Our Positive Purpose Environment group had a productive day yesterday.
During lockdown, we weren't able to get into the school premises. That meant the shade house, and all the wonderful things inside, couldn't be maintained. We have tidied it up and things are back on track! We now have some great new shade house specialists being trained up. He tino pai!
Our gardens are also looking much more lively, and are now home to many different science projects that are part of our new cycle of Inquiry.
We have also carried out some maintenance on our whare at bottom grass. A team of students have re-cladded the roof and front wall with timber, palm fronds and toi toi. Feel free to check it out and have a peek inside next time you're around!
We're also preparing some different types of fertiliser to be used on our gardens and for our investigations. We've heard seaweed is a great fertiliser, so we're chopping it up and getting it on our gardens!
Some students in our Social Positive Purpose Group decided to document some of the progress from the Environmental Group. We are taking action to give back to our school and community.
From the Institute of Positive Education at Geelong Grammar School: "Positive Purpose: The Positive Purpose domain explores understanding, believing in, and serving something greater than the self and deliberately engaging in activities for the benefit of others. It encourages students and staff to draw on their character strengths in ways that contribute to the welfare of others and the wider community. It also recognises that belonging to a supportive school community is a strong pathway to purpose and to wellbeing."
For our annual Art Celebration, Māhutonga Matariki will be showcasing poetry, short plays and artwork. Growing up, using the metaphor of the Hero's Journey from childhood to adulthood, will feed into the celebration.
We have been busy preparing poetry. We looked at the poem, Down the Back of the Chair by Margaret Mahy. Her poem inspired us to use poetic language to create our own poems in the same style.
Tangled in David's Hair by Nye
Not a single penny, do we have, our wallets are bare.
The only place, we have not chased,
Is uncle David’s beard or hair.
We grabbed his scalp and held him down,
Careful not to lose underwear,
We put our hands in,
and saw somethings,
which of course made us stare.
A dancing bus, a man named Rufus,
Tangled in David’s hair.
Some long lost toast, a bar of soap,
Tangled in David’s hair.
Something big, a pile of figs,
Tangled in David’s hair.
A kite, a knight, a terrific fight,
Tangled in David’s hair.
Year old milk, a bundle of silk,
Tangled in David’s hair.
A velvet chair, music to blare,
Tangled in David’s hair.
A skunk, a monk, a pan that goes CLUNK!
Tangled in David’s hair.
An empty chest,
a bug that needs rest,
Tangled in David’s hair.
A blue canary, a banana shaped tree,
Tangled in David’s hair.
A slope, a rope, the pope, a joke,
Tangled in David’s hair.
A scare, a flare, an explosive hare,
Tangled in david’s hair. A big bowl of rice,
“That's extremely nice!”,
Tangled in David’s hair.
And finally after hours of work,
(And a battle with a dangerous bear, a mysterious box,
filled with chicken-pox, and a life that is full of despair)
we found a way, to get some pay,
tangled in David’s hair,
a large pickaxe, to chop and hack,
tangled in David’s hair,
we can get precious stones,
to make our own, and give them for a share,
of their groups cash.
“Hurrah! “We say, as now we can gain enough food to feed our Aunty Elaine!
Down the back of the chair! By Olive
Down the back of the chair.
A cat, a mat, a hairy rat,
Down the back of the chair.
A smash, a crash, a bowl of mash,
Down the back of the chair.
A fish, a wish, a diamond dish,
Down the back of the chair.
A potato, a tomato, a flock of flamingos,
Down the back of the chair.
A pea, a flea, a box of trees,
Down the back of the chair.
A pool, a mule, a wooden stool,
Down the back of the chair!
DOWN THE BACK OF THE CHAIR! by Kura
He stuck his hand further down the back of the chair.
Cats, Rats, Bats flew out,
A mythical magical mat jumped out,
A sack of clowns, and a cottage lounge,
Were down the back of the chair.
There were puzzled wizards, dancing knitters,
A bee having tea,
Even Mum and her dressing gown,
Were down the back of the chair.
A clock, The Wellington block?
And the crazy computer birds,
Were down the back of the chair.
Yes, down the back of the chair.
Down the back of the Chair by Archie and Lakham
A pin, a lottery win, a mouse thats thin,
A snake, a cake, a big old rake
A pig, a twig, a big fig,
A mat, a cat, a rat thats fat,
A piggy bank, an army tank,
Down the back of the chair.
