Shadow Dance 2024 sneak peek!

One exciting aspect of our upcoming arts celebration (one of many!) is a shadow dance performance where students use silhouettes to tell the stories of Māui, trickster and changemaker. In preparation, we have been exploring the elements of dance — body, action, space, time, and energy — and learning how to retell a story through dance and drama. Students began by 'blocking out' the most important parts of Māui's adventures, then composed movements to convey each key moment behind a backlit screen. Adding to the creativity, the students have designed and crafted their own props, mostly using paper and card, to bring their shadow stories to life. We can't wait for you to see their hard work and creativity shine! Here is a sneak-peek of our mahi...

Student Led Conferences

In Māhotonga Matariki we have been working hard to prepare for our Student Led Conferences. This has involved preparing examples of the work we are most proud of to share with our whānau. Thank you to everyone who came by!

More Plankton!

We went to the Boat Club again on Friday in search of plankton. We dragged the plankton net with Katie (Dr. Pāua) and then analysed the results under the microscope. Amazing creatures and plants resembling the weirdest things from outerspace.

We are provoking our curiousity, asking questions and deepening our understanding of our local marine habitat. Did you know that some zooplankton remain in their form as plankton for their entire lives? These are called Holoplankton. You learn something new everyday! And sometimes you learn many new things in the day! We are applying the learning from 'in the field' to our individual Inquiry projects.

Writing Chants for Arts Celebration; and Making Music!

We are working on developing ideas for our Arts Celebration. Mauī the Trickster is the inspiration so we are brainstorming all of the words assosiated with him. These include; troublemaker, jester, clown, dreamchaser, provocateur, demi-god, shadow, shapeshifter, hero.... The list goes on. We have a group of musicians who will provide the backing track; the pulse, the heart beat to these chants. And some will become songs.

We are learning about how to construct a song, using consistent forms, counting syllables so that each line 'scans' well, maintaining the rhythm.

We are really dialling up our Creativity!

Keep on Making, Keep on Moving!

Len Lye believed the the beginning of creativity is Dance. He was also inspired by the movement of clouds over Wellington, even trying to capture this movement in his drawings. 'All of a sudden it hit me why not just movement? If there was such a thing as composing music, there could be such a thing as composing motion. After all, there are melodic figures, why can’t there be figures of motion?' Of course he went on to develop kenetic sculpture and is one of the early innovators of animation. We are capturing some of the Len Lye spirit, moving, spinning, twisting, bounding, bouncing, inviting the ideas to flow. It's interesting to see the energy we can tap into when dancing. The energy, the laughter it provokes, the joy!

Of course this creative flow has a purpose. We have started shaping an outline for our Arts Celebration piece and many of these spontaneous ideas will feed into it. More on this in the coming weeks.

Ākau Tangi trip

 On Wednesday, we made our way down to the Ākau Tangi sports centre in Kilbirnie for an epic day of activities!

                                                          

We played futsal, did gymnastics, and practised athletics. It was great to see everyone get involved and enjoy the variety of options on offer. There really was something for everyone!

Thank you to the team at Ākau Tangi for having us!

Dance Tangles!

We are beginning to explore new ideas in dance. Movement and connecting to others is part of whakaoho te wairua, waking up our spirit in the morning but we can also use it as a time to develop ideas for further use. Further use is of course The Arts Celebration!

This particular activity involved kids moving, making pathways, exploring levels and expression and then getting together with others to form a spoantaneous 'Tangle'. A lot of fun!

We went on to make explosive machinery; toasters, beaters, locamatives..... It's Dance! And it's goooooood for us!

Skellig: Tracking the Emotional Journeys of Characters in the Story.

We are reading a wonderful book at the moment called Skellig. It is an emotionally charged story featuring a teenage boy Michael, his growth as he confronts a raft of challenges and an extraordinary being he discovers in his garrage. To help us think about the story and to empathise with the characters we have begun graphing each of the charcters emotions. We are nearly half way through the story and Michael is beginning to feel more powerful, more connected and more confident. We are reflecting also on our own emotional journeys, developing the vocabulary to describe the full emotional range. This deep relfection is part of our Learner Attribute this term, I am a Thinker! It will be interesting to see if some of the character's emotions begin to mirror each other towards the end of the story or will they continue on their own individual pathways? Here are a few examples in the early stages:

What are the Factors Which Contribute to Positive Well Being?

We are conducting a statistical investigation to explore the big question about what factors contribute to positive well being so that we can reflect on and improve our understanding. Hopefully this deeper understanding will impact positively on our well being. There are are many different parts to this question: Is it physical fitness? Is it learning strategies for optimism? Is it a matter of finding balance in our busy lives? In order to find out the answers to this question we are following the Data Detectives Model.

Amelia is finding out about the effects of exercise. " I have read an article about walking, how it benefits the body and physical health but alsof leads to calm and helps the mind to relax". Ava-Jean and Dhitya are both looking at how managing negative thoughts can help. "We have never come across A.N.T.s(Automatic Negative Thoughts)before. We thought they were just insects".

Christian thinks well being for kids is dependent on them being able to have heaps of fun. "My favourite thing to do is to watch Anime. That's when I am at my best!" He is designing a survey which will ask children what they do for fun and how each of those activities effects their over all well being.

By conducting this investigation we are helping students reflect on the Flourish Model; the foundation of our philosophy at Worser Bay Whetūkairangi School. We would be interested to find out about what adults and our parent community think about this question. Watch out for surveys coming home!