Library visit

On Thursday morning, Room 4 had a lovely visit to Nelson library. We stopped for morning tea and even got to see some of the acts on 'Stage one' in the Nelson Arts Festival.

Teamwork makes the Dream work...

This week we have been doing lots of team building activities to see what it takes to be an ideal team player in a modern learning environment.

We soon realised being a good communicator, problem-solver, listener and risk taker are all important key competencies. We then teamed up with Room 3 for further activities. Some groups worked better than others, but we all soon realised several great minds works better than one!

Genius Hour Fair

Presentations, demonstrations, conversations and plenty of admiration; This Thursday saw the culmination of Genius Hour: Episode 2. The children of the senior syndicate have been working hard on their individual projects and the fair saw the opportunity to share with their peers, parents and other children from HSS.

Another vibrant feel throughout the syndicate as pride was on show throughout. Spirits were high, and Questions flowed as children were proud to present their latest projects.

Genius hour is an independent project that works on 3 simple rules:

- The project must make a difference to someone or something in a positive way. It might educate, inform or improve someone's life.

- you must research and explore your driving question to find a solution.

- it must be shared.

This terms projects demonstrated the diverse range of interests throughout the syndicate. It was lovely to see people exploring a driving question that intrigued them... Dinosaurs, natural disasters, ores and gems, how fish breathe underwater. There were projects that help those in need: publicising tourism in areas hit be natural disasters, supporting charities like 'CanTeen', the coastguard or SPCA. Many people had learnt new skills: tiedying, making your own lip balm, coding a game, building a model boat, making your own musical instruments out of recycled materials. There was also the tutorial projects: teaching someone a skill: dance, fitness, rugby, guitar. Such a diverse range of creative, thought provoking tasks.

Overall, another very productive genius hour. It's great to see the progress from term 1, and how the children are learn key skills such as planning, creative thinking, problem solving and reflection throughout. Using their own initiative and risk-taking has been two of the more obvious skills that have been on show, but is great to see the continued progress in their confidence in tasks.

The Mask Parade

Nelson Mask Parade 2015 from Mr Skiperoo on Vimeo.
The Mask parade finally hit the streets of Nelson and what a spectacle it proved to be! Another perfect day in sun city; milky blue skies met with a sea of vibrant colours, and chorus of enthusiastic children. It's only a shame so many of the smiling faces were concealed by their creativity. It's taken several weeks of preparation; a lot of hot glue, copious amounts of paint, and numerous visits to Harvey Norman's excess cardboard supply, but now the stage was set.

A lively Montgomery Square was the setting for the opening act: teachers joyfully circulating with staplers, masking tape and an abundance of weathered string to make last minute alterations. The streets lined with hundreds of cheering support, and the atmosphere didn't fail to disappoint.

HSS had opted for the 'Where's Wally?' theme to coincide with the 2015 Port Nelson's Mask Parade overall topic of 'the world of books'. The children from HSS arriving in a sea of red and white, with each syndicate occupying another setting. 

The Seniors confidently parading their diverse and very creative 'Wild, Wild, West' entry. The creativity and imagination was on show for all to see: Cowboys and Cowgirls, sheriffs, miners, Gold diggers. We had our own Saloon town, complete with county jails, outlaws, poker players, can-can girls, trains and wagons. A series of Cactii concealed Wally, as he weaved through horses, a buffalo, dynamite sticks, tumble-weed, stray bags of loot and the odd sheriffs badge!

Other syndicates chose themes 'Under the Sea', 'Dragons, Knights and Princesses', 'Land of Pirates' and 'Creatures from the Hungry Caterpillar'. An exceptional team effort from all the parents, teachers and Children. Thankyou to all the parents for their help and assistance in assisting with costumes, escorting the children to and from the mask parade and continued support throughout the main event. I'm sure everyone would agree; an overwhelming success!

Winter Sports and Jump Rope for Heart

Winter Sports and Jump Rope for Heart from Mr Skiperoo on Vimeo.
Another Sports packed week at HSS saw the climax of our winter sports program, finals of South Island Skiing and 'Jump Rope for Heart' on Friday! A thoroughly exhausting week, but as ever, Hampden Street students stepped up to the plate, packed a positive attitude, poured themselves a cup of ambition and let the games commence!

The winter sports program has involved a dedicated focus to one specific sport for 8 weeks, with the culmination competing against regional teams in this chosen sport. Children were encouraged to choose a sport that they didn't naturally already play, or one that they felt required some element of development. The seniors were given the option of Table Tennis, Volleyball, Netball, Hockey, Basketball, Rugby or Football.

It was great to see so many children opting for a totally alien sport to their natural choice. Many children opting to leave their comfort zones, take risks and challenge their character. Seven weeks of skill sessions and game related play meant the HSS students were ready for the inter schools competition against Nelson's finest.

HSS did not disappoint. A fantastic display, in competitive challenge, sportsmanship and overall attitude to one another made all the teachers proud. A big thankyou to all those parent volunteers that made this all possible, and the HSS kids for another exemplary display amongst the wider community.

'Jump Rope for Heart' was set up by the Heart Foundation to encourage kiwi kids into physical activity that is fun, rewarding and physically demanding. A gold coin donation is suggested, but any contribution is valued by such a worthwhile charity.

Mr Marston is renowned for being the most inept skipper amongst the HSS staff. Despite strengths in other areas of physical activity, timing and rhythm are not at the forefront of his abilities. Therefore Room 4 have been trying for weeks to teach and develop is skills form complete beginner to satisfactory, and thankfully they've succeeded!

A real credit to Room 4 with all their efforts to skipping and the winter sports program. We've really worked together to encourage one another and seek alternative methods if one route becomes too challenging. But overall, we've worked together to climb obstacles in our way, not given up, and succeeded with a big cheesy grin to show at the end. Well done Room 4!!

Preparations for the masked parade

Ongoing preparations for our Wild Wild West themed mask parade. The children of room 4 have been asked to 'think outside the box' in their creations, and initial ideas haven't disappointed! We've got cowboys/ cowgirls, sheriffs, Cacti, Can-can girls, wanted posters, gold diggers, even a pantomime horse! Let's just see how progress continues!

The chances of that?

Its been non-stop probability Vs Chance Vs likelihood in Room 4 this week...

In a heated game of 'Deal or No Deal', Jonny was offered $90,000, but opted to take the risk and settle for a measly $15,000! Was it just bad luck or the probability just against him. Later discussion and calculation realised the chance of succeeding was against him, but yet he took the gamble!

Shantelle defeated odds of 1/64, to beat 5 contestants in a row... Twice... At line bob-tag. Either a master professional or some kind of sorcery at work!

We calculated the odds of Guess Who? And who really is the best person to choose to make your opposition take the most amount of guesses!

We investigated how much chance is there in rolling two dice and calculating the cumulative score. The answers surprised us all, but after serious discussion, the probability made complete sense.

We are currently designing our own mathematical problem-solving events, and set to present to one another. Time will tell whether we can confidently explain the likelihood of each outcome?!