The Beach was Buzzing!

We have been so lucky to have had a few great days at the beach. The Worser Bay Boat Club are an incredible hub of learning, very much the vision of Dean Stanley and the Rūna programme, a nation wide education programme connected to sailing. On Tuesday Rongotai College launched a Waka Hourua they have built, we had the Marine Science programme running in the clubrooms while the kids were sailing and swimming and building and digging...... We are so lucky and finding opportunities to show gratitude to the people that enable all of this to happen.

Welcome to our new year 4s!

We have worked with our new senior group two times now, exploring questions of identity and how artists represent themselves. There has been learning around drawing and sketching techniques as well as thinking about the things which make us who we are. This work has been collated by each student into a poster so when they new year 4 group arrive in Māhutonga Matariki they will see themselves up on the walls. Exciting times!

Beach Week Learning and Adventuring!

The above photos are of some of ourgreat adventurers who have been out there exploring the local environment. We have covered a whole lot of ground, from the school to the beach to the very far northermn end of the peninsular at Massey Memorial. Many of our students are covering new ground and making new discoveries. It's very exciting.

We are also continuing to explore the ocean and the myriad creatures that call the ocean home, or in this case, Worser Bay. Under the microscope we were able to see a sorts of zooplankton, including octopus and seahouse larva. The photo is of a jelly fish plankton. Our kids are so at ease with this that they are able to navigate the equipment and independently identify the species which they are looking at. We will be at the beach and baotclub again on Monday and Tuesday for our last go at Moanamana for the year. Please join us if you are able and/or curious.

Film Making:

We are up to the point of shooting our movies, editing and putting in sound effects. Fair to say it has been a learning curve for all concerned with many groups having to refilm entire movies because of some technical difficulty or other. But we learn from our mistakes, right? Right! Here are some stills from the up coming movies which we will be screen at film night.

Here comes Rapunzel, and she's mad!

A day in the life of Eli!

Be very afraid!

Little Big Riding Hood!

Football: Girls Rule! We are looking forward to presenting the films to you on Thursday evening next week. See you there!

Positive Purpose in our local community

This term, our senior students had the opportunity to visit local early childhood centres, sharing their Kindness and Creativity with others. Acts of Kindness, driven by Empathy and care for others, not only benefit those on the receiving end but also enrich the lives of our students who give: ‘The central idea of Positive Purpose is that people flourish when they believe in and serve things greater than themselves’. We had one group of students visit Miramar Central Kindergarten, where they prepared some fun Christmas crafts to share with the little ones—some of whom had never used glitter before! It was an exciting experience for everyone involved. Another group wrote and rehearsed a version of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', which they performed for an audience at Miramar North Kindergarten. Needless to say, the kindy kids found the play both engaging and inspiring! Our next project involves senior students planting terrariums and pots, which will be delivered to local rest homes. We believe it’s important for the elderly to feel cared for and to have something meaningful to nurture. Stay tuned for updates!

Developing Fim Scripts:

We have been looking at film scripts in Writing this week, thinking about the features of scripts and how they differ from other genres of writing. There are similarities to plays but there are also the added descriptions of what the camera is doing. We have had to learn all of the names of the various shots and the reasons they have been emplyed by film makers. As a model we looked at a well loved scene from Harry Potter; the dreaded Dursleys on Dudleys birthday.

We began by improvising, exploring ideas connected to our learning about gender stereotypes and issues connected to growing up, the perilous journey through puberty. We then set out to brainstorm our own scenarios to develop into scripts.

This last one, not quite a full scenario but I'm sure you get the picture, or flavour! We are currently making story boards showing camera angles and writing the scripts.

We are also learning how to use iMovie so that we can effectively edit our work. You are invited to see the great results of the work on the 5th of December at Film Night: Tall Tales, Short Tales and Tales Which are About to Hit Puberty!

Positive Purpose: Terrariums and Succulent Gardens

Some students, as part of our Positive Purpose action groups, have begun developing tiny gardens, terrariums and succulent gardens in interesting pots and vases. The idea is that we will be donating them to elderly people in rest homes, something to beautify their rooms or units and also something which they might like to engage with and care for.

After busy lives, often caring for children, partners and even pets, some older people find themselves with nothing to actively care for. As a result of this they can experience a loss of purpose and sadness. We want to be able to contribute something positive to their lives and to their environments. Positive Purpose has health benefits for all of us but in the elderly can actually prevent the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Psychology Today (psychologytoday benefits of living with purpose)suggests that having purpose has a protective effect on cognition. We are waiting to hear back from a few homes which we have contacted.

These are some examples of what they are working on.