Mihi Whakatau and Hīkoi

Mihi Whakatau

Thursday was a big day for us; all about connecting!

Firstly, Mihi Whakatau was connecting with our new whānau and staff. It is always a real highlight of our annual calendar and a real celebration of our special place up here on the cliff tops. This wāhi tupuna, or place of the ancestors, is really significant as we know it is the first permanent Pā site in the Te Whanganui-a-Tara area. We are connected to the past, we are connected to the sea, the wind and our wider environment. With Mihi Whakatau, our new students, families and teachers become tangata whenua and, as such, belong here. Connected as part of our Worser Bay Whānau forever!

In the evening, we had a hardy group join together for the Hikoi. Tāwhirimātea was out in force but were we daunted? Not a chance! We told the stories of the past, from the legends of the great Taniwha, Kupe and the giant wheke through to the stories of Taranihoniho and the early settlement of the motu, Te Motuwhetukairangi.

Thanks to all of you who participated in these events; it was fantastic to connect with you all.

Hīkoi

Wellbeing and Positive Relationships.

 We've been tackling the big questions this week

'What makes you flourish?'

'What makes you well?'

'Why is connecting with others important?'

We've had some rich discussion around connecting with others, especially at the. moment. We are noticing we miss the classroom, our friends, playing together etc etc..
so why is connection so important? 

The Science:

Having positive relationships with others is important for a number of reasons.  Relationships are believed to foster good health by increasing the desire to care for oneself, encouraging health behaviours such as good diet and exercise, and increasing positive emotions that have a beneficial impact on bodily systems (Cohen, 2004). Overall, feeling connected to others is believed to play a key role in good physical and mental health throughout the lifespan. Cohen & Wills (1985) found that connection with others offers a 'buffer' for facing adverse events in life. Connecting with others can help build our own resilience and ability to 'bounce back'. 

In our session we've talked about what good friendships look like, how can we connect with others positively. 

'A good friend listens when you are talking' this idea has come up a number of times and we wrote down what makes a good listener.

Beach Day- Reconnecting at the Beach

Today was our first day back at school. We went to the beach to reconnect with our friends and teachers. We were also immersed in our beautiful surroundings. What a wonderful day. It is great to be back!

Bonjour and Thank you to Brindas School in France

What a lovely surprise! We received a package from our friends at Brindas School. They made us a card and sent us a French and European flag! 

Skyping with Auroa School

Yesterday, we Skyped our friends at Auroa School in South Taranaki. We talked about the year and what we have been doing recently. They have been doing athletics and lots of other work. They have something called Harold the giraffe http://www.lifeeducation.org.nz/ . They are learning about a Growth Mindset and we are too. They have had a good start to the year and we are looking forward to Skyping with them more and learning together.

By Yasmin

Happy New Year from our friends in Brindas, France

We have had a great start to 2018. We were very excited to hear from our friends from CM2 de l'école de Brindas, FRANCE.

They wished us a happy holiday: http://cm1.galligani.eu/2017/12/18/have-good-summer-holidays/

They also wished us a Happy New Year! They made a Star Wars themed movie that our students loved:  http://cm1.galligani.eu/2018/01/29/good-new-school-year/

Nell and Isabel led a team to make a movie for students at Brindas School:

We are curious about schools in France. We had some questions:

Avery: Do you have a helper teacher?

Keir: Do you have a swimming pool?

Elliot: Do you do homework?

Nick: What do you do on a normal day at school?

Zoe: do you have traps for pests (animals)?

What languages do you speak?

Emelia: How many children are there at your school?

Henry: What is your learning schedule?

Jude: Do you have lunch boxes?

Stella: Do you bring your lunches to school?

Alex: What are your favourite subjects?

Ruby: What sports do you play at school?

James: Do you have alergies?

Lachlan: Can you tell us about where you play? Do you have playgrounds?

Zac: How big is your playground?

Caspian: What do you usually play at playtime?

Yasmin: How many classes do you have at your school?

Marnie: Do you have desks?

Molly: Do you have class pets?

Greta: How long are your breaks?

Jasmine: How long are your holidays?

Taiga: How long do you have at school?

Yoshi: Do you have a cafeteria?

Nuala: What year groups do you have?

Nye: What food do you put in your lunch boxes?

Cameron: What is the hardest Maths that you do?

Evan: when did you start learning english?

What do you like about your school?

Are you religious? What are the names of your gods if you have them.

