Te Rau Aroha Marae

What a fabulous day we all had yesterday - the buzz on the bus heading back to school was weary but definitely indicated that everyone had an awesome day.

We began our day with a pōwhiri (well done, Nga te korekore sounded awesome!!!) and kai.  Then we started our rotations.  8EK went into the wharekai with 8SS.

Bubba told us so much interesting information!  The name of this building is Tapu Potiki and it is an ancestral house.  It is named after a famous ancestor of the Ngai Tahu iwi, the main iwi in the South Island.  The sculptures of wahine (women) represent the full blooded māori women who married the sealers and whalers who came into the area.  These women had been brought to Bluff for safety from Te Raupraha and the fighting.  It was easy to see how this had changed history for Māori simply through the changing surnames - Waa married and her surname became Bragg, Mere te Kauri married and her surname became Spenser, Whare Tutu married and her surname became Newton... The front of each woman opens and can hold family taonga.  Also there are small sculptures attached to each representing how many children they each had.

Bubba then told us about the walls connecting the women.  The first wall was a whakapapa wall showing where people came from.  The next wall was Te au Marama (the world of light) showing through the poutama that when you learn something the light goes on (enlightenment).  Going up a step equals more knowledge in your kete.  Bubba talked about this also meaning making good decisions, inspiring others and being surrounded by people who inspire you and making sure your experiences were good ones.  He encouraged everyone one to have helping hands and that there was always someone to help with your learning if you were stuck - you just had to ask!  Then there was Nga hau e wha (the four winds) to include all people from all directions, E murihitu (5 main rivers and the coastlines), a wall representing early māori fighting, Whanau wall where people come to grieve), Ahi ka (work), the treaty of waitangi and the Potakumanu - a pole holding up the house.  It was amazing to learn about all of these symbols!!!

The art at Te Rau Aroha is very bright and beautiful.  It was created by the famous Māori artist, Cliff Whiting.

Next we had te rakau with Cherub, Cheyanne and Reese.  They were really patient teaching us all the moves.  Once we had our heads around the moves we split into groups to create a dance to the Harlem Shake which had to include the moves we had learnt.  It was really fun.

Next we learnt a new waiata and actions with Khellsey-Anna and Elisapeta.  It was really catchy!  A few of us found it really difficult to put the actions and singing together!  We will have to practice some more!!!  It was great to be able to perform this to thank everyone at the end of the day as a year 8 community.Our final rotation was to play Ki-o-rahi with Mr Allen.  We were running very late by this stage so we didn't have much time.  We will learn more about the legend behind this game next week and we are hoping we will be able to play this game with Mr Beadle in Physical Activity as it was awesome!!!

Rhiannon and Summer are going to visit us in homeroom to teach us ringa so we will look forward to that.

Thank you so much to all of our helpers because the day was the best end to an awesome week!

Public Library Tour

We finished our very busy day off by visiting the library. We got to go behind the scenes here too into lots of staff only areas! It was amazing to hear all about Stephan's job and all of the different mending he does and also to go into the archives and see the microfilm. There are lots of different areas of the library to help with homework and project work!

Civic Theatre Tour

Learning about what goes on behind the scenes was fascinating. We got to go under the stage, up into the fly space, work the lighting, lift weights and sit in the 'royal box'!!! There are so many jobs in the theatre. We asked a million questions because we were so interested. John told us about the theatre ghost! We finished off by singing Nga Te Korekore to our tour guides and parent helpers to say thank you! 

Cycling at the Velodrome

Well, this was an activity that pushed a lot of us outside of our comfort zones but we did ourselves proud and had a go!!!

Bruce and Cathy helped to coach us through safety messages and then to build speed, confidence and then to go higher and higher!!! It was pretty scary having your feet strapped in and no brakes!

Some of the girls in our class were really, really good at it (like Isabelle) and Bruce and Cathy hope that some girls might go to the after school training sessions! It would be cool if there was an 8EK crew who went regularly!!!

First Aid

Today we started with Jo for First Aid. We recapped CPR and DRSABC (thank goodness because some of us had forgotten since last year!!!). We also learnt about hypothermia (which will be useful when we go to Deep Cove) and the stable side position.

Learning with Mr Esler

We were all a little disappointed in the weather today. While it wasn't as bad as it could have been it would have been a bit miserable to be out in all day. Never mind, we will still head to Stead Street Wharf at some stage in the next fortnight.

Luckily though, Mr Esler was able to come in to school instead of meeting us at the wharf. We enjoyed hearing all of his stories and we realised how important stories are in telling history. He had a pretty awesome powerpoint and box of tricks - the oil made from whale blubber smelled disgusting!!!

Art Gallery, Museum and Queens Park

Wow!  What a busy day we have had.

We enjoyed spending our first rotation with Koreena in the classroom at the museum / art gallery.  We spent time in the Māori Gallery first looking at the detail of the exhibition and thinking about the materials they used.  Then we learnt a little about Tapa Cloths in the classroom.  Finally, we made our own Tapa Cloths!  They look AWESOME!!!  Can't wait to see them on display in the classroom.  We were thinking a lot about cultural identity.

Our second rotation was in the museum.  We were able to find 3 different exhibitions that interested us and we had 4 questions to consider:

• What was in the exhibition?
• What did we learn about Southlanders from the exhibition?
• Why would Southlanders be interested in the exhibit?
• If I were in charge of promoting this exhibit what would I do?

