Thursday 17 October 2019

Duffy

We were lucky to have Stella Schmid visit for our Duffy assembly today. At the age of 10 she couldn't read. She didn't go to school 80% of the time because she lived with her grandparents. When they passed away, her family realised she couldn't read. She didn't have the opportunities to read when she was you get, so she reads at every opportunity now. 

She now owns 3 businesses and travels New Zealand sharing her passion for reading and the environment.
Her message to us today was about how important we are. 
"Someone in this room has the potential to be the prime minister one day."
"Someone in this room has the potential to be the future minister of conservation."

She talked about the kereru and how it is the only bird large enough to eat some of the seeds for our big trees. Once it's extinct, the trees will be too!

The huia is already gone.

By the time you wake up in the morning, 170 species will die.

There are 3 species of rat in New Zealand. 

- One came with Maori and was a major food source.
- Ship rat originally came from India. It kills 26m native birds and insects every year. It has the potential to have 10 babies every 2 months. 
-Norwegian rat can swim. It eats the birds and insects I. The canopy of the trees.

Possums come from Australia. It was brought here for its coat. There are more things that have been brought into our country, than the things that belong here. 

Stoats come from Europe. They were brought here to fix the rabbit population. The rabbits were brought here by gold planners to eat. They over bred and ate too much grass then dig up farmland. The farmers demanded stoats were brought. On average 40 kiwis are killed by stoats each day. It's cousin the weasel is the same, but smaller. The ferret is from the same family. He was brought here for its mink coat. They were farmed. When it was decided that they weren't welcome here, they weren't sent back or destroyed... 4700 were released back into the forest.

The Kauri has been here for 250m years. We used to be covered in them, yet 1% is left.  

Native-made its way here on its own. 
Endemic - can only be found in one place in the world. 80% of our native population is endemic.
Introduced - brought here by humans.

Why are we important? Because we can help. 


Kiwi Can

The focus of This term is Positive Relationships 
We are starting to look specifically at positive communication first.
"Kiwican says communication say the word,
Use your words so you can be heard.
No need to Arthur, listen and see,
clear understanding is the key."

Our energiser was a game of Ninja. The game started with all group members saying "Ninja Ha!". To coincide with that, each person made a ninja stance. They then freeze.
One person starts and makes one movement to try and tag another person's arm. They can make a movement to dodge it. Each movement must freeze afterwards. If you're tagged, you put that arm behind your back. When both of your arms are tagged, you sit down. The winner is the last person standing.

If there were problems, like someone getting carried away and hitting a bit too hard... we needed to use respectful communication by using our manners to ask them to settle down. 

Everyone has different points of view, meaning that we all have different perspectives and opinions. We need to listen to our friends and come to an understanding.

To practice listening to other group members, we played "Wizard Giant Dwarf".

Wizard beats Dwarf
Giant beats Wizard
Dwarf beats giant

Fanimals in da house!

We were lucky enough to have Jess and Molson visit from Fanimals.
Apparently, Molson is quite cheeky and is probably the naughtiest! 

Where do they live?

There is an animal carer, who trains the animals. Many of them live in her house when they are not working. Tina & Tama the geckos, as well as the Fish,  live in the studios. The other animals get brought in for filming and then go home again. Molson lives with... our another family.

A German Shepard can jump really high! That's why they make great police dogs.

There are a couple of species of goldfish that x can survive in both freshwater and saltwater, but you wouldn't find them in a pet store. 

The fluffiest animal is a ChouChou. It is an Asian breed of dog. It is like a Pom Pom. It has a black tongue. It's going to be on the show next Tuesday! 

Tuesday 17 September 2019

Resilience

We are beginning to learn about Challenges for the remainder of this term. 

Challenges... we manage themWe take them on and tackle them.

