Merimbula Public School - Impressive!

 

School's Cool!

I must admit when Erin Fenech, the Merimbula Public School Librarian gave me the class numbers for my visit I was certainly challenged and wondered if the first two groups of 100 years 5 and 6 students would have enough room in the library to work on the tasks I had set for them and if the sessions might be a little rowdy.  They really got into my new spy novel and enjoyed working out what sort of animal a bunyip could be - easy for coastal kids who see seals all the time.

This session was followed by the next group of 110 years 3 and 4 students.  To my delight these well behaved kids were happy to take on whatever I asked them to do and to their credit did a fantastic job.

The focus of my visit was to explore the writing experience including where my inspiration came from.  At one point I asked them to stand up and look out the library window to the view of the estuary below.  It was breathtaking.  I explained that the best stories often come from your local area.

That huge group of 3 and 4 years wrote a story based on a letter of the Alphabet - S for Snake - B for Bear - Z for Zebra - the young girl who wanted to write about a zebra learned how helpful a dictionary could be as her Zebra enjoyed zucchini at the zoo with Zeb his zealous best mate.  At the end of this exercise I explained that adults had a lot of trouble doing what they had done so very well.

My next group of 90 were years 1 and 2 students who - to the amazement of their teachers - were pretty good at mental arithmetic - adding up clutches of emu eggs then deducting chicks as natural disasters cut back their numbers - Yep Emily Emu Chick is a great way to learn about the life story of an Emu with all the hazards of living in the bush.  

The 50 Kindergarten students had a ball acting out stories to the delight of their teachers so look out reality TV here they come!  They are also great illustrators and love to draw.

My final session was with the support group with years 1 to 6 in this group of 20 students.  They love story telling and particularly enjoyed the story My Mate Old Tom.  To everyone's delight we easily found plenty of rhyming words to make into a school poem.  One of the students is a talented rapper and he performed the poem for us.  Each of these students had a chance to pass on their knowledge and shone like diamonds.

When visiting large schools it can sometimes be overwhelming - the sheer number of students often makes the day a blur of faces and with big groups keeping them happy, busy and calm and collected is a big challenge.  To my delight the Merimbula kids were very polite and never rowdy which made the day memorable.

The teachers and Erin in particular were a great help and I know are respected by all the students - I explained how my teachers at Primary and Secondary levels gave me the inspiration to write.

Back home - after leaving this computer with the doctor of gadgets - I had time to reflect on how lucky I am to have a small measure of influence on the lives of the children in our schools.

Now I'm planning my trip into NSW in July/August and we have extended the amount of school I will be visiting -some tiny one teacher schools - others large regional city schools.  I will be seeing 7 schools in all and wish I had more time!