Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
Have a look here at some Year 4 classes.
Our class have been doing a project that is for a competition on Endangered Species in Aotearoa (New Zealand), run by Mother Earth and WWF. We are doing 10 endangered species. We have decided to make them 3D. If we win, we will get a trip to Wellington and
go to Te Papa, visit Wellington Zoo, go to Parliament Buildings, and visit WWF Treehouse
headquarters. We will stay in a flash Hotel with everything paid for us. The 10
endangered species we are doing are: Hector's Dolphin, New Zealand Fur Seal, Tuatara,
Little Blue Penguin, Southern Royal Albatross, Kakapo, Kiwi, Giant Weta, Saddleback,
and the Chatham Island Black Robin. WE HOPE WE WIN.
Adam and Paul, 1999
The Middle School has nine classes set in recently fully refurbished rooms for Years 4 - 6. There is an intake at the Year 4 level of 10 -12 boys taking the average class size in this area of the School to 25. All rooms are well resourced, not only with all materials relating to core curriculum subjects but also with a full array of audio visual and information Technology equipment--the latter being augmented by three pods of computers
well situated for boys to take advantage of, in small
groups, this powerful learning tool. The boys work
primarily from 8 home rooms for all core curriculum
studies and move to Specialist Staff who teach Divinity,
Performing Arts, Physical education, Spanish, Art and
Craft Design Technology. The emphasis at this level of the school is to provide a solid
foundation of academic skills, a framework of interpersonal skills including manners,
courtesy, deportment and correct speech, and an interest in the wider opportunities the
school offers in the areas of sport, music and other extra curricular activities. It is
envisaged that this background will fit them well for the demands of the Senior School
in Years 7 & 8.
Once upon a time we looked forward to becoming Class 3 so that we could go on camp like all the other children. Now we’re there! And what a wonderful camp we had for three days and two nights in the Akatarawas. The weather was varied, but each day was right for the many activities we did: swimming, building a dam, kayaking, learning rope skills, and completing an initiative course which we did in groups. We are now the oldest children in the 123 Block and its our turn to have the younger children look towards us as an example. Are we doing our very best? Are we sounding the right note? Well ..... we do try ..... at least
most of us, and are getting better at sustaining this both inside and outside the classroom.
In our movement time, we are learning echo and response songs in a variety of languages, which involve one group having to sustain a note while the other sings a phrase over the top. We have experienced the gentleness and warmth of an African lullaby and now the strength and rhythmic vigour of a Tongan canoe song, and a Jamaican roadbuilding one. We are learning to conduct while we sing our songs and now to count in our fourth different language ..... more will follow. This will provide the children with an experience of the differences between the many peoples with whom we share our home, the earth. Main lessons will follow on house building and the different occupations people are involved in, such as forestry and farming. At present we are completing a main lesson on sentence writing and English language which has been based upon the Biblical story of creation and the early patriarchs such as Noah and Abraham. Some beautiful paintings and drawings have evolved from these lessons: the birds of the air appearing out of the light blue paint as they fly above the great whales and fish of the deep blue sea; as the dry land appears when the waters are gathered together, we have blended blue and yellow to make green both in crayon and paint. The wrath of Jehovah can be seen in the blended purple, dark blue and dark green of the storm that brought Noah’s flood. If you are wandering about the school, you will be able to see these drawings displayed in the Eurythmy room foyer. In the Class 3 year, as the children turn 9 years old, they begin the process wherein the "Garden of Eden" consciousness begins to fade. The children begin to experience a separation, a something coming between
nature and the soul as they move towards an awareness of themselves as individuals, "whose inner life confronts another world ‘outside’." It can be a time of loneliness, of loss and doubt. We work consciously in all that we do in the classroom, particularly through our birthday verses and stories, to give the children the necessary inner strength for them to draw on and to help them create the new bridges that will unite them with the world and take them on into the future. "I met a child who stopped me with a glance and, reading from my darkened eye in disbelief and fear, said "Why have you forgotten how to dance? The Universe is sounding. Only be awake, alive, and hear ....." From: In the Light of a Child, Michael Hedley Burton
Belinda Baird, Raphael House Newsletter, March 13, 1998
