WBS Interzone Cross Country Representatives

We are so proud of our WBS Interzone Cross Country Representatives!!

Theo
I was not too nervous in the car going but when we got to the track I was so nervous I felt sick. I started to warm up and got more nervous by the second. I was using courage to do the race. We lined up at the start. I was at the front of our line. The horn went and we were off sprinting down the track. It was a fast race and I was in 7th place for most of the race. I was pacing myself and using perseverance. We were coming down to the last 150 meters and started sprinting, I got into 6th place in the sprint and finished in 6th. I was stoked with the result. I had mud everywhere though, it was a good race and I was very tired. I could hardly walk. I really enjoyed running the race and it was a great opportunity.

Pyrenees
I was very cold and nervous at the lineup for the beginning of the race, while they sorted out the rest of people's places I chatted a bit to the person in front of me then I got ready to run, the person hooted the horn (the gun still wasn’t working). I sprinted up the grassy field and around the corner there was a muddy area you could hear everyone's feet pattering against the muddy ground. I ran the best I could. The course was spread out between 3 fields; there were uphills and downhills along the way. At the finishing stretch I sprinted through the finish I used perseverance and I came 14. I was proud of myself. It was amazing!!!

Ella
I was nervous at the start and then the horn went toot. I was at the back of the pack when I rounded the corner. I somehow got to the front. I was using perseverance to stay up there at the front then 2 people passed me. The most annoying part was the concrete hill that you had to run up. Then we were on the home straight. I ran through the finish line in 5th place. I was happy!!!

Navigating the Journey; MAKING A TREATY

 Today we began our Navigating the Journey, Sexuality Education.  Really important at the foundation of this learning is that all of our students feel safe, that they will be listened to and treated with kindness and respect.  

These are the main ideas captured here.  

We will be putting the ideas together as a document and having all students sign it.  It is fair to say that, while there is some nervousness, students are fascinated and looking forward to a lot of new learning.

We will be exploring ideas which reinforce messages central to Positive Education, developing strong, respectful relationships with each other, communication skills as well as learning connected to growing and changing.  We will keep you all updated as we progress through this learning. 

Kawakawa Writing

For us here at WBS, cultural and environmental sustainability go hand in hand. This week we have been learning more about kawakawa - the endemic plant species well-known for its use in rongoā, traditional Māori medicine. Some students have been writing comprehensive explanations, others have been getting out into the ngahere/forest to learn how to forage and make kawakawa tea. 

                                                                                                           - Nye W

                                                                                                                         - Charlotte C

                                                                                                                                   - Ella M

We say this karakia before collecting kawakawa leaves, to show respect to the domain of Tāne Māhuta and Papatuānuku. 

You can read more about kawakawa and rongoā here. 

Growing Shapes

4 Boosting Message by Jo Boaler and her students

We have been looking a number of tasks that involve "Growing Shapes." Students are learning to take risks with the challenges, make mistakes, fix their mistakes and understand that this helps the brain to grow!

We have started with the question, "how do you see the pattern growing?" It is fascinating to see all of the different ways that students see the growth. 

We have been making tables, exploring patterns and even thinking about rules for the sequence. 

Positivity: Training our Brains

 

This week we have been learning more about optimism and the role our brains work to process emotions.

We learnt about Negativity Bias, that our brains are programmed to focus on negatives (it's what helped our ancestors survive!). We have to train our brains to focus on positives or silver linings. 

Good news! Thanks to neuroplasticity we can practice positive thinking to get better at it - like working out a muscle!

 

We created our own positive messages for our fridges at home. A reminder that we can focus on positives and our brains just need to practice!

Character Strengths and the Arts Celebration

At Worser Bay School, we believe in a strengths based approach to learning. Character Strengths are the positive human qualities that serve as pathways for living a good life. Knowing and applying your Character Strengths is the key to you being your best self. 

In some of our reflections last week, we spoke about the Character Strengths that we needed to dial up to perform at the Arts Celebration...

Jack M: I used Bravery because I was very shy. I heard a little stage fright. It was so so so so so so fun! I did a funny script. The light colour was yellow. I was trying my best in the play.

