Ukulele

Every Wednesday we have a student from the ChCH School of Music here teaching us the Ukulele. 

Having A Say About Our Community

Vimbayi Chitaka, the Community Development Adviser at the Christchurch City Council, came to school today. We had to offer our ideas on how to improve our Bromley and Linwood community.

Here are some of our ideas.

Kiwi Can

Every week the students at Bromley School have a lesson with Sophie and Nicky from Kiwi Can.  This term we have been focussing on positive relationships.

What is a positive relationship?

As part of our learning about positive relationships learnt some slogans to help us remember the right thing to do.

Kiwi Can says "Playing fair, shows you care"

Kiwi Can says "Support the rest to do their best"

Kiwi Can says "Problems don't just go away, it all depends what we do and say"

Kapa Haka

Te Harakeke Kapa Haka

We have started Te Harakeke Kapa Haka year with new tutors.  We now have Whaea Latoya and Whaea Mata teaching us. 

The students have been following the structure of

-       warm up - consisting of waiata they have learnt in previous years and new waiata. 

-       Practicing some of the waiata they’ve previously learnt

-       And learning new waiata for cultural festival

The Te Harakeke Kapa Haka are performing in the 2016 Cultural Festival which is from Monday 29^th August until Friday 2^nd September the exact date and time are to be confirmed.

Currently in the office there are sample materials of what we would like the Te Harakeke Kapa Haka group to wear on stage.  Here are some photos leave some feedback or leave us a comment.

Karawhiua!

Avonside Girls High School Sport - Year 4

Each Tuesday afternoon the Year 4s from Te Harakeke and some from Te Rito travel to Avonside Girls High School for coaching. This is a superbly run afternoon where a group of girls who are learning to coach and work with children teach some very lucky Bromley School Year 4s some new skills and games. The children are split into groups of 7 or 8 and have 3 or 4 Avonside Girls students take them for an hour long session each afternoon. The girls are very well planned and have a variety of different skills for the children to learn each week, plus some very fun games. The children have been having a great time each week and are looking forward to see what else they are going to learn this term.

Interest Projects: Update

This week during IP workshop it was great to see the progress being made with our student interest projects.

Last week Mandy ran a workshop on Blogger, which a number of children opted into as they wanted to set up a personal blog to document their IP journey. These blogs would be used as a self-reflection tool and also as a way to share learning with peers, teachers and whānau. It was nice to see those children who set up blogs last week, along with those who knew how to set up blogs from previous years, giving their time and expertise to coach others in setting one up this week.

Despite being independent inquiry projects, this term's IP format is providing ample opportunities for peer support and collaboration. Another example of this was James and Reuben visiting Te Harakeke classes during IP workshop this week, explaining their project plans, how they have been using their time, sharing their progress and answering questions other students may have.



Now that students have their IP plans, most are currently finding information using a variety of sources. We are looking to develop our note taking skills while gathering as much information as possible.

Term One Interest Projects: What Makes A Hero?

What does make a hero? 

Over the next few weeks Team Te Harakeke will be exploring this question. We have begun interest projects for the term, which we were introduced to in a team assembly last week. The focus will be around heroes, where all children are choosing someone of interest to them who they believe to be a hero to find out more about. Some children will choose people they know, maybe in their families or in our school community, while others will be investigating people who are well-known around New Zealand and the world.

Every Thursday morning we will have an interest project (IP) workshop. This will be class time designated to be working on our projects. We hope to encourage collaboration, run inquiry and ICT workshops, and promote a community of independent inquiry where we can foster the development of some valuable learning skills and attitudes.

We have a 3-step format for our interest projects that all children will follow. (1) They need to create a plan for their project, (2) they need to document their progress each week, and (3) they must share their learning with us at the end.

We can't wait to see what everyone discovers and shares with us. With so many examples of people who we consider heroes, we hope to answer the big question together... "What makes a hero?"

IP introductions

Some of us have been meeting with our teachers to make our plans and get 

our wheels in motion.

Keep an eye out on our blog and Twitter accounts for updates.

School Triathlon

We had a fantastic time participating in our school triathlon yesterday.

Most of us competed in teams, with a different person doing the cycling, swimming and running legs, but there were a couple of courageous students who took on the challenge of doing all three parts on their own. All children managed themselves so well, especially at the changeover points, where they needed to transition to the next leg.

It was great to see so many parents coming down as spectators. Thanks to Ms Baker and the other teachers who were in charge of organising the event. The hard work our community put into building our bike track is really paying off. An awesome day on our calendar!

Game Creation @ Coding Club

Over the past couple of weeks our Coding Club have been busy learning how to create some of our favourite games.  Last week we created our own version of Crossy Road,  with a fully coded control panel.  This week we looked at Geometry Dash and discussed two new coding terms - 'debugging' and 'concurrent code'.
Check out this video clip of Tayne explaining the game he created today: