing that is different is the way we find out who our teacher is. On the first day of school, all of the 5th and 6th grade students meet in one area. Then, they call out your name and your teacher. It is a very hectic day. All of the parents are looking in the room's window, waiting to see who their child has as a teacher.

Another thing is that the classes are mixed between two grades. I am in 6th grade, although am in a class with 5th and 6th graders. Jakob is in a 3rd/4th grade class.

Their curriculim is a bit behind ours(Washington and Pioneer's at least.) I am in 6th grade, and for math I am doing problems like 10-6.

Our school is very nice though, along with my teacher. Everyday to start school, we all meet in what is called to COLA. It is just a covered area with cement steps in it. We meet there after recuss, lunch and everything. The teachers just tell us about announcments. One of the pictures is of everyone under the cola.

There is no cafeteria, either. All of the studenys eat at their desks,in their classrooms. The way you get "hot lunch", or buy lunch is different too. It is called the canteen. There is one big list of things that you can get that goes home with you. Whenever you want to order something, you write your name on a brown paper bag, write what you want, the cost, and put your money inside. When it is lunch time you get you lunch inside the bag.

The school has houses. (like Harry Potter) The houses are all names of birds. they are; Rosella, Carrawong, Kingfishers, and the Seaeagles. Jake and I are both in the Kingfishers.

One is of the pictures is of me in my school uniform, in front of the school. My uniform consists of; a white polo, a light green and white checkered skirt, black Mary-Jane shoes, and a green bucket hat. On sport day, I wear; a white polo, a dark green skort, a green hat, and joggers (tennis shoes.)

They have a swimming carnival once a year. On the day of the swimming carnival, you arrive at school. Then, everyone gets onto a school bus that takes you to The Aquatic Centre ( that's how they spell center)The Centre in in Taree. 20 Mins away from our house. There is a lap pool outside where the events take place. The events are; the 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 50m breast stroke, 50m Butterfly, 50m back stroke, Medley ( all 4 strokes), and the relays (4 people on each team, each to one stroke). The swimming carnival is an all day event. I did the 50m freestyle. I got tired at the 25 meter point. There is a picture of me diving in at the swimming carnival.
See you in 11 months!
~Mariah