What weather do you have? Is it hot or cold?

Evan, Rhosyn: How long is your school day?

Emails from Leola and Violeta

We received emails from Leola and Violeta. It was great to hear about how they are getting on in Spain! You can respond to them in the Padlet below. 

Hi I'm Leola. Here at home we already have desks to study at home, because we thought that our bedroom was too kidish. At school we have a very funny teacher who reminds me of John. His name is Jose Manuel, but he doesn't play the guitar. Our English teacher is called Rocio. Here we have a thing called Talleres( workshops) once a week which is my favourite subject. We are separated into 4 groups (3th and 4th of primary) and one goes to art ,another one to crafts another one to I.T. and finally another one to theater. Anyways to what we were going, I'm having a great time here in Spain.😁.
I miss you!

Hi everyone. I'm Violeta . I'm very well here and I miss you all. My school here is very different, maths is really different. The cursive letter wasn't so important. In maths we are starting to divide because we have finished with the multiplying. In literacy we are with a thing that doesn't exist there. How is everything there? Here it's good very good. Here as a subject we have got English and it's super easy for me and Leola.

Hutt Central play our game!

As part of our Inquiry, we made up our own games. We were very excited to receive 19 letters from Hutt Central School who played our game. 

Dear Hutt Central School,

Thank you so much for our letters.

It was really cool that you played our game. Thank you for all of the advice.

We will put the levels in to try and make our game more interesting.

We are glad that you found it simple to play.

We like how you said that it improves your accuracy. It improves ours too.

If you get a goal, you get a point. We need to include these in our instructions. The person with the most points win the game.

We like the suggestion that if we get a goal then you can give someone a dare.

From D, M and H

Catch up with Room 3 at Auroa School

Orla: Today we skyped Auroa School. We talked about our learning. They were talking about how they got to choose their own learning around the STEM subjects. Some of them chose trapping and some grew bacteria from Mr Webb's phone.

Hana: We talked about our Inquiry. They had a camera that they put in the bushes so they can see the pests. They 3D printed platforms to put cat biscuits or peanut butter to attract the animals. Here are some of the images that they have captured.

Peter: The kids at Auroa School played the game that me and Ollie made up. They said that it was a bit like piggy in the middle. The aim of the game is to not let the person in the middle catch it. It was exciting that they played our game.

You can check out their blog: http://mrwebbauroa.blogspot.co.nz/

Tane Art at Kilbirnie Library

Our Tane Art is on display at the Kilbirnie Library. Go and have a look over the holidays!

As part as our Power Inquiry at Worser Bay School, we have been learning about Tane.

Tane is the garden/god of the forest, who went through the 12 heavens, and got the baskets of knowledge.

He is known for more than one name, like: Tane, Tane Mahuta & Guardian of the forest. We did art of Tane.

Blurb by Isabella and Alex G

Connections with South Taranaki

Skype between Worser Bay School and Auroa School

A group of us have been skyping  to Auroa school.

Today we read a text about the weather. Auroa School shared some research and we shared some ideas about our upcoming Art Exhibition. We also shared some jokes.

We are planning to make a collaborative piece of artwork based on a poem for the art exhibition.

By Alba, Mia and Molly

Weather Poem: reading with our friends from South Taranaki

Today we read a poem with a reading group from Auroa Primary School. We read a tounge twister poem about the weather. Our school focus this term is about being connected and we are enjoying connecting with our friends in South Taranaki.

Weather - Poem by Eve Merriam

Dot a dot dot dot a dot dot

Spotting the windowpane.

Spack a spack speck flick a flack fleck

Freckling the windowpane.

A spatter a scatter a wet cat a clatter

A splatter a rumble outside.

Umbrella umbrella umbrella umbrella

Bumbershoot barrel of rain.

Slosh a galosh slosh a galosh

Slither and slather a glide

A puddle a jump a puddle a jump

A puddle a jump puddle splosh

A juddle a pump a luddle a dump

A pudmuddle jump in and slide!

Zealandia Card Design

Darren from Zealandia came in this week to introduce us to a new game that the team at Zealandia is developing together with students from lots of schools. He left us each with a card that shows a bird found in New Zealand and tells us some key information about it, like how rare it is and how it flies. He has challenged us to make our own cards about:

 - a bird found in New Zealand,
 - a special place in New Zealand or
 - an event (good or bad) affecting New Zealand's birds.