Beatrix: I had to use humor to make my audience laugh more than me. I used creativity for my poem. I used leadership and helped my team practice and get up on stage. I am grateful that Elliot's mum took time out of her day to record us. I had to use bravery when I got on stage & I got a little stage fright.

Billy: 

Leadership: By rounding up my group members for the final practices. 

Bravery: By going up on the big stage and performing our mostly improvised play. 

Gratefulness: By being grateful for the panda costume mum made. 

Teamwork: Me and Nicolas worked together to produce a magic box poem. 

Zest: I used zest in the play by being energetic. 

Perspective: I considered the advice of others and tried to incorporate it into the play.

Kura: I used justise, making sure everyone had the amount of lines that they wanted we worked together to learn the lines off by heart. I used Social intelligence and creativity to make a play.

Yoichi: I used bravery when I was on the recording. I used creativity for the lines in my play with Luca. I used Fairness for having the same amount of lines in the play

Tigerlily: I had to dial up bravery because when we had to get it filmed it was a bit scary. I had to used leadership when I was practising our play when it got a bit confusing. I used teamwork and social intelligence when it got super hard and when my friend got nervous. I used creativity when writing my play and adding extra parts. I was grateful for Scott who set up the stage. Im grateful for everyone who helped with the art celebration. The play went really well it was super fun and quiet funny my play was called "Big Sister."

William: I used bravery, by not getting stage fright when sharing my play and my poem. I also used creativity when making my poem and composing music for numberfrog! I used teamwork when making my play and numberfrog music. I used appreciation of beauty and excellence by appreciating all the excellent plays there were! I was grateful for ethan for volunteering to be part of my play.

Murals: One Week On!

 

Just one week and the murals, documenting our rich history are nearing completion.  Cloe, Madi and Teuila have orchestrated this amazing adventure in The Arts, taking us on a journey through time.  They have used all sorts of materials, found objects, leaves, nik naks, treasures and junk.  One man's trash is another's....... 

The work was to be viewed as part of our Arts Celebration.  It will be available on the blog, on seesaw and on the classroom walls.  You are invited to come and see it, look and learn about our amazing past.

We would like to do this again as an outside mural.  Let us know if you would like to help out!

  

Arts Celebration... Watch this Space!

We have used our creativity, bravery and perseverance to create our poems, plays and songs. We have practiced, practiced, practiced! We are looking forward to sharing everything we have done with you all very soon... Watch this space!

Historical Collage Murals

We have begun working on large collage murals which tell the stories of our past from Tane te Wananga through to Maui, Whatonga, Tara and Te Whiti.  We will also include the arrival of our school on the site. It is a really abstract piece!  We looked at the work of the New York artist Conrad Marca-Relli for inspiration.  Our Artists in residence, Cloe and Teuila have been directing the project and everyone will be having a go at tearing uo paper and other materials to contribute to this amazing project.

Below is a work by Marca-Relli.

The mural will be going up on the walls of Mahutonga Matariki next week.  Come and have a good look at them and see if you can identify the story they set out to tell.

Publishing Our Writing

In Māhutonga Matariki, our students have been publishing pieces of writing that they are proud of. This is the final stage of the "writing process." Students have been publishing these pieces to share with you as part of the Arts Celebration. 

It is really important that students have an authentic audience for their writing. This engages writers and gives them a purpose to write. When students have an audience, they learn that their ideas and opinions are interesting and meaningful to others. This is engaging and develops enthusiastic writers who want to edit and improve their work.

We are learning to see ourselves as writers with something interesting to say!

 

Wild Things Disco 14th August

 

By Pyrenees and Jasmine 

Theme - Wild animals/ jungle animals

6.15pm - 7.30pm

Friday 14 August 2020

NEW VENUE 2020

Miramar & Maupuia Community Centre

27 Chelsea Street

Miramar 

Come dressed in your wildest animal costume! 

Prices $7.50 - Please pay via Online Payments by 2pm on Friday 14 August.

Please note: Online sales only. No cash will be accepted on the night.

There will be no food at the Disco this year, so please bring your child fed and watered. You can bring a drink bottle too - for those dancers needing a refreshment! 

For every ticket, your ticket holders will receive a lemonade ice block and a small bag of lollies.

