Winter in Narrandera

It's Winter

It's winter and I can enjoy the fresh smell of sheets that come in off the line.

It's winter and I can go for long walks on naked ground in my runners.

It's winter and we sit out at the footy field on the weekends and watch our sons play in shorts and tanks.

It's winter and fresh leaves are appearing on the tree in the front yard - even though it dropped all its leaves just a few weeks ago.

It's winter and the neighbour's orange tree is calling me to taste it's bright sweet fruit.

It's winter and the lavender bushes are brimming in a sea of purple hues.

It's winter and the boys ride and do tricks on the tabletop or grind the rails.

It's winter and we sit outside and the sun warms us as we sip our coffee.

It's winter and I don't see my breath in the air, I don't have to warm the car up or scrape the windows or brace myself as I walk across the yard.

It's winter and I feel alive and free as I enjoy the outdoors without frostbite.

It's winter and the world around is alive with birds chirping, the sounds of children playing and the feeling of the fresh breeze though our uncovered hair.
I smile and savour this reprieve from Canadian winter.

Bush Rangers

No - not us, we are not Bush Rangers. A bush ranger is an Australian outlaw - like Jesse James or Billy the Kid - Ned Kelly is Australia's most infamous bush ranger.

(Edward "Ned" Kelly (June 1854/June 1855 – 11 November 1880)[1] was an Irish-Australian bushranger, considered by some merely a cold-blooded killer, while by others a folk hero and symbol of Irish-Australian resistance against oppression by the British ruling class for his defiance of the colonial authorities.[2]
Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish convict father, and as a young man he clashed with the Victoria Police. Following an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. After he killed three policemen, the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws.

A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was captured and sent to jail. He was hanged for murder at Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.

His daring and notoriety made him an iconic figure in Australian history, folklore, literature, art and film.) Wikipedia

We stopped on our way home from the AFL game this weekend in Glenrowan to visit the site of Ned Kelly's capture and to learn a little more. We learned about his life, his capture and his death. We were amused by the fact that although he and his gang members create armour suits to avoid being killed by police fire, that he was taken down when the police shot below the thighs where he was left exposed.

We also learned that in 1970, Mick Jagger starred in a movie about the Kelly Gang and in 2003 Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush and Naomi Watts also starred in a movie about the Kelly Gang called "Ned Kelly". It had a 30 million dollar budget but didn't get good reviews upon its release. I wonder if that is because it all seems far fetched and we are accustomed to the Billy the Kid outlaw image and this is so different.

Glenrowan is definitely a tourist stop here (there was a tour bus there when we stopped). Ned Kelly tourism is a big part of this town's livelihood. It was fun to walk around and check out the life and death of this famous outlaw who we've heard so much about.

AFL Footy Game

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On Saturday night, we went to our first AFL Footy Game. It was the Geelong Cats vs. the Hawthorne Hawks. Apparently (unbeknown to us) these 2 teams are strong rivals and are known for great matches against each other - like Winnipeg and Saskatchewan in CFL. The fans are true and the game certainly was action packed!
We were at the MCG which seats 100,000 fans. We arrived in our seats (5th row from the field - awesome!) in time to see the warm up and to meet the mascots as they made their rounds. The Geelong cat was kind enough to pose with Sam and the Hawthorne hawk gave us a wave. Prior to the game, I mentioned at school that we had tickets so a student of mine, who is a hawks fan, and a colleague, who is a cats fan brought in some team gear. Dan and Jack decided to be hawks fans and Sam, Jake and I were rooting for the cats. It made for a fun night as we cheered for our respective teams along with the 63,438 other fans who came out.
The game was fierce and fast moving with great plays and drama as players roughed each other up and fought for goals. We were screaming along with the crowd when our teams scored. There are 4 quarters, each roughly 30 minutes. The play is continuous - the only pause occurring when there is a goal and play moves back to the centre. Those football players must be fit (continuously running and kicking) and tough to tackle with no padding. One hawks player popped his achilles tendon during the game - ouch. I think it was the most exciting pro event I have ever attended. It kind of reminded me of hockey because of the pace and the roughness. I am hooked now and would love to see another game sometime.
Jack fell asleep in the last half hour of the game - he couldn't handle all the excitement!
Who won? Sam, Jake, I and the Geelong Cats were victorious by 5 points but it came down to the final moments - it was anybodies game up to then!

Close Encounter

After 6 months it has happened - really happened!
On Friday night, our friend Rod called to say that he was coming by on Saturday at 5pm sharp to pick the boys and I - Be ready and bring the camera!
The next day, he took us to the home of Lindsay Hayes. Lindsay fosters animals who have been orphaned until they can safely be released back into the wild. She has taken in koalas (we saw photos) and on this night we got to meet Sparky and Oscar - 11 month old joeys (kangaroos).
She has had Sparky and Oscar since they were pink, before they had fur. One came to her after its mother was killed on the road and it was found in the pouch. The other, under similar circumstances. She bottle feeds them and they sleep at night in a crib in the house. There are wicker laundry baskets on the veranda that Oscar and Sparky like to snuggle up in. You can put them in a satchel and carry them around. We were thrilled to be able to hold and pat their soft soft fur.
Lindsay said that they stay outside until about 11pm before they are ready for bed. Kangaroos are nocturnal and so she is trying to keep them to their schedule. They use their paws for digging at grass roots for food as well as for grooming. They groom each other and are quite playful. I tried to get some great shots of them but they were pretty lively and wouldn't pose nicely - neither would the boys. I'm going to share with you the pictures I did get. Enjoy.
Oscar and Sparky only have a week left with Lindsay before their "soft release". They will go to another foster home with older kangaroos in order that they become part of their "mob". Then, they will be fully released back into their habitat. I asked her how she felt about that aster raising them for nearly a year. She said she will feel sad but that it is well worth it that they can live the life that they were meant to live. It was a special experience to meet Lindsay and Oscar and Sparky.

