Today was our second to last day of school and we got to Skype with Mrs. McKenzie and her class from New Zealand. We have been following their blog since we started blogging this year. It was great to finally really meet them. We found out that we have a lot in common with our friends on the other side of the world!
The students in B4 will start their winter holiday on Friday. They will have two weeks off and the students have all sorts of great plans. We will start our summer vacation on Wednesday and will come back on September 7th to start our new school year.
The students in Mrs. McKenzie’s class start school earlier than we do each day and finish later than we do, but they get an hour for lunch and we only get 45 minutes. We also found out that we both have more girls than boys in our classes.
Our friends taught us to count in Māori and we taught them to count in french. It was pretty tricky!
One of their students, JiaJia, was celebrating her birthday today. We sang her happy birthday. The students in B4 shared with us the funny way they sometimes sing the birthday song. It was the same one we sing too! The birthday girl brought in a stuffed Kereru (wood pigeon) that even made the sound the bird makes when you squeeze its tummy. We had never heard of the Kereru before. Here is a picture of the Kereru and the type of pigeons we see where we live.
They play netball which is kind of like basketball, except it is played outside. There is no backboard, and you can pass the ball, but can’t run and dribble it. Rosealeigha wore her netball uniform to show us. Here is a video Mrs. W found showing teams playing netball.
Several of their students play rugby. Tessa showed us her uniform and the trophy and medal she won. Nikaya and Adam showed us their rugby boots. They look like the soccer and baseball cleats that we wear. We got to see their uniforms and even the mouth guards they wear. We don’t play rugby in our town, but other places in Canada do.
Thor brought in his skateboard and told us about a trick he can do. Several students in our class have skateboards too, but we don’t have a skate park like they do in Reefton.
The closest beach is a half hour away from Reefton school. Our beach is just down the road. Their beaches are sandy and our beaches are rocky. We both like to look for creatures in the rock pools.
They don’t have any dangerous wildlife where they live either, although there is a poisonous spider in NZ, but not where they live.
Mrs. McKenzie showed us some New Zealand money. That have beautiful coloured bills just like we do.
Most students bring lunch to school like we do, but they can order lunch from a local shop as well. On Fridays, they can order a hot lunch like chips (fries) and hot dogs.
We hope that we can talk to Mrs. McKenzie and the students in B4 again after we start our new school year!