Wrapping up 2022

 

We hope that you all have a great holiday. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It was great to see so many of you at the Wrap on Thursday. It was great to have fun as a community!

Thank you to our wonderful presenters at the Wrap! What fantastic leadership. 

 Māhutonga Matariki item at the Wrap

Autahi's item at the Wrap

Tautoru's item at the Wrap

The Year 6 students had a wonderful send off at our Poroaki. 

The whole school farewell

Year 6 Speeches

The Western themed Year 6 dinner

Year 6 had a final trip together to H20 Xtream 

What a wonderful year! We wish all of our leavers the best of luck on their next learning adventure. For the rest of you, we look forward to seeing you in 2023!

2022 highlights

 Wow! It is hard to believe that another year has flown past us at Worser Bay School.

In this blog I'm going to highlight a few events from this year and I encourage you to check out the links if you want to find out a little bit more.

Warming up for our inquiry

Our first blog of the year was a dive into how we start off an inquiry. In this case it was an inquiry into stories, what we know about them and how we could retell them to others.

Autahi and the forest of fairytales

As the year went on we had continued down the rabbit hole of stories and started to explore fairy tales. In this blog we explored the ways we use inquiry across the curriculum so that we can explore different aspects right through the day.

Our 100 day celebration

After 100 days from the beginning of the year we had a celebration. The calendar is an important part of our Maths learning as it encompasses lots of learning about numbers, days and months. We had lots of fun celebrating our learning.Check out the link to see what we got up to.

Rocket Words

I'll finish up today with our post about Rocket Words. Over the summer break we encourage you all to be Rocket Word spotters and see how many you notice around the house or out in the big wide world.

Our Place: examining the evidence

 

We’ve tracked the history of Our Place from its earliest discovery by Māori, through its past as a pā site and kāinga, and also as part of a farm. This week, our Inquiry arrived at the most recent 125 years. With more families making Worser Bay their homes, it was decided in 1897 that a school should be created. Our school began life in the church hall on what is now Marine Parade, moving up the hill to its current site a year later.

The first intake of children was just 16, with one, industrious female teacher. This made the whole of school quite a lot smaller than Autahi is now. The original school building started off with just two rooms, but more were added as the school grew. By November 1902, the roll had reached 77. It's interesting to note that, when the role reached 80, the school board decided that a married, male principal was required.

The original school building (pictured above) was still in use until 1979, when it was demolished and rebuilt to the current 'child-friendly' (and award-winning) design.

Throughout this Inquiry, we've been trying to keep in mind the role of evidence. How do we know what we think we know? Where does our information come from and what form does it take? Our evidence has included legends, photos, newspaper reports and other written accounts as well as exploring our physical environment.

This week, we've been able to make use of the archive of photos and written memories that we hold at school. Looking at the photos has been particularly rewarding. Could we recognise our school and the places we know? What are the children and teachers wearing? What's the same - and what's different?

We have also welcomed a past Worser Bay student to share his memories - another form of evidence. Jack, our visitor, was at Worser Bay 20 years ago and was here for the school's 100th anniversary.

Autahi and Tautoru teamed up, in small groups, to chat with Jack. We had plenty of questions for him about what the school looked like, what games he played, his teachers, his lunch ... Luckily, Jack was happy to answer them all. Here are some cool tidbits that we learnt from our interviews with Jack.

There were no veggie gardens or outdoor classroom in Jack's day, and the fences were less tall, which made them easier to climb over! There was a wormery, though. "We played outside a lot. We played football (but there was no Discovery Time)... We had rain bells and if it rained, we were herded inside. We were a bit crazy at wet playtime [because there weren't any toys to play with]."

Some people wanted to know if there was a school pet. "There were no pets but a couple of the neighbourhood cats used to come by." This sounds familiar!

Back court was a swimming pool! "The pool was very cold. We went in twice a week in Summer. It didn't have a roof and felt as cold as an iceberg. The pool was filled up with a hose."

