Wellbeing Wednesday

 Kia ora koutou,

On Wednesday, 1st September, we enter Alert Level 3. We hope that you have been able to adjust to the different challenges of lockdown, and that you have had opportunities to enjoy the very special moments of family time. 

As a school, we have made the decision to join many schools across New Zealand in having a Wellbeing Wednesday. On this day, there will be no new digital learning set.

This will be a day away from more formal digital learning. Students will have an opportunity to learn offline and engage in a range of non-digital activities. They might be tasks that your children would like to do together or alone, or they might want to do something else entirely. Suggested activities will be posted on the class blogs.

This day is an opportunity to support students and teacher wellbeing. It is a time to recognise and focus on emotional wellbeing in these challenging situations. We can all do this by providing opportunities to connect, be active, notice, keep learning and give.

Staff will use this time for marking work and to prepare and organise resources for the next few weeks of online working ahead.

An example of what you could do at this time.

Wellbeing bingo pdf

 Morena tatau, 

It's been great seeing all the work children have been posting from Seesaw. There have been lots of creative activities happening in Lockdown.

Vincent and his robot

Lucas's robot rolls on wheels.

Harleth and her little brother's robots

Ella's been busy.

A Piggy and Gerald story

Xiran's golden retriever.

Keep up the good work everyone. I am loving seeing the things you have been doing.

Lockdown activities

 Kia ora tatau,

If you are having trouble accessing Seesaw or don't have access to the internet  here are some activities you can do at home:

 Draw and Write:
Draw a picture of your pet or a pet you would like.
Describe your pet.
Write about how to take care of it.

Listen to a Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke1rg2wWXFQ  
Don't let the pigeon stay up late.
(Or you can listen to some stories by clicking some of the titles on the right of the blog).

Count:
Fill a jar with seeds or stones or something you can find around the house to count. Make them into groups of 2s, 5s and 10s.
Practise skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s

Create an insect: 

Use natural materials to create an insect.

Take a photo and email it to me.

Check out Mrs M's cool insects!

Lockdown

 Kia ora everyone,

As we are in lockdown and it is uncertain how long this situation will go for, I will be sending activities from next week to students via Seesaw, our individual blog system. I have sent invites to those families who have not been connected. Please accept the invitation and then you will be able to access home learning for your children.

Expect to see daily tasks assigned from Monday.

I hope you are enjoying this unexpected time at home together.

Ngā mihi,

Olive/ Ms Jones

Pests

 Possum hunt

Lachlan came back from reading yesterday to report he'd seen a possum in the camelia tree behind Room 1. We went out to see if we could spot it but there was no possum.

Later Jenny showed us a photo she and Lachlan had taken earlier.

Lachlan's mum had been in earlier to tell us about rat traps on Te Ara o te Ngāhere. She showed the class two dead rats and a dead mouse that had been trapped. We decided to go and look at the traps.

At the top of the trail

The first trap had a big dead rat inside it.
This one, the second trap, had nothing in it.

Looking inside to see if there is a rat.

                                                        We spotted the third trap. Also empty.

There was a dead possum in the kitchen garden recently. We got a close up look at it. We agreed it was a beautiful creature, but because they eat native bird eggs and chicks and young leaves of native trees they are a pest. So we need to trap and kill them to save our native creatures.

Here is Arielle's explanation of why rats and mice are a problem in Aotearoa/ New Zealand:

Lachlan's mum is getting a possum trap to add to the rat and mice traps on Te Arā o te Ngāhere.