Our energiser was All in Tag. Some of the challenges we faced were:
- people being over-exuberant in their tagging
- goose guarding
- timing for rock scissors paper
- getting tagged as soon as you are free.
We needed to deal with those challenges and move in. This is the same in real life and at school. Sometimes we say we'll do something to help, but we don't realise how difficult it was going to be. 
In the playground, we might be nervous on a new playground because everything's bigger. It can be challenging when everyone wants to use the same equipment. 

Challenges with our friends.
Making decisions about what we want to play. We don't want to upset them by not doing what they want to do.

We role-played some scenarios. We thought about what the long term effects of the choices made might be.

1. Everyone had different ideas about what they wanted to do. They started arguing and then came up with quick ideas to solve the problem, but then cheated. Long term, they might not want to be friends anymore. These problems get taken back into the classroom and it affects your learning. Others choose to get involved.

2. Two people wanted to stay inside and get their work done at morning tea, but their friend wanted to go outside and play. She was impatient and trying to get them to go out too. The teacher wanted them to solve the problem themselves. We need to go to the teacher with solutions rather than problems all the time. 

3. Two people wanted to play fight but the other two weren't interested. They tried to physically force them to go. When that didn't work, they called them jerks. They were trying to peer pressure them into doing what they wanted to.

Tuesday 27 August 2019

Self-control

We are looking at resilience, in particular self-control.

Kiwi Can says self-control, it's up to me,
Keeping calm with strategies.

Energiser: Paper Scissors Rock War

We had to jump into each hoop with both feet until we met the person from the other team. We had a paper scissors rock war, then the winner continued until they met another person. If you crossed onto the start dot, your team gets the point and another person starts.

We practised mindfulness to calm ourselves down after all the excitement. Slowly we came back together as a group on the mat.

We got into groups of four to solve a problem. We had to sit with our bottom on the floor and our feet flat on the floor. We weren't allowed to use our hands. Our feet needed to stay flat on the floor.
We needed to show self-control by waiting to discuss our ideas without jumping in and doing it. We also had to focus on other people's ideas and not just our own.

We need to recognise when we need to regulate our emotions and calm down. Practice our mindfulness. Then think about how we react. 

Wednesday 14 August 2019

Self control

KiwiCan says Self Control is up to me, keeping calm, with strategy.

Just a couple of rules: we had to be on our knees and we weren't allowed on the other teams side. We were only allowed to throw one piece at a time. When Owen says "freeze" we drop any paper in our hands. The team with the least "rubbish" on their side wins!
Owen showed us the jar of glitter he made. He talked about how we sometimes get all frustrated (shaking it up) and that it's okay but like our emotions, it takes time to let them settle.
We made a chatterbox that linked to our zones of regulation. We put emotions on there and then wrote strategies to go with them. 

Monday 12 August 2019

Kiwi Can

Last week we talked about feelings and did an anger map to talk about how we deal with that emotion. 

This week we are talking about unmanaged emotions. Everybody has emotions and that's ok, but we need to be able to manage those emotions.

KiwiCan says...I have emotions and that's okay, when I deal with them, in a positive way. 

We played "Switch".  Somebody stands st each of the 5 cones. When you hear the word switch, you have to try and get to one of the four orange cones (not the yellow cone in the middle) if it's close, we do paper scissors rock. If you don't make it to an orange cone, you sit down and watch. The new person always starts at the yellow cone.

It was really frustrating and some of us were finding ourselves in the red zone. We were under a bit of pressure.

For our next activity, we had to complete a puzzle. The timer wouldn't stop until 5 puzzles are completed.
Some of our pieces were missing... and we had extras of others! We needed to go and ask other groups for the missing piece. It took us 3mins 59secs to complete all 5 puzzles. Ngakaunui did it in  3mins 25secs. We had to work as a group. Some people had more experience with jigsaw puzzles than others. We needed to show resilience.

Sunday 11 August 2019

Kiwi Can

Last week we talked about emotions. Emotions are how people feel. Feelings and emotions can change, especially when people cheer us up. 

