Top Teachers

 T's career was on the ascendant. She was the first primary school teacher to be sponsored to go on an important research trip to Canada, and was taking Whaea Caryn as her guide and interpreter. Teaching gave her wings, and she was going to use them. The other teachers considered calling her 'Principal'  'Princessipal' 'Headmistress' 'Mother T' but she simply asked them to call her TT which stood for 'Top Teacher'. 

She booked her flights during the school holidays through the laptop that she kept hidden away in the cupboard. She knew if she left it out some of the junior children would either sit on it or open it up and start mashing the keys, or try to login into you-tube and watch toy advertisements. 

Whaea Caryn was more than happy to be tagging along, to return to Saskatchewan, the land of her birth, or at least to be flying over it. At the airport checkin the airport staff ushered them both on to the flight. Have you had your quarantine and your flu shots? Yes and yes.

TT was excited. She had messaged Whaea Caryn the night before on what to pack.  What can I expect in the land of the long white snow?

Whaea Caryn thought for a bit. You'll need several layers of puffy jackets, pants, snow boots, and scarf. And mittens. 

TTs suitcase wasn't able to fit these items. She figured she might wear them on the plane, but Whaea Caryn said if she did that she won't be able to fit in the seats. She said it was best to buy them at the airport when they landed.

Oh ok. Well maybe I should wear something that shows everyone where I come from. I am proud to be TT of Ranui School. 

Whaea Caryn observed drily, we could just go wearing the school uniform. 

Excellent idea, Whaea Caryn. 

So they boarded the plane wearing the school florescent vests which had their names on the back, and they looked so important that the air hostesses upgraded them to sit behind the pilot in the special cabin near the emergency hatch. You both look like you know First Aid, said the hostess.  

We're teachers, said TT smiling, and popped a barley sugar in her mouth. 

The Teaching Centre

T's new inquiry topic for the term was 'Sugar, where does it come from?' after one child asked the question 'What is Diabetes? ' . The tiny teddies and tim tams were having their effect. T thought this was  the perfect opportunity to announce a class trip to Canada because she had found out that sugar came from Maple trees in Canada. Whaea Caryn was certain it was, and everyone knew that Whaea Caryn would not tell a lie. 

Unfortunately not everyone could go. Whaea Caryn's air points was only enough for maybe one or two teachers, and while parental permission was sought, nobody would gave their consent for their child to go to Canada on a research mission.  Pak n' Save, yes, but not Canada. 

T had to decide whether to go herself on behalf of everyone else. For research purposes. It was very important for the children to have a responsible adult doing their research for them, in case they got it wrong, and sugar was NOT from Canada after all, they would have wasted a trip. 

On paper, it looked good and ticked all the boxes. Canada was where a vital ingredient for Diabetics came from, it was in the North East, which they were all teaching towards, apparently it DOES have bears, which were basically the prototypes for tiny teddies, and it was on T's bucket list. 

T filled out a RAMs form to check all the hazards of going and quickly submitted it for approval. This was going to be a huge learning curve for her and she was certain it would be exponentially off the charts to the North East. 

Library Wishlist 12

 The Fairy Godmother of all library wishlists waved her magic wand over all the libraries in the Land of the Long White Cloud. She had heard all their prayers (or rather, read all the suggestions in the suggestions box) and had the authority granted by the Powers That Be to grant every wish. 

Librarians woke up to find that all their wishes had been granted and their libraries transformed overnight. 

At Ranui, a wild jungle had emerged and tamariki were delighted to find that the green gorilla had NOT eaten their librarian after all. She was found up in one of the acoustic trees eating bananagrams, and the library now had several reading hammocks and swing chairs where lucky readers could relax and read at the same time. What a novel idea.

There was also a wild robot who went round checking everyone's books while vaccuming the carpet. The carpet was now soft and spongy, and in some places, even bouncy. Because of this, no shoes were allowed in the library, special library bunny slippers had to be worn. 

At morning tea (now renamed yum cha) and lunch time (kai time) the Yum Cha book restaurant operated, with trolley service and a la carte menu. At other times you were allowed book snacks/browsing/grazing whenever you wanted. You rang a bell, and a librarian would come to you with books or her read aloud function, meaning if you had your hand stamped she would read out loud with you. 

There was now a  book carousel with a constantly rotating book display, and a great glass elevator, which took you to new reading heights. Mushroom chairs in different colours had popped up from the floor, and there were now reading lamps in different colours. There was a book-o-matic machine that when you typed in your request, it spat out a book although every once in a while it might give you slime. 

More puppets joined the library, in fact, all the storybook characters were there,  Goldilocks, the three bears, the three little pigs,  the pigeon, Gerald, Piggy, Wally,  Wonky Donkey, Paddington, Hairy Maclary and Slinky Malinki. Even all the toys out of Toy story. The library had come to life.

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T also woke up that morning and found 'her' room had turned back into a library and her Tim Tams and Tiny Teddy Trolley had been moved back into the staffroom which was now called the Teaching Centre. It now had desks for each teacher and a seating plan, and the teachers all had to wear uniforms as well, and put their hands up if they wanted to go to the toilet. 

There was a big map on the wall with a big arrow on it pointing to the North East. Whaea Caryn said that's where I'm from, Canada. I'm so glad that we are going to teach there as that's where all the best teachers come from. T said that's right Whaea Caryn, and all of you now have puffy jackets with your names on the back so you have no excuse. Now let's get to work. 

T loved teaching during the school holidays. It was the only then when her teachers had time to learn anything new. After saying a karakia for winds to blow from the North East, the teachers practiced their pepeha. It was important to know where they came from, in case they lost their passports in Canada.