Collaborative Poetry- Tuakana Teina

Last week, our Social Positive Purpose Group worked collaboratively with the Year 3 students to create some poetry. The aim was to teach the juniors about the poetic devices that the seniors have been using in their poetry. It was great to collaborate and learn from each other!

When I feel Excited By Nikita and Sitara 

When I feel excited 

I bounce off the walls 

When I feel excited 

I explode excitement 

When I feel sad 

I burst into tears 

When I feel sad 

I read a book 

When I feel sad 

I slam the door 

When I feel nervous 

I freeze into a ball 

When I feel nervous 

I shiver with scaredness 

When I feel hangry 

I screamed angrily 

When I feel loved 

I get happy and my heart bursts

Childhood Tracks by Soma and Nina 

Hearing tui waking me up in the morning 

Hearing the teacher talking to my class 

Hearing kids and me playing at playtime 

Eating toast in the morning 

Eating orange for lunch at school 

Eating pizza for lunch 

Drinking water in the afternoon 

Drinking orange juice 

Drinking fizzy drinks at home 

Smelling pizzas cooking in the oven at lunch

Anger by Oscar & Charlie

Anger 

It flies through our head 

like a bullet 

Causing happiness to scramble away 

Making everyone grumpy

Childhood Tracks by Ethan Gigi and Oli 

Smelling delicious flowers 

Smelling pollen in the flowers 

Hearing tui sing loudly 

Hearing beautiful getting pollinated by bees 

Eating delicious KFC 

Eating the burning pizza 

Feeling water on your face 

Feeling the fresh breeze on my face

Love By Charlotte and Cara

Love is form of relationship 

Flying through the air 

as its formed 

Love is a red hot heart 

Burning through
The soul

Childhood tracks- Sam and Mastani 

Hearing my Dad screaming 

Hearing my little brother throwing dishes on the ground 

Hearing seagulls stomping on the roof 

Seeing my neighbours jumping on the trampoline 

Seeing seagulls flying past the window 

Seeing harakeke bending in the wind 

Eating chocolate caramel goody-goody-gumdrop ice-cream 

Eating pancakes with chocolate and raspberries 

Eating tacos with guacamole and black beans

Visiting Tuatara Kids- Social Positive Purpose Group

As part of our Social Positive Purpose Group, we are planning action! We want to give back to our school and community. 7 of our students planned a trip to help out at Tuatara Kids. 

Hadley: We got to hang little kids we played really very fun games with them I learnt great lessons doing it and I really enjoyed it.We played catch with the kids and sung song it was great for my social skills. I found a friend called George. It was fun!

Mae: It was fun playing with the little kids and teaching them new things. It was cool learning the songs they sing, also it was fun reading to the kids and drawing with them. It was also interesting when we were doing the dances at the end of the session, and it was pretty cool walking all the way down the hill and up again. We drew an evil-Sabine-witch and an amazing princess-fairy-Sabine. I hope we visit again soon because they cried when we left...

Anastasiya: It was very awesome to visit some younger kids at a kindergarten, I loved playing with them kids and teaching them stuff. They even cried when we left :( . We sang songs and ran around the place. I do hope we visit them again!

Forest Protectors- Our Trip to Centennial Bush Reserve

This week we learnt all about being kaitiaki of our environment during our visit to Centennial Bush with Te Motu Kairangi. 

Some of our Social Positive Purpose Group made a movie about the day: 

On the walk we did a lot of activities. I will let you know what we learnt. 

At the kereru nest one, we learnt that kererus can in fact get drunk on the berries they eat and that is when they are most vulnerable and when its predators attack them and that is why they were endangered. 

In the second one with Nicola, we sketched the living plants and things. I did a thing with the leaves where you put them under the page and rub your pencil over it to make a kind of leaf skeleton. 

In the one with Nik, we did a thing were we tried to estimate how many living things were in a square metre. On my square metre there were about 20-30 living bugs and someone actually found a massive spider that if you make a circle with your thumb and index finger it would be as big as the hole in between. 

We also did a thing on a walk to the higher bushes and we talked about birds and adaptation and how some birds adapt to a new habitat and some don't. Also birds get killed by mammals because they stay still but the mammals don't hunt by sight, they hunt by scent. They die because birds hunt by sight so the birds aren't used to mammals.

By Sammy