Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
Have a look here at some Year 5 classes.
We’ve got 26 people in our class. 15 European, 11 Maori and an Indian girl from Punjab. Our teacher is Maori and her name is Mrs Whata-Blackaby. Room 8 has been my favourite class I have been in since I started school. For sports we have swimming, athletics and kiwi sports. In class this term we are studying the estuary and with our estuary work we have sketched a group of shells. We are doing a library unit and we have learnt what non- fiction and fiction means. Last week we had Mr Cammock for our teacher and he had a dog called Patch. In a few weeks we are going to have a duathalon where you have to run, bike and then run again. We are going to have a Science Fair on Friday May 7. We’ve made a kit out of newspaper and cellotape we only had 20 minutes and we had to weave it. Chelsea
We have 15 European, 11 Maori, and a girl from the Punjab - India, in our class. Our teacher is Mrs Whata-Blackaby. I reckon Room 8 is the best class. We have sketched some shells and pasted them on our estuary stories. We made some kits. We had to plait the kit using newspaper and we only had 20 minutes to complete it. Here we are holding and wearing our kits (kete). Our school is having a Science Fair on Friday May 7. Our kete will be on display for our parents to admire. David
Our teacher is Mrs Whata-Blackaby. She is a Maori. The first part of her name is Maori (Whata) and the second part is Irish (Blackaby). Her husband was Mark Blackaby. He died at a place called Rotorua. Our class room is very colourful and full of the work we have done so far. We study Mathematics, Reading, Language, Science, Music, Physical Education, Sport, Health, Computer Studies, Information Technology. We made waka out of paper and cellotape. We made kete and uniforms. We had twenty minutes to try to finish it. When Mrs Whata-Blackaby was away we had Mr Cammock. He had his dog named Patch. We had them in our class for 2 days. There was a circle on the blackboard and there was a number in the middle of it. That was how many minutes we earnt to get to play games. Huriwaka
We have 15 European and 11 Maori and we have an Indian girl from Punjab in our class. We have our teacher and her name is Mary Whata-Blackaby but we call her Mrs Whata-Blackaby. She is a very nice teacher to our class, Room 8. Blackaby is an Irish name. I am a new person to this school. My favourite sport is netball, swimming, soccer, athletics, kiwi sport, hockey and also cricket. I have got a lot of friends in my class. We have learnt to make a boat out of paper and cellotape and we learnt how to make a kete. If you don’t now what kete means it is a Maori bag made out of flax and other material. We also made a costume for the World Entertainment Centre and we pretended Room 9 was the World Entertainment Centre. Soon we will be having a Science Fair. Our Science Fair is on May the 7th of 1999. Mereana
We have 15 European, 11 Maori and an Indian girl from Punjab and we have the best teacher Mrs Whata-Blackaby. We have a Science Fair coming up soon. We have to make a moving motor model and it is fun. In our class we do handwriting, spelling and maths. Maths is my favourite. We have also done an Estuary study. Today we started to learn about our environment. We made a uniform and kete (Maori word for kit). Mr Cammock has a dog called Patch and he was our teacher for two days. My favourite sports are martial arts, cricket, rugby, swimming and tennis. I am very good at cricket and good at batting.
Squeezing into a prefab after the relative luxury of Class 3 was not so difficult after all - just more "cosy" as someone put it. With less room to move in we are fortunate, for the time being, in having the eurythmy room available. With its wonderful space and acoustics we are enjoying our morning circle time exploring the approach to music and movement introduced to our school by Tonalis. The new bean bags made by our class parents are making an excellent contribution to our coordination and social skills. Class Four began the year with a Form Drawing Main Lesson focussing on fluency in handwriting and a new upper case script. Here are two samples of our drawings. Can you do these without lifting your pencil off the paper? Try it! The Maori creation myths have been a source of much enjoyment and interest as a prelude to later studies of local history and geography. The Maui cycle is particularly relevant and is also an interesting precursor to the Norse mythology which comes up next term. The god-like figure of Maui bears similarities to the Norse Loki--capable of much good but choosing to create mischief. This is a picture of where we’re at soul-wise in Class 4 - still in the beauty and harmony of other worlds, but as our intellects sharpen we become capable of viewing the world more critically. We begin to have a foot in both worlds and start to question what we took for granted hitherto--especially the wisdom of our parents. As we have gained more independence with our new 9-year old status, we can begin to test some different limits especially since we can now create a little "mischief" to see what will happen. This is all part of testing the adult world with our newly emerging soul capacities. We are testing not for freedom yet, but for security. Will the gods of Asgard who represent goodness, beauty and truth, win over the giants of Jotunheim, who represent the soul powers of intellect, cunning and selfish desire? Translated into 1998 ..... will my parents,
teachers and other adults, continue to guide firmly with wisdom and authority, or will they increase my new feelings of insecurity by giving way in face of my challenges, fears, outbursts or silences? A big question. The message is, don’t give in. Asgard does eventually triumph. Sure the journey can be rough, but fasten your seat belts, you’re in for a great ride. ur class had an excellent five days camping at Castlepoint--a pretty magical sort of place in itself. Just imagine gazing over the cliff at the top of Castle Rock into clear blue sky and watching about 100 dolphins in the sun below; or the huge cave through the reef under Castlepoint lighthouse, carved by the ocean scene of Kupe’s fight with the giant squid; and paddling on ocean kayaks (thanks to Neil Newman at Living Simply) on the lagoon; or learning to play petanque on the sand at low tide; or racing down the Sahara-scale sand dunes. Heaps of experiences to share, write, illustrate in the subsequent English Main Lesson.
Paul Denford, Raphael House Newsletter, March 27, 1998
