On Monday 24th of July the year 3s in Papatūānuku went to Bottle Lake Forest to learn about the area. The students had heaps of fun learning how to build shelters out of branches. Some students even found huhu grubs and a few were brave enough to eat them! Here are some pictures from our trip.
As part of our Science Inquiry this term we have adventured out to a few spots in our local area. Last week we got to go to Travis Wetlands and take part in the Junior Park Explorers programme with Chris, Celia and Tracy. Thank you to the Christchurch City Council Education team for this amazing experience.
Watch our video to see what we got up to! Can you spot any ladybugs, bees or birds that look familiar?
We have been really lucky to go on a number of trips over the past few weeks. They have been interesting and informative. We loved learning things from the experts that helped us out. We are also really thankful for the adults who were able to come along and help us on these trips.
Today for our Cybersmart session we made some thank you cards to send to those that helped us. We were allowed to choose to make our card on PicCollage or Explain Everything. We brainstormed our ideas on the board and then went off to create our cards.
Here are some photos and examples of the work we made:
Over the last six weeks, we have been lucky enough to have some UC sports coaches take us for PE lessons. Over this time we played various games, learnt how to play T-Ball and had heaps of fun! Here is a photo from our last session.
A group of students from Papatūānuku were inspired by the story ‘Somebody Swallowed Stanley’ by Sarah Roberts.
They used ScratchJR to draw pictures of animals from the sea. Then they wrote a programme to make the animals move and share an important message about the ocean.
Last Wednesday, Whaea Emma’s Inquiry group headed down to North New Brighton Beach to Search the Shoreline and see what they could find. Highlights of the day were working out what shells were found on the beach, and finding a whole fish and an old 5-cent coin on the beach. Thank you to our wonderful whānau helpers who came along and to Chris from the Christchurch City Council Education Programme for making the day happen.
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.
This week some of our tamariki went out and about bug-hunting around school. They found some interesting things and explored the library’s resources to identify the specimens.
A wasp nest was also found during an adventure. Ākonga took turns inspecting it with a magnifying glass.
What interesting specimen have you found around Rāwhiti School? We hope to discover more exciting things on our next adventure.
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/