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Here's What You've Missed!

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The last couple of weeks have been filled with small adventures - mostly for the boys as I have been busy (but you all know that!).

So in an effort to bring you up to speed, I have created a smilebox of what you've missed.

Jake has been busy at the skate park with his "mad" scooter. You can see some clips of his scooter tricks that he has learned. He loves the scooter and is learning new things all the time. He spends nearly every waking moment with his feet on that "deck". We are going to have to dismantle it and split among our suitcases to get it back as we are NOT returning without it! Jack enjoys playing on the scooter too!

Jacob has also been busy with "Athletics", which we call Track and Field. He has learned to do discus, high jump, shot put, long jump and of course the running events. He's a natural and did quite well at the Carnival after having on had a couple of tries in each event to learn to do it. He came 2nd in high jump having jumped 1 metre 10 cm. He came 1st in his 200m heat race and third in the 100m race. He was on the relay for his house team. We are proud and he really enjoyed it!

Jake's class and my class are training in Rugby right now for a Catholic Schools tournament next term. We have just started the training but Jake said it was fun. We'll see how that goes...

Sam has also been very busy with his mid-semester exams and sports. He had 7 exams in one week but pulled through it okay. He studied hard every night and I think the experience was good for him. Footy has been keeping us busy as well. Sam's team is 2nd in the entire district. It is really exciting to watch and he is improving all the time. They played on Sunday in the roughest game I have seen yet. Play doesn't stop during a tackle and it seemed at one point, the ball just moved along from person to person to the ground, with kids scrambling all over one another to grab it, only to have it fumble away just out of reach. There was a lot of body contact - the most I've seen yet. At one point a fight even broke out (no - Sam wasn't involved - phew). One thing that really struck me on the weekend was that even when a player is down (injured), play does not stop. Someone comes onto the field, checks them out and takes them off the field - all during play!

Sam also had an Athletics carnival at his school. The highlight for him was javelin. He got to try it and was pretty good at it - 2nd place. The winning kid bounced his off of Sam's and it went further. Dan and I told him that we've never had that event at any of our track and field days so he can chalk that one up to another new experience.

We are very excited as this weekend is the long weekend here for Queen Victoria's Birthday. This is our first long weekend in Australia (no Family Day, May Long, July 1, Labour Day, Thanksgiving etc...) We are heading to Melbourne on Saturday to see our first AFL (Aussie Football League) professional game at the MCG! We are very excited! The game we will see is the Geelong Cats vs. the Hawthorne Hawks. The MCG seats 100,000 people and being a long weekend and that they are 2 popular teams, we have a lucky chance at a good crowd. We don't know who to root for and frankly we don't care. We are just along for the experience!

Check back on the weekend for news of the game!

MCG centre in Melbourne

Reports

Well, I've completed my first batch of Australian Report Cards ... at least I THINK I've completed them. They still must be checked by my principal before I am in the clear, but I am sure the hardest part is over. I have been reflecting in the process and I thought I would share some differences while they are fresh in my mind.

Firstly, I have written 29 reports, whereas with the primary cap at home, I would have had no more than 20 and over the last couple of years, my classes have been 16 or 17. The marking as well as reporting for this many students is quite time consuming.

Secondly, there are several differences I have noticed in the actual reports. They have a "general comment" which is similar to our learning skills but the criteria are much different in some areas. I have had to give my students a "mark" on Politeness: I must say that the children I teach are always VERY polite but it made me think about what kind of a mark I would give to many of my Canadian students. If an Australian parent sees that their child does poorly, I guess it is a pretty concrete skill they can improve on. I can't wait to see how Jacob does in politeness :)

I found the grading on the reports to be pretty onerous. For each subject area and strand, you not only give the students a grade, but you must also give them an overall grade as well as an effort mark. For example, in math, I gave a grade for each of numeration, geometry, measurement, problem solving and patterning (the strands), then I had to give an overall Math grade, and lastly I had to give a mark for effort. Each subject area is structured in this manner so it is a bit time consuming.

The last difference I noted was the small comment area. I always have difficulty at report card time putting all of the things I want to say into that little box. Here I was limited to 210 characters (including spaces) for English and Math and 180 characters for the other subject areas. Just try typing out 3 complete sentences and see if you can fit it into 180 characters and say anything meaningful! If a student has a long name, your really sunk!

(The above small paragraph was 451 characters including spaces and 83 words: more than double the space I am allowed on reports!)

The bottom line is that I think less marks and more space for comments would be more beneficial to all. I guess that is why we have parent interviews - so we can say all the important things we want to say in person. I am looking forward to meeting with the parents of my year 3's in a couple of weeks.

T.