Perseverance & the Power of Positive Langauge!

Over the last two weeks we have been exploring the character strength of Perseverance. Many of us knew that perseverance was all about effort and working at something until we succeed. 

What we didn't realise was that the langauge we use (to ourselves and sometimes others) can either help us to persevere and experience success or hold us back!

We started our session off by completing a pretty difficult challenge. While we were working on the challenge Susie recorded the things we said. When time was up we had a look at the board.....we were a little shocked at the things we said to ourselves.

After we had a little time to reflect on this we all came up with some positive and helpful phrases or words we could say to ourselves or others when we are finding something challenging.

Our challenge this week has been to remember the power of positive language and use our helpful phrases, when we need to use our strength of perseverance throughout our learning in Tautoru.

 

Cross Country

Cross Country.
There has been plenty of zest, bravery, perseverance and self regulation going on at WBS this week as we all train for the Cross Country run. We are looking forward to running on the beach next Wednesday. Come and cheer us on!!!

Statistics

During this term some of the time, we will be working on Statistics in Maths. We will be learning to gather, group and display data, and make statements about it. Today some of us made graphs about dragons, looking at their characteristics as a way to sort them.

Some of us made graphs according to age, book bag, numbers on cards, etc.


We are trying to make statements using words like more, less and the same.

Perseverance

We have started the term learning about character strengths. One group has been focusing on perseverance.



We watched a video and then discussed how the character in the video showed perseverance when faced with a challenge. Many of the students made connections to their own experiences when learning a new skill.



The students then worked in groups to play a game that required lots of communication, perseverance, and hopefully success!

Perspective

This week we have been talking about "Perspective". We read the book "What Do You Do With A Problem" by Kobi Yamada.


In writing we tried to look at some situations from different perspectives. You might enjoy these stories about "Going to Bed".


I like to read in bed because the pictures and the writing help me go to sleep, but the dog two houses down wakes me up and I can't go back to sleep.

When my Mum says to go to bed I say I don't want to go to bed because it is only 7.30 and I want to play trucks, but I like it that it is warm.

I love going to bed because it is relaxing, but the thing I don't like about sleeping is that it is boring.

I like going to be when it is warm, but I do not want to stop playing with my lego.

I like going to sleep to get strong, but I don't like my Mum waking me up.

I like to dream about horses, but I don't like to stop playing my Playmobile hospital and I like to read in bed, but I don't like to brush my teeth.

I like going to bed because it is so warm, but I don't like going to bed because I can't watch TV, and I don't like to wake up because I can't go back to sleep.

We worked hard to write these compound sentences, using "but".

Swimming

On Tuesday we had our first swimming lessons for the term. We had to show the teachers what we can already do in the water. The character strengths we tried to use were zest, bravery, perseverance and self regulation. We are looking forward to finding out what groups we are in next week, so that we can start our lessons.....but we also enjoy the free playtime when we can practise the skills and have some fun.

Helping Circle

We got straight back into writing on Monday morning, and worked hard to remember our goals and Success Criteria. After writing we had a Helping Circle, and we were impressed with what our buddies had written. It was obvious some people had been practising their writing over the holidays. 

There were some great examples of hooking the audience in, eg.

 Do you think I was sick on the plane?

Wow! You really want to know how many rats were in the trap.

Splash! I jumped into the pool.

Wow the flight was long.

 

An Attitude of Gratitude

Over the last few weeks a Character Strength we have been focusing on is Gratitude. We started by thinking about what the word 'gratitude' actually means...thankful, grateful and appreciative of things people may have done for us.

During various times of the day we have taken some time to sit and think about people we are grateful for at home and at school in a Gratitude Circle. 

We have all been able to think of so many examples! Sharing these special people with each other and reflecting on what we are thakful for makes us feel really positive, happy, fortunate and loved. All wonderful positive emotions!

When we recognised and appreciated people at school who we were grateful for, it made them feel proud and happy in return.

Collaborative Collages

We have been using our creativity and curiosity to zoom in and sketch native insects, birds and plants we have been learning about through our Inquiry, Kaitiaki O Te Ngahere.

Some of us collaborated on big pieces. When all of our artwork was complete we combined our art and made collages of our work. Pop by and see if you can spot some of our native animals.

Adding Native Animals and Plants on a Number Line

One of the ways to make maths visual so we can see how we are grouping numbers is to use a number line. Number lines can help us check when we are starting to add numbers in different ways.

Some of Tautoru have been using number lines to explain how we have added different groups of native animals and plants, trying to make tidy tens or use tens and ones separately. We can then link some of the learning we have been doing in our inquiry to our maths problems. Maths is everywhere!

 Here are some of our first tries with number lines.

Sometimes we didn't get them correct the first time but we went back and tried to find where the errors were. We know that mistakes are part of learning!

Native trees at WBS

During Inquiry we have been looking at the native trees and plants around Worser Bay School. We didn't realise we had so many! ...... Pohutukawa, kowhai, puriri, lacewood, kawakawa, manuka, kanuka, harakeke, ngaio, to name a few. In literacy we talked about how we could teach other people about the trees, so that they know too. We have made some little books to tell people about the shape of the leaves and what the leaves could be used for. Did you know that a ngaio tree leaf could be a parachute for a grasshopper, or a skateboard for an ant? And the kawakawa could be a blanket for a centipede or a love heart for a necklace?                   

We have learnt all about publishing and how important it is to spell the words correctly, use punctuation, make sure the writing makes sense and draw colourful pictures so the readers are interested.