Kiwi Can says, have emotions and that's okay,
as long as I deal with them in a positive way.

We played The Cone Game. Owen called out heads/shoulders/knees etc... When he called "cones" you had to grab the cone. If you both grabbed it, then paper scissors rock for the winner. 

We swapped partners and went again. We felt a lot of emotions: happy, excited, frustrated, annoyed, focused, competitive, sad, serious. Some of the triggers for feeling those emotions were: Owens voice tricking us, people cheating, rubbing it in.

Sometimes we feel angry because: people don't say nice things; they don't play fair or they cheat; when they rub it in. 

We filled out an anger map, to focus on how we react to feeling angry. 

Thursday 25 July 2019

Origami Art!

We have been learning how to make origami in art with our student teacher Miss Rowland. Origami means paper folding in Japanese.


This week we made cups and lanterns.
It takes a lot of patience to fold the paper just right. But it is a lot of fun. After, we all decorate our origami!

Next, we will be making new shapes and trying new types of paper! Can't wait to share our work!

Working With Miss Rowland

Over the past six weeks, we have had our student teacher, Miss Rowland, in our class with us. 

Friday was her last day with us and she was sad to leave us. But we each made an origami person for her to remember us. 

We have loved having Miss Rowland as part of Manawaroa this term! 

New Beanbags

We are really lucky to get some new beanbags in our space. 

They are for our outdoor area... but while it's pretty miserable out there, we're going to make use of them indoors!

Shjon: "They're really good. Comfortable. I wish all the chairs were beanbags!"

Christina: "They're comfortable. Kind of a little bit hard, but they're also good for relaxing."

Summergrace: "They're comfy, and warm for learning on."

Maddock: "They're kind of comfortable because they're hard."

Kiwican

We are learning about resilience. Never giving up. We are looking at emotions. 
Kiwi Can says...
I have emotions and that's okay. 
When I deal with them, in a positive way.
 We listened to the song Happy... when we heard the word "happy" we had to do star jumps or push ups. When we heard the word "happiness" we needed to do a sit up. We had to listen really carefully. That became difficult as we got more tired from busting moves.
Examples of different emotions we have were: sad, confused, happy, emotional, ridiculous, depressed, joy, emotionless, angry, proud, tired, super excited, chillaxed. 
We got into groups and then were given a card with an emotion on it. We had to act out that emotion, including what had happened to get to that emotion. 
(Thankful, guilty, impatient, cautious, delighted)
Delighted
Cautious
We have been focusing alot on emotions this week. In mindfulness, we have been recognising our emotions as well as learning to accept our emotions. We talk about emotions being like the weather. They change... when it is stormy, we can be sure that in time the sunshine will come back.

Friday 5 July 2019

Snowmen & Snowwomen

We have been creating some super snowmen and snowwomen and then giving them a personality.
Check out some of our creations below (If you click on our name you will be taken to our blog post about them. Please leave us a comment!!!
Maddock
Basty
Kaizah-Rae
Ashaswi

Saturday 15 June 2019

Spices

We have been learning about spices and where in the world they come from. Today we looked at how spices from different countries/cultures effect the cuisine we eat. 

We put spices on popcorn and then ate it... strangely the most spicy were the popular request. 
That didn't always culminate in a pleasant experience...


Kiwican

We are talking about the ocean because it's ocean week on Saturday. Lots of creatures live in the ocean. Sadly there's lots of rubbish in the ocean now too. Unfortunately lots of the animals in the ocean are dying. We can stop our impact on the ocean by being responsible for what we put in it.

Kiwican says...
Respect our ocean. Respect our sea.
That is the way it's meant to be!

We played "Tide in tide out"
Tide in (run left)
Tide out (run right) 
Scuba diver, whale, octopus, squid, shark attack (pretend to do the action)

We can all do little things to make a difference. 
Keep our oceans clean. Recycle. Keep the rubbish in the bins. 
We designed T-shirt's to raise awareness for our oceans.