A bill, a Will and a man called Phill
A TV, a fairy taking it easy,
A chair, a bear and some underwear,
A ball, a wall, an Archie that is tall,
A dog, a frog, and a big fat log,
Down the back of the chair.
Down the back of the chair by Luc
The titanic and people in a panic,
An aeroplane, a flame,
A Lamborghini and a Ferrari,
A maserati and a bugatti chiron
Down the back of the chair
A fluffy hat that came from Russia
A uniform from Scott's College,
$1,000,000,000 bucks from the bank, Down the back of the chair
For our annual Art Celebration, Māhutonga Matariki will be showcasing poetry, short plays and artwork. Growing up, using the metaphor of the Hero's Journey from childhood to adulthood, will feed into the celebration.
We have been busy preparing poetry. We looked at the poem, "Childhood Tracks" by James Berry. We used his poem as a model to create our own poems.
We are enjoying sharing our writing with our class mates.
-MY- Childhood Tracks By Evan
Eating beautiful big bananas with the classic custard
Eating fresh fried dish with cheeky chips charging down my throat
Eating the tender flavour of meat, cheese and burger
Drinking dripping tea, smoke smoothly sitting in the air
Feeling my feet tracking through a frost filled fantasy
Feeling feline fur touching my ticklish feet
Feeling the ball leaving my foots lair
Feeling my fingers caving in on the keyboard
Hearing birds bringing berries from bushes
Hearing pens doing colossal clicks
Hearing music magically making me happy
Hearing talking teachers teaching different subjects
Seeing tagged taggers touching other players
Seeing my friends happy dial sinking slowly
Seeing myself bleed blindly
Seeing myself flipping through pages,
words bouncing from book to eye
My childhood by Darragh
I feel the wind of Wellington brush past my
face.
I hear the seagulls squawk until they can't
anymore.
I see the view of Wellington from my house.
I see the pigeons flee as buses rumble
past.
I smell the fish and chips as we drive past
the shop.
I hear the water crash on the beach as
people go swimming.
I see pohutukawa dance in the wind.
I smell the smoke from fires and factories,
(I
imagine volcanoes inside).
I LOVE WELLINGTON!!!
Childhood Tracks by Coco
Smelling the soft scent of the Spring flowers
Smelling the grass after a Spring hair cut
Smelling the cool breeze as it passes my nose
Smelling supper, warm and yummy
Seeing a beach ball bounce along the beach
Seeing my ice cream run down my wrist
Hearing the golden brown leaves crunch beneath my feet
Hearing the acorns fall off the trees
Hearing the snow crackle under my feet
Childhood Tracks by Sam M
Hearing classmates chat as I write an idea pop on the page.
Hearing faint sounds of crashing waves in the distance.
Hearing silence when I learn and noise when I play.
Feeling the hard wooden pencil in hand as I write a poem.
Feeling the hard firm floor below me.
Feeling the road petrol sign as it glides forward and back.
Feeling piano key whack down as they make echoing sounds,
some quiet, some loud.
Feeling my fishing rod in hand as the fishing line twirls through the water.
Tasting freshly made pizza out of the hard stone pizza oven.
Tasting fresh coconut filled with fresh creamy waters.
Tasting cannelloni with gooey cheese on top,
spinach and sour cream on the inside.
Tasting burger filled with fish and a drizzle of mayonnaise.
Seeing kea rip apart apples on the front deck.
Seeing trees fly past as I go whizzing down a zip line.
Seeing my friends have fun as we play ultimate tag.
Seeing my avocado plant grow and enlarge.
Childhood track by Jasmine
The smell of salty water,
tickling my feet.
Jumping the waves,
ongoing burning my feet.
Sea water stinging my eyes,
as I dive under.
Sand tickling in between my toes,
as I race along the beach.
Crunching sea shells along the beach,
trying to find the perfect one.
Hiding in the water,
refusing to leave.
Childhood Poem by Luca M
Eating Mcdonald burgers
A triple cheese burger
Just meat and cheese
I don’t even have tomato sauce
No pickles
No lettuce
I am a meat and cheese burger boy
Smelling flowers as I use the hand sanitiser
That melts like water in my hand
Smelling nature
As I feel the wind brush through my hair
Hearing an bird chirping
And it is like a screaming man
I know it is noisy and I said what are you doing in my swamp
Seeing my puppy Daisy
Playing with her toy
She is very cute to watch.