Bottom court looked a lot the same. "There was no rock climbing wall. People brought in ramps to skateboard on - but they weren't supposed to!"

Big Kids' and Little Kids' Playgrounds were pretty much the same, too. "Stuff looked older - there's more painted stuff now. It's had a paint job."

Jack was impressed that some of our Junior students can do the monkey bars in Big Kids' playground. "We weren't allowed in Big Kids' Playground until you were in year 4." Jack remembered the fig trees very well - and playing games with the figs. "Our teachers hated it when we threw figs!"

Jack remembered sitting on the mat in Tautoru. At the time, Autahi wasn't a classroom so Tautoru was home to years 1 and 2 together and years 3 and 4. "Our Principal was called Murray. He had a big beard and was the best recorder player. He taught us all the recorder."

Our current crop of Road Patrollers will be interested to know that, "After Road Patrol, in the Winter, you got hot chocolate."

And those questions about lunch? "I didn't have chocolate milk in my lunch, no. I used to have an apple because I didn't like bananas. I think I had two blue lunch boxes and a red one. I often broke them by falling over with them in my bag, which made my Mum cross!"

We hope that Jack enjoyed walking down memory lane with us. We're very grateful for his time and the way he generously shared his memories of our school. It's so fascinating to reflect on what is different - and also, how much hasn't changed at all.

Ha-pea-ness!

 

At last, the first of the Autahi peas are ready to eat!

We have been dialling up our Patience since we planted the seeds during Rising 5s at the end of August...

In mid-September we noticed that they were sprouting. Exciting!

We've tried to take care of them, with regular watering. They grew amazingly fast.

Now the pods are getting fat and ready to pick. We feel like cham-pea-on pea growers!

It's fun trying to discover where the peas are hiding on the plants. All the pods are ap-pea-ling, but we're trying to pick only the fat ones. That way, the others have time to grow a bit more before we eat them.

No need for a reci-pea: our peas never get as far as the kitchen. After all, what could be nicer than popping open a freshly-picked pod and gobbling up all the little, green peas inside? This is a new experience for some - but we're hoping that all our Autahi students will give peas a chance.

And our hardcore pea fans will hap-pea-ly munch through those sweet, pea-flavoured pods, too.

Peas are a wonderful, seasonal delicacy to share with children. We firmly believe that these are the experiences that are part of living our 'flourish' model for Positive Education, connecting us to positive accomplishment, engagement, emotions and health.

And watch out: there are beans on the way, too!

Philosophy for children

 Philosophy isn't just for old, grey bearded men from centuries past.

At Worser Bay School we explore philosophical ideas through philosophy for children. 

In this blog I'll detail how we build the skills for staging a discussion, highlight some of the resources we use and show some of the results of discussions that have happened so far this year.

The level of thinking and ideas that can come from even the youngest children never ceases to amaze me and philosophy for children is designed around the premise that everyone has something to say.

A typical P4C session will start with a reflection on our goals for the session. Recently we have been working on the goal that only one person is speaking at a time.

This means that we can hear that persons thoughts and practise our own listening skills. Their idea might start us thinking and building on to our own thoughts and ideas.

Then we move on to a story or big question for the group. Some good examples of picture books we use are:

After reading the story, children are invited to share some questions or thoughts they have about the story. Taking the Cat in the Hat for example, a child might ask whether the Cat should have been allowed to break the rules. This might lead into a discussion around rules where the children can define what rules are and how important they are to the world around them.

The teachers role in this is to facilitate discussion but not to lead it. The ideas all come from the children and are recorded by the teacher. Here is an example of this:

P4C encourages critical thinking and skills for positive communication. It is a part of the week I always am looking forward to as the ideas and respect that grow from it are tremendous. 

So next time you are reading a book at home have your own philosophical conversation and see if you and your Whanau can tackle some of the worlds big questions. Remember that there might be more than one answer for everything.

