Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to our Rua whanau and thank you for sharing your gorgeous tamariki with me. It's been a wonderful year with lots of learning for all of us (me included). I loved the time I've spent with the students and am so proud of what we've achieved. Here is a little taste of our year. 

Lessons learnt from my Passion Project Journey

In 2016, two things happened that affected the way I teach. First the teachers in our New Entrant to Year 2 classes ventured into play-based learning and encouraged me to do the same with my Year 2-3 class. I was dubious. How could one teacher in a single cell class with 27 students achieve what two teachers and one teacher aide could in a modern learning environment with 40 children? I still had to teach the core subjects. So who would make sure the children 'played nice' while I took groups for reading, writing and maths? 

However, I was curious, so I used some classroom release time to observe. What I saw both reassured and panicked me. Many of the activities were things we already did; cooking, creating things with boxes, painting, dress ups and creative play. The difference? They were all happening at once! Eek! No way could I imagine this happening in our tiny space with just me to supervise. (At least not without me needing a horse-sized dose of tranquilliser). Nevertheless I trialled some ideas. For example, I loosened the reins in art, and let the students achieve the goal of creating a crocodile in any way they chose. I also initiated a weekly slot where we explored maths through play - with the help of some wonderful parents.  

Then in the third term holidays our entire teaching staff attended the ULearn conference in Rotorua. Alongside themes such as designing inclusive learning environments and using digital technology to enhance learning, people were talking about Independent Learning and something called Passion Projects. Again, I wasn't sure. It seemed to me, nothing could kill a passion quicker than having to research and present it (even using a cool technology like Stop Motion). However, encouraged by my team leader, I decided to give it a try. At the beginning of term 4 I set a few basic guidelines. Within reason, students could do whatever they liked for our Passion Project hour, provided they were learning something new, or teaching someone else something. 

The first request surprised me. Can we teach our friends some gymnastics tricks? Swallowing back thoughts of broken limbs, I agreed with two provisos. No aerials (a cartwheel with no hands), and you have to be responsible for getting out the equipment and putting it away. The second request was just as surprising - "Charlie next door knows how to make movie trailers using iMovie. Can he teach us?" And so the journey began...

Of course it wasn't as easy as that for everyone. After a few weeks, some students struggled to think of ideas. Usually all it took was casually offering something like a book on How to Make Paper Aeroplanes to get them restarted, but others were so used to having choices made for them, they were frozen with indecision. In these cases I offered two or three options I knew were new, but within their range. Then I challenged them to take a risk and try one. I had to be firm, give a time limit for thinking, and a no backing out clause. The delight of a child who has taken a risk with something new is incomparable!

There were also the inevitable arguments that arise when a group works together. Again I had to stand firm. Children weren't allowed to opt out of a group or project because they were having problems. Instead I listened to what the parties had to say, reflected back to them what I'd heard, and sent them away with a 'challenge' to find a way to solve the problem. Knowing I wasn't going to step in, and they couldn't opt out seemed to do the trick. Most times I had beaming students reporting they'd solved it. 

In 2017, I started with approximately half my class from 2016 and the other half fresh from immersion in Play-Based Learning. Most of these children had spent the previous year creating, building and dressing up. They knew how to chose things they wanted to do and play independently. However I wanted to expose them to new ideas. I decided to lead by example, and spent the first weeks sharing my passion for science with them. Under a loose theme of fizzing and bubbling, we explored soda rockets, bread making and ginger beer. We also looked at shadows and paper helicopters. 

We started Passion Projects mid term, with the same rules as the year before. The students had to be learning something new, or teaching someone else. And they were responsible for organising all equipment and supplies and for packing them up. Inspired by our science lesson, many chose to keep exploring. Like many classes, our year could be summed up as "500 different ways to make slime." But other students had different ideas. Popular choices were teaching themselves to draw from Youtube clips, teaching others to play a sport and creating using 'found' objects. 

