After some terrible weather and a week’s delay, we finally had our Junior Cross Country and HAL Afternoon on Friday. After lunch, we all headed out to the astroturf ready for our races. The year 3s started us off by running the 1 km loop around the school. Then the year 2s and 1s followed behind. Finally, we cheered on our new entrances from Aotahi who ran a slightly shorter loop. We had so much fun celebrating when everyone came over the finish line!

After the races were completed, we got to go and take part in the different HAL activities around the school! There was an inflatable, capture the flag, Go Noodle, picnic games, gymnastics, football, basketball and playing on Hikihiki.

We finished the day altogether with our annual tug-of-war competition! Thank you to all the friends and whānau who came down to support us and to the tuākana who ran alongside us!

On Thursday the 18th of June our year 3 students walked down to North New Brighton Beach to learn about our shoreline. Huge thank you to all of the parent helpers who came down and helped us make this possible. Attached is a video of what we did.

Erica the Founder/Head Teacher of Mindfulness in Schools Ōtautahi visits Papatūānuku once a fortnight and runs a Mindfulness lesson with each kaiawhina group. We love it when Erica visits, she is a kind and calming person who shares her wealth of knowledge with us in a fun way.

This week we learned how to pay attention to our body.

“What if we start by learning to listen to what our body is trying to tell us now? Being mindful of your body helps you notice what it may need so that you can better take care of it.” We learnt how to do a body scan.

Erica shared some tips for whānau and a video to lead us through a body scan.

Home/Whanau Practice

Bed time: Many children struggle to fall asleep at night. After reading a story to your child, if they are still awake, try having them practice a body scan.

Many people use the body scan at night to help them fall asleep. Instead of getting into one of your thinking habit loops (e.g. I have so much work to do, did I remember to . . .), you can try noticing each part of your body, noticing if there is any tension, and then relaxing that part. Continue from the toes to the top of your head, and if you are like many people, you might fall asleep before you reach your head

We will continue to practice this skill at school but would encourage whānau to also try it out at home.

Here is a link to Erica’s website.

https://www.mindfulschoolschristchurch.org/

After two weeks of cancellations due to weather, Papatūānuku finally got to work with Gary from Coastal Football during the last week of term! Excitement was building as our tamariki waited to see if the weather would hold out. Time to get our shoes and football boots on and off to the front field we ventured. Gary was there waiting for us with footballs galore and plenty of engaging activities for us all. Gary gifted us all with Coastal Football stickers and information about local teams. Thanks Gary for a great morning.

This term we have been learning all about Kaiatiakitanga for inquiry. We learnt that it means to protect the environment for the future. Papatūānuku went out to the amphitheatre and cleaned up the area. Here is a short video of what we did.