Wednesday 5 June 2019

Spices

We are learning about different herbs and spices and how they are used in different countries foods.

Today we looked at turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, Ginger, cardamom  seeds, bay leaf, Rosemary, coriander 
 

Samoan Language week

It's been fantastic to celebrate Samoan Language this week, after our massive Cultural Diversity Celebration last week!

Check out these fabulous boys celebrating their Samoan heritage.

Sunday 26 May 2019

KiwiCan

We look after our things 
and show up on time,
Because when I'm responsible, 
It shows we are kind.

We played 'Magical Kiwi'. When your number is called, you have to come and grab the kiwi and take it back before you're tagged. If it was a tie, paper scissors rock to see who gets to take it.
An important rule in the game was taking responsibility and being honest. 

In our classroom we have rules too. 
- no running inside.
- put milk and fruit away.
- don't talk when others are talking.
- being gracious when playing games.

Find the wolf.
When Tia says "go", we move into thumbs up position. You are thinking about whether you'll be a pig, horse or a cow. The person who's thumb is tagged is the wolf. 
When an animal is called, those animals move as well as the wolf. The class needs to try and figure out who the wolf is.
Our focus is integrity, so we needed to not peek.
We recapped the rules for the game and why they were important. The game was unfair when they weren't followed.

It's our own responsibility to follow the rules.


Tuesday 30 April 2019

Stuck in a game

We were lucky enough to have our Duffy Theatre show come to visit today.
The show was called "Stuck In A Game". 
A lot of our alongside could relate to Sam's intense tantrum when the game went wrong. 

Duffy got stuck in the magic brick game. His cousin Sam didn't like books, but had to read Duffy's book to save him.

We love our pool

(Here's a post that got stuck in the drafts in term 1!!!)

The warmer weather has been great for heating our pool again! It was getting a bit chilly last week!  

Wednesday 20 March 2019

Kiwi Can

I have pride, I have power
I respect myself every hour.

The cone game.
In pairs, we listen to hear the call (heads, shoulders, knees, etc...) when "cones" is called, we have to be the first to grab the cone. If you win, you find someone new. If it's close, then we play rock scissors paper to see who wins.
It was tricky when "toes" were called because it sounded like cones!
We split into four groups and were given a scenario to act out. We then listened like good audience members, as each group performed their scenarios.
We had to act out the incorrect way to show respect... and then reinact it showing the correct way to show respect.


Friday 22 February 2019

Summer Learning Journey

Emma had a captive audience
Emma came in from the Summer Learning Journey, to visit with a prize pack for one of our yr 6's from last year.
Check out these goodies!

Thursday 21 February 2019

KiwiCan is back

Welcome back to KiwiCan!We have Owen back, joined by Tia and Connor.

We are learning about Respect and how we can show respect to other people.
KiwiCan says... 
I have pride. 
I have power. 
I respect myself every hour.

Our energiser had us working together to make a: 
Maunga (2 people)
Awa (3 people)
Waka  (4 people)
Iwi (5 people).
Making Maunga
It was really hard when we had one extra person and someone had to sit out. We had to show respect while working it out to solve the problem. 
We talked about what a treaty is and the kind of things we might need to include.

Pool

It's fantastic to have a school pool on these ridiculously hot days we've been having here in Canterbury this summer.

Wednesday 20 February 2019

Kapa Haka kicks off

It's fantastic to be able to use our new outdoor space for Kapa Haka!

Our 2019 class

Welcome to 2019!!!
What an amazing bunch of learners we have in Te Rōpū Manawaroa this year!

Our closing KiwiCan

Today is our last KiwiCan session for the year. We talked about what our favourite games were, that we've played throughout the year. Silent ball was a clear favourite. Garden statues, minefield, and the chocolate game were also winners.

"Kiwican says, problems... we take them, we solve them and we own them."

We played Garden statues, with three jokers to try and make people laugh.