So, after five terms, I've distilled my Passion Project learning into 4 key points
1. Its their choice. Children should be encouraged to choose what interests them during this time. After all the goal is independence. The exception - when a child wants to draw Pokemon pictures or practise rugby passes for the fifth week running, it could be time to challenge them to do something different. Also if a child regularly struggles to identify an interest they may need a choice between limited options. I've noticed my younger children, no matter how academically bright, tend to stick to the outer of projects. Things that have worked are; getting them to take photos of another project or helping organise equipment for a project. Tasks like these help them move from passive observer to active participant. 

2. Don't expect students to learn new curriculum concepts. Passion Projects give the chance to practise skills learnt during earlier lessons. For example, I ask children to write a list of their needs for science experiments rather than tell me verbally. My excuse? I need a written list when I shop for supplies. However if something is important enough that all the class need to learn it, then it should be taught as a separate lesson. Once, a small group made Glow in the Dark Mountain Dew. Fired up with the scientific possibilities, I insisted they design a series of experiments to look at what ingredients actually made it glow, when really they were ready to move on. The end result? Resentful students who didn't learn anything new.

3. The real focus of Passion Projects is developing skills for Independent Learning. Over the year we have systematically explored and reflected on the Key Competencies of Managing Self and Relating to Others. We've also looked at our school values of Kindness, Unity and Responsibility. These skills should be the focus of this time, not reading, writing, maths, art, science or any other curriculum subject. 

4. Celebrate the Process not the  Product. While we sometimes share iMovie trailers and art works created during Passion Project time to inspire others, our focus isn't on having a perfect presentation worthy product. Instead our reflections are more likely to focus on the group who included a classmate who had nothing else to do, the group who solved a tricky argument, or the group who tried to make Blu Tack slime and ended up with a gooey mess. After all real scientific discovery happens when things don't turn out as you expect. 



A final note on Free Play. 
It's important young children have the chance to practise and master familiar activities. As well as Passion Project time 2-3 times a week, we also have twice daily opportunities (approximately 20 minutes each) for free play. During these times, the above rules don't apply. Children can play in the sandpit, ride their scooters, climb trees, make birds nests from pine needles, kick around a ball, or do whatever they need to connect with others, explore their environment and recharge.  

Rua's Eco-Heroes

Rua's enviro-focus this year has been rubbish. In 2016 we investigated storm water drains, so most of the students already knew that rubbish that is blown into these drain can end up in the sea. This year we've looked at the rubbish around the school and in Pukerua Bay. We've thought about how to stop this rubbish getting into the drains. 

Each week different classes clean up rubbish around the school but we wanted to find a more permanent solution. So we investigated what kind of rubbish there is around the school. We cleaned up around places we know there's usually a lot of rubbish, like behind Wairaka Block and at the start of the Skink Garden. We also got rubbish from the class bins. We laid the rubbish out on newspaper and sorted it into piles. Then we counted the rubbish and made graphs.

We found the most common types of rubbish were plastic, chippie and snack packets, tissues and food. Lots of rubbish is being blown around by the wind. This rubbish might come from people in the school, or people in the weekend. There were some beer bottles we think came from people in the weekend. Half eaten apples and mandarin skins have probably come from people in the school. We think some people are walking around while they are eating and leaving their food on the ground. We were also surprised to find uneaten food in the rubbish. 

Rua also walked around the streets of Pukerua Bay and picked up rubbish. This was just after Halloween, and it was disappointing to find Halloween sweet wrappers lying around. 

The students then wrote about their experiences. Here is a small sample of their amazing writing. Can they persuade you to clean up?

Imagine a world of rubbish with rubbish around the planet. It would be awful. It would be horrible and disgusting and gross and revolting. Plastic lying around the seas. It is bad for animals in seas. It kills fish and dolphins and whale and sharks and other sea creatures.

You must put your mandarin skinks in the rubbish bin. You have to put your apple cores in the worm bin please. You most definitely have to put your plastic in the bin and you must put lollie wrappers in the bin. If you don’t you will kill fish and whales and dolphins and crabs.

By Nina (age 7)

Do you like being tidy? Do you like the world to be clean? Do you throw rubbish everywhere? So rubbish is chippie packets, lolly wrappers, bar wrappers and plastic. Do you like to be dirty.