My childhood poem by Sophie
Eating lollies after my mum or dad went to the supermarket.
Eating breakfast with my sister right after we got out of bed and put the tv on.
Drinking lemonade and juice mixed together on the hot summer days.
Drinking hot chocolate after dinner before I go to bed on the cold cold winter nights.
Seeing kiwis sniff the ground at dawn.
Seeing my kittens play fight with each other.
Feeling my kittens super soft fur right before I pick my kittens up for a great big single.
Feeling the wind blow past my face while my kittens run after each other.
Smelling the blooming flowers as I walk.
Smelling my mum’s and dad’s homemade food when me and my sister play together.
Childhood Tracks by Mastani
Driving through the calm neighbourhood, With full equipment in the trunk. Hearing the crunch snow under our heavy boots Feeling the frost of the frozen winter air. Walking past the snow covered park, the scent of hot chocolate floating in the air. And warming up in the main building Tightening our skates Clicking our helmets on Putting on extra warm layers Ready to skate until our jaws are half frozen. Opening the heavy door The cold wind cooling my cheeks Stepping on the ice ring, Hearing the clatter of hockey sticks against each other The cool air blowing through the leaf-less branches Stinging our excited eyes. Twisting, Twirling, Adding our own signature on the ice.
Well done all who went to Eastern Zones XC today. You showed great perseverance and determination. 21 children attended the event and it’s exciting to have 3 of these children representing the Eastern Zone in the upcoming Interzone Cross Country. We congratulate Theo, Pyrenees and Ella Mac on their terrific accomplishment.
Positive Purpose Groups: We are brainstorming ways to contribute to others in the school community. Doing things for others is purposeful and meaningful and benefits our own psychological and physical health. Please chat with us at home to generate more ideas. We want this to be the term of action! Please add ideas to our Padlet:
We have been learning about brain growth and struggle. We know that we need to embrace struggle and accept challenges for our brain to grow.
We know how important mistakes are for our learning. We make mistake dances to celebrate!
Fulop: We focused on making our brains grow. The activity was to emphasise perseverance and to show how the brain learns. We started with a scrap piece of paper. We had to draw a perfect square in the middle, not on the edges. We did it. And that was when The Challenge began. We had cut out the WHOLE square in ONE straight line. Sure, first thought? Impossible. Utterly impossible. Well, no. I started to catch onto the way when Nicola announced that you can fold, and I immediately realised somehow folding had something to do with it. Later, I was still searching for the answer, and every way seemed to sort of change as I nearly accomplished it. In the end, I had to get help, but I kept on trying! For people who passed through “the Square”, there came, “The Oblong”... I tried that, but that was even more mind-boggling! But In the end, I managed square! When you learn something, new, delicate pathways will form, connecting two Neurons. If you keep learning it, and keep getting better at it, it will become a strong pathway, as if the brain paved it. It could also happen that when you learn about something that was an old pathway, it could strengthen. The last possibility is that two pathways you have already connect, forming a stronger pathway. The Brain is very interesting, Isn’t it?
Beatrix: It was really hard and I struggled a lot but I persevered and got it in the end. I tried it two times and it didn’t work but I tried again and I got it.
Charlotte:When you try something for the first time you will make a delicate pathway e.g. I was doing a math problem that was hard. But if you keep on trying and it will make a stronger pathway.
Hadley: It was an interesting feeling. I was annoyed at myself for not getting it but I was also growing my brain. It was quite complex to talk about.
Hunter: New pathways in your brain are delicate and easy to forget and break.but if you repeat and keep learning it the pathway will strengthen and strengthen so that it will be very hard to forget and break. The path ways can also connect with each other and join the learning together. The struggle was annoying and it made feel mad.
Olive: The struggle made me feel a bit panicked but when I calmed down I felt more confident. My brain is growing!
Sabine: I persevered by trying new ways if others didn’t work. I made a few mistakes but that’s ok because mistakes help your brain grow!
Yoichi: My brain grew because now I know what to do and what not to do.The struggle made me really frustrated and I started to think it was impossible. I persevered by not giving up, trying and then I DID IT!
