Strengths

 

Research shows that character strengths can help children succeed at school and in life. Strengths are the positive qualities individuals have, as reflected in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. They promote the well-being of themselves and others. 

Have a watch of our latest little vignette - this time an introduction to Character Strengths 

Wellbeing

Throughout the day we take opportunities to focus on different elements of our flourish model (Positive Health, Purpose, Relationships, Accomplishment, Emotions, Engagement through unpacking and learning about strengths and character strengths) Here are some examples of ways we have been working on our wellbeing recently.

We took the opportunity to practise the strengths of Gratitude and Appreciation of Excellence and Beauty by taking advantage of beautiful weather and heading outside to do some of our reading under a tree.  We were able to hear the bird sounds around us, enjoy the view behind us and have an opportunity to enjoy some reading in nature.  

We also enjoyed some Star Wars Yoga on a wet day with some of our Tuakana buddies.  We were practising positive health and mindfulness by connecting with our breathing. We were also working on our relationships by having fun and shared experiences with our Tuakana buddies.  

Cross Country

Cross Country

On Tuesday we had our school cross country race. We had lots of fun and along the way we learned about positive health and the ways we can keep ourselves healthy.

Having ways to keep ourselves fit and healthy are important as it can help our overall wellbeing. We talked about the cross country being a race against ourselves and how we can all work as a team to support each other. Afterwards we all got together to celebrate and share how we felt about finishing the race. It was lots of fun and left us feeling proud of our achievements and a little tired.
We even did some writing about our cross country runs:

African Dance--trying new things and growing our minds and bodies

 We were lucky to have Naby visit us and teach us some traditional West African dance, drumming and singing.   First he showed us some dance, then we sang some songs, practised dancing and then learned a bit about the drums.  He showed us three different drumming sounds.  He explained that the sounds are like a family there is the deep sound which he called the Daddy, a slightly higher one that is called the Mommy and the highest sound was the baby.  

Each class had a turn at trying the dance and then the teachers did it too!  

The dancing and drumming were really good for our maths because we had to count the beats.  

1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3,4, 5,6,7,8

Here is the shared writing we did about the drumming:

Naby told us that in some African Villages the drums are used as ways of communicating a get together so if you hear drumming in your village you would go to where the drumming is coming from. 

Learning about African Dance was really good for us to be able to see how different places, people and cultures sing and dance and for us to give something new a try.  Everyone did give it a try and we know that when we try new things we grow our brains! Music and dancing are also really great for our wellbeing and link to our positive health curriculum.  Singing and dancing out in the sunshine and with the birds was lots of fun and got us moving and grooving! 

Parent Wellbeing Worksop

Wellbeing Workshop.

Thanks so much to all the parents who came to the Wellbeing Workshop and participated with such enthusiasm and energy. What a buzz there was in the room with all the character strength discussions, the breathing exercises to enhance positive emotions, looking at Kaizen steps to break down the goals for a positive purpose, recognising the benefits of positive relationships when solving maths problems, being positively engaged by working collaboratively to construct a house, understanding the schooldocs, recognising the advantages of exercise and meditation for positive health and accepting the challenges involved in positive accomplishment when using chop sticks to move around a range of strangely shaped objects. Plus all the motivational speakers and discussions.

It sure took a while to unwind from the excitement and get off to sleep that night, but so positive to be realising the message is reaching the children from both home and school.

Thanks for coming! Shona

Chinese Medicine and Nutrtition

This week we were really lucky to have some parent experts come in and teach us a bit about what they do for their jobs.  Two of our parents came in to share their knowledge around Chinese Medicine and Nutrition.  Rachel explained to us about the way Chinese medicine believes in channels in our bodies and how acupuncture helps deal to blockages within those channels.  She demonstrated acupuncture and cupping on us teachers and the kids got to watch!

We looked at the needles and Rachel explained that the needle is only taken out of its packaging right before using and is only used once before being destroyed.

 She showed us different sized needles and explained about how far they go in.

Then we got down to the nitty gritty and got some acupuncture done.

I explained what it felt like and that it didn't hurt.

Next we were on to cupping.  Rachel explained that lots of Olympic athletes use cupping to help with sore muscles and she told us about two different cupping techniques.  One of them uses fire to create the suction and the other uses a hand-held pump.

  

It looked strange but really just felt like a strong, but not sore, pinch.

Storm came in and discussed nutrition with us.  She told us all about foods that have protein and potassium and we had a big talk about which foods are always foods, which are sometimes and food and which are rarely foods.  We had a big discussion around how one food could be a sometimes and rarely food based on how much you have of it.  For example, you could have one biscuit sometimes, but you would rarely have six biscuits.  Then we sorted pictures and made posters for our class.

Overall it was so much fun and we learned so much information!  It also helped us get more information around positive health choices we can make.  When we are thinking about our wellbeing we know it is physical and emotional.  This was another piece to our puzzle of understanding about a healthy mind and healthy body! Thank you very much to Rachel and Storm for making the time and sharing your passions and knowledge with us!