The problem is the animals will look at the rubbish and think that it is food and eat it. Then they will get sick and die!! Then the world will be terrible. That is why you need to put plastic, chippie packets, lolly wrappers and bar wrappers in the bin.

Please put your mandarin skins in the rubbish because mandarin skins rot in 2 years. If you don’t the school will be horrible and terrible. Put your apple cores in the worm bin because the school will be horrible and terrible.

So what have you learnt? How to be tidy.

By Henry (age 7)

Last week we cleaned up and I almost vomited because of the smell. It pong. I hope our school doesn’t get filled up with rubbish and we will have to stay inside and sleep at school and that will be horrible. And we found lots of lollie wrappers.

You must put your mandarin skin in the bin otherwise it is littering. You must put your rubbish in the bin otherwise it will kill you and it is serious. You must put your rubbish in the bin because it is littering. Don’t walk around with your food otherwise you will choke and you forget to put it in the bin. Don’t put your mandarin skins on the ground. It doesn’t feed the birds it is just littering.

By Stella (age 8)


When I was walking in Pukerua Bay School I was horrified. Our school was trashed with rubbish. There was rubbish everywhere like mandarin skins, chippie packets and lollie bags that our school could not have made we do not like that our school has so much rubbish in it. It is bad for the environment.

You truly need to put your mandarin skins in the rubbish it is littering and takes 2 years to rot away. You most definitely need to put your apple skins in the worm bin Do not throw away chippie packets or plastic it is littering. The wind blows it around and it goes down the drain and into the sea and the animals eat it and if you eat fish you might end up eating plastic. Our most common thing in our school are tissues chippie packets plastic eaten food and uneaten food.

By Lilah (age 6)

Identity - Pukerua Bay

In Term 4 we looked at the origin of some street names in Pukerua Bay. There is some great information about the history of Pukerua Bay and the origin of street names on the Porirua City Library site which I used in my initial research.

As I wanted the students to learn some research skills themselves, I got them to look up two maori words each using the online Maori Language Dictionary. They had to find the meaning of the word and use it in a sentence. Some of these words were reasonably straightforward like rawhiti and teihana. Although some teaching was still needed to help the students navigate the dictionary.

Some words like kura have multiple meanings. This was a challenge. How do you decide what is the right meaning? We chose two definitions (school and scarlet) and left the final decision to our walk around the streets of Pukerua Bay.

On a beautiful sunny afternoon we headed off on an adventure. First stop was outside the school gates. We'd learnt that rawhiti means 'facing the east' or 'facing where the sun rises'. Looking at this photo taken in the middle of winter we could see that Rawhiti Road does indeed face the sunrise.

Once we knew where east was, we could understand how that the sun sets on the western hills behind Raroa Place. Perhaps this is why this street is named after 'long day'?

Wairaka Road was easy as we had previously studied the story of Hau and Wairaka. Haunui Place and Haunui Road were a little more tricky as the students weren't used to hearing Wairaka's husband called by his longer name.

When we got to Te Kura road it was obvious this was named for being near the school, rather than for being a 'scarlet' road.

And although we didn't go down to the railway station we could see how Teihana Road West would once have joined with Teihana Road East which heads down to the station.
Back at school we traced our journey.

This was a great chance to reinforce our learning about directions and to practise reading maps. The students then drew pictures representing the different streets. Here is our visual map of Pukerua Bay.

Researching Our Whakapapa

In Term 2 Rua investigated some of the different cultures represented in our class. (See these links to blog posts on our learning about Japan, Tonga and Iran.)

In Term 3 we brought our focus closer to home by looking at something we all have in common - our home and school in Pukerua Bay. To celebrate this, the students learnt to introduce themselves in English and in Maori.

For this exercise we used a simple mihi (greeting) format. The children learnt to greet a group of people, say their name, where they are from and where they go to school. These lessons involved writing and oral language. We also played a game where the children asked each other questions in Te Reo Maori and answered in Te Reo Maori. The students asked each other Ko wai tou ingoa? (What is your name?) and No hea koe? (Where are you from?)

