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.