 

Our Place: a local history inquiry

 

Did you know that our school is 125 years old this year? (We may have mentioned it once or twice as we’re very proud of this fact!) This week, Autahi embarked on a mini inquiry to discover more about ‘Our Place’. This is as local as local history gets as we’re focussing on the place where our school now stands. How has it changed over time? Who was here before us? What was on this land before our school?

There is plenty to dig into and it's not hard to be engaged by a topic that is so close to home. But, learning about our place here up above Worser Bay gives us important insights into some bigger themes in our country's history. Where our school now stands, there has been an important Pā site and a farm. Whātonga, Tara (who gives his name to Te Whanganui-a-Tara - Wellington Harbour) and the legendary voyager Kupe sailed their waka in the waters around our school. 

You may be aware of the new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum. In working on this inquiry, we are engaging with this rich resource. The curriculum is structured in layers. Children children return to the same broad topics as they progress through primary school, building extra layers of knowledge and nuanced understanding over time, as is appropriate to their age and stage.

Knowledge and skills are structured into three interwoven strands:

For this inquiry, we are drawing particularly on these key understandings:

UNDERSTAND

Māori have been settling, storying, shaping, and have been shaped by these lands and waters for centuries. 

The settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand has contributed to an increasingly diverse population, with many languages and cultures now part of its fabric. 

Individuals, groups, and organisations have exerted and contested power in ways that improve the lives of people and communities, and in ways that lead to exclusion, injustice, and conflict.

KNOW 

The ways different groups of people have lived and worked in this rohe have changed over time.

DO 

I can use historical sources, giving deliberate attention to mātauranga Māori sources, to help answer my questions about the past. 

(Here, we'll begin the process of introducing our learners to the idea of evidence and the beginnings of critical thinking. How do we know what we know? What forms can evidence take? Who made it and why? And - more sophisticated - is the evidence telling us the whole story? Can we tell this story in different ways?)

Working with the stories of 'Our Place' here at Worser Bay gives us an opportunity to introduce these big ideas in a context that will be meaningful to our young learners.

The new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum can be found at here and is well worth a look.

Our Inquiry has just begun. Getting a grip on history is tricky so we started by creating a collaborative timeline to explore what we know already about things that have happened in the past.

Based on these ideas, we also had a go at ordering some images from oldest to newest - for example, a waka, a camel, a dinosaur, a TV, a car. The discussion here is really important and helps to clarify and shape our thinking.

There is more exploring and learning to come and we'll be adding to our Blog as we go.

Learning in the great outdoors

 

This week, Autahi and Tautoru walked to Centennial Reserve to spend some time learning and playing in the great outdoors. 

Getting there was all part of the adventure. We were so proud of our Autahi students' Zest and Perseverance on the walk - especially on the way back, when it got quite hot!

At the Reserve, we had a little Morning Tea picnic before spending time sketching, building birds' nests and visiting the wētā hotel. 

We hope that experiences like this build our children's confidence to enjoy the natural world, and Curiosity about the plants and creatures in our local environment. As an Enviroschool, this is part of our mission. We know that we are lucky to have areas of native bush close our school, as well our beautiful beaches and coastline. Connecting with our local environment is a sure-fire way to build commitment to treating it with care and respect.

As a Positive Education school, we are also fascinated by the ways in which being outdoors benefits our brains, as well as improving our physical fitness. Activities like taking on the challenge of walking to Centennial Reserve or climbing a tree have been shown to build Resilience and problem-solving skills that transfer to other areas of life. Benefits for our mood and sense of wellbeing come simply from spending time in the natural world. For us in Autahi, this might be gardening, Te Wā Mahi Tahi, sport, play or simply taking our regular lessons outside. 

We will continue to keep finding ways to get outdoors for fun and learning, notice the bugs in the grass, hear the birds in the trees, and feel the wind in our hair.