We finished off by presenting back to the class on our findings.  The presentations were very impressive and a lot of time, effort and thinking had taken place.  Well done to:

• 1st:  Imogen and Stevie (Times of our Lives exhibit)
• 2nd:  Maegen and Simone (Burt Munro)
• 3rd:  Hannah and Molly (iSite area)

These three presentations were of a very high standard and had particularly excellent ideas for promoting the area.  Imogen and Stevie, you need to see Miss Pickering in the morning for your prize.

After a picnic lunch we spent our afternoon 'orienteering' in Queens Park.  Thankfully the weather was much better by then!!!

How to Step Up

This is the video that we watched this morning when we met as a Year 8 community.  What did you think of this video?  It shows so many layers of both leadership and community.  Can you think of any examples of young people stepping up to be leaders - for example, in the Christchurch earthquake?

Civil Defense

Craig Sinclair came in to speak with us from Civil Defense.  One thing that was interesting was all the beliefs from the past where people were trying to explain why earthquakes occurred.  One country thought that the earth had a fever and was sneezing and coughing!

He taught us about the fault lines in New Zealand.  The fault lines cause the land to move and change, for example, on the Wairarapa Coast the land has been developing out of the water more and more over the last 5000 years. He talked us through tsunamis too and showed us photos of what they looks like.  Some are quite violent, like in Japan, but he showed us one at Wellington Harbour where it was very different, peaceful.

In Southland one of our biggest threats is flooding.  In 1913 Gore flooded and that's when they started putting in protection.  The Waihopai majorly flooded in 1984.

Drop, cover and hold in an earthquake. You should try to have a household emergency plan and an emergency kit ready at home.

8EK asked Craig lots of thoughtful questions - well done girls!  Hopefully we can take part in a simulation in May!!!

Practising our Waiata

We had a huge practise of our waiata today with Khellsey-Anna (thank you so much for your help!!!).  We ended up sounding pretty good, I reckon, but you can judge for yourselves by watching our video!!! 8EK bet 8MP in the sing off (thank goodness or Miss Pickering would never have heard the end of it from Mr Pickering)! Go 8EK!!! Now we just need to make sure we sing with amazing confidence on Friday at Te Rau Aroha Marae!  Keep practising and don't forget about the school song!

Fire Safety

8EK are tuned in and listening to Michael Cahill from the Fire Service. He has some important messages and we can take action to keep our community safe.  For example, by making sure plugs are not overloaded, ensuring we don't overload a circuit with multi boxes which can then burst into flame, making sure the adults in our lives don't drink and fry, checking that cooking is not left unattended, keeping our electric blankets flat (and our beds made nicely) and keeping things at least one metre away from heaters. One thing that we learnt was that fire needs oxygen, fuel and heat to occur.

Healthy Breakfast

Community Breakout is off to a great start! There were some pretty amazing breakfasts. Thank you, whanau, for your role in these!!!  It was so awesome to start our day off as a class community too.  There were some lovely leaders who looked after those who forgot to bring something and I was given some very delicious morsels too - thank you 8EK!  Well done to Maison, Katelyn, Hannah, Molly and Anisha who won the best picnic - your food was healthy (loved the fruit kebabs!) and your table setting was just lovely.  See me tomorrow for your prize :-)

Community Breakout Here We Come!

This week is Year 8 Community Breakout week.  Community Breakout is very important to us at Southland Girls'.  It has been carefully put together to reflect the themes of Community and Leadership which help us within our 'Becoming Me' focus at Year 8.  Last year, as staff, we developed a plan to ensure we are addressing the needs of our Year 8 learners which 8EK has spent time thinking about and discussing lately.  This reflects concepts like challenges, decision making, ownership and personal responsibility, resiliency, positive relationships and developing connections within communities which are also reflected in the week.

This year's inquiry into community and leadership includes:

• Camp Breakout (Homeroom and school based day)
• Korero: Civil Defense, Fire Service and CanTeen Charity
• A day trip to Te Rau Aroha Marae in Bluff where girls will participate in a range of activities including singing waiata, hand games, and exploration of the amazing sculptures and the stories behind them
• Museum and Art Gallery visit to explore collections within this community resource
• Civic Theatre and Public Library tours
• Learning at Stead Street Wharf with Lloyd Esler
• 'Orienteering' in Queens Park
• First Aid
• Cycling at the Velodrome

It is going to be a full on but very fun week! We will do our best to keep our blog updated so that you can travel along with us!

Class Meeting

8EK really impressed me on Friday.  There had been a few niggles on Thursday with a lot of off-task talking and some unfocussed learners.  This had resulted in the class being asked back at interval on Friday by one of their learning package teachers.  During roll call on Friday 8EK conducted their own class meeting about the situation.  It all began when one brave student reprimanded her class and expressed how disappointed she was that some girls were not respecting their teachers.  Many students had their say and some students very honestly identified themselves as contributing to the problem.  

I think what was most impressive was the commitment to learning and every individual wanted to find solutions.  So what did 8EK come up with?  In homeroom they sorted themselves into a seating plan and they decided they would speak to one of their learning package teachers to see if they could adjust a seating plan that wasn't working.  They decided upon a positive reinforcement model as well as a visual reminder and consequence for those who disrupted learning (There is space for 5 names on the board.  Name on the board is a reminder.  Your name can go on the board multiple times.  When there are 5 names on the board the students listed must give up 5 minutes of their own time for each time their name is there.  If a 6th person disrupts learning their name is added and the 1st name removed, making it a bit of a lottery).

Friday was a very different day to Thursday and I feel incredibly proud of my very mature and learning focussed class.  Ka pai tō mahi.