In Maori culture, formal introductions (pepeha) include more than just your name and where you live. Whakapapa is also very important. People also talk about where they are from, the mountain, river and lake they associate with, and who their ancestors are. This is a way to identify belonging and connections between people. To help the students understand this idea, I used ideas from this book from the Ministry of Education.

In class, the students interviewed each other asking three simple  questions:

What is your full name? And do you know why your parents chose this name?

Where were you born?

Can you tell me a story about one of your family or your ancestors.

We then posted the results of these interviews on Seasaw with a request for children and parents to supply more information. A number of the students came back and shared what they had learnt with the class. We discovered some fascinating information about people who were related to famous people and great stories about the origins of different students names.

We heard about Orion's family who lived on Mirimar Island and learnt about Wellington history. The students were fascinated (and a little confused) to discover that the area which is now Wellington Airport used to be under the sea.  "But how did the planes land?" was a common question.

And we discovered unexpected connections between the students.
















Finally one of our students, Ayla, had a full pepeha that was supplied by her mother. I was very grateful for the Te Reo lessons the teachers had last year, when I supported Ayla to deliver her pepeha.

All in all, this was a wonderful learning experience for everyone, me included. The information we have collected has been saved in the student's Seasaw accounts so they can access it in the future.

The Story of Wairaka Rock

In Term 3, Rua looked at one of our local stories - the legend of Hau and Wairaka. This story explains the origins of Wairaka Rock which is located around the coast from the Pukerua Bay foreshore. 

There are several variations on the story. The children were aware that traditional stories can have more than one version from reading the Matariki story in Term 2. Rather than decide on one 'right' version, we looked at the variations and the children decided how they wanted to retell the story.

The students retold the story verbally and had great fun acting it out. Then they planned their story in four simple pictures. Our focus was on developing a story with a beginning, middle and end.

We continued to retell the story verbally as the children worked on their written versions. The aim was to encourage them to use the language features like similes, onomatopoeia and direct speech that we'd been learning about during the term.

We even tried a drama technique called 'hot seating'. Different students pretended to be a character from the story and sat in the 'hot seat.' We then asked them tricky questions regarding their feelings about the events and their motivation for acting the way they did. The children really got into this exercise and by the end we had some great performances by boys as the heroine Wairaka and girls as the hero Hau. It was a fantastic way to add depth to the children's writing.



The Story of Wairaka Rock by Rua 2017 from Leeanne Arnold on Vimeo.

Finally, the students designed Wearable Arts costumes, inspired by the story. We shared these at the final assembly of the term.

From concept to execution - the students worked hard to turn their ideas into reality. We were so lucky to have five wonderful mums and a fabulous teacher aide who worked with the children over several weeks on these projects. Thank you again for your help.

Abstract Art

For calendar art this year, we looked at abstract art, particularly the work of Wassily Kandinsky.

We discussed how abstract art uses lines and shapes rather than attempting to imitate realistic images. As Lilah noted "These pictures can look like lots of things. Other pictures just look like one thing." This blue piece was very popular with the students as they could see railway tracks, a monster face and the international space station.

We also talked about how Wassily Kandinsky had synasthesia. This is where the stimulation of one sense can affect another sense. In Kandinky's case he saw music as different colours. 

Then we experimented with listening to different pieces of music as we painted random shapes and patterns.

Some children found the type of music affected what they painted or made painting more enjoyable. Others didn't like listening to music as they painted. (They were surprised when I said I didn't like listening to music during creative activities like art or writing). 

Then it was time to work on our calendar art. Children were given the choice of creating a tree design inspired by Kandinsky's Concentric Circles.

The alternative option was to create their own abstract piece using line, shape and colour. Surprisingly (for me) this was the most popular choice.

We ended up with some stunning original designs.

And it was a chance for some students who don't normally consider themselves good at art to shine with their choice of shape and colour.

We also had several workshops on blending colour. One Mrs DeVilliers took on blending chalk pastels and I took some workshops on blending oil pastels.

Some students chose to use these blending techniques in their Calendar Art which added another level of challenge