Kaikoura Suburban School

Library Fantails Rocket Poem

This term in the Library Fantail Room we have started learning about and using Habits of Mind skills to help us become successful, independent learners.

What are Habits of Mind?
Habits of Mind are thinking habits that help us become successful at solving problems. They help us to develop our thinking skills, evaluate our learning and reflect on it. Habits of Mind complement Suburban School’s “FORCE” values in our classroom and in the playground, helping us to achieve the Key Competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum. These excellent thinking skills therefore help us to climb our mountain of learning for life.

The Habits of Mind that we are using in the classroom this term are: Persistence, Make it Right, Stop and Think, Listening, Work with Others, Create and Innovate. We have a rocket poem that inspires us to blast off into the success zone of learning every day. We hope you enjoy it.

Shearwaters afternoon class have been talking and learning more about what it means to think, to be great learners, to be great writers and to be great readers. They know that they have a lot of knowledge to gain in order to have full back packs and make it to the summit of Mount Fyffe. But they have also learnt that if we work hard as a team that we can all succeed.

The photos show us deep in thought!

This morning we had a very special visitor come to work with us from Swim Safe in Blenheim.  She taught us some great skills to help us swim. First we went to the School field to practice our Freestyle arms and legs. Then we tried our back stroke arms, but our arms got really tired and achey. At the pool we did some big splashes to start with, but then we practiced our skills like swimming with just Freestyle legs and gluing our arms to the back of our ears, we floated on our backs with a noodle and then we floated with empty milk bottles, we also swam with rings and sat on the bottom blowing bubbles. We also learnt to talk under water and hum lots of funny noises to help our breathing. We had a great morning!

Quotes:

“I learnt to float on my back really well with a noodle” Olivia Coyle

” I learnt to make a turtle with my hands ready for gliding” Kristen Matenga

” I learnt how to float with milk bottles, I was right up on the surface and really proud because I normally sink a bit”  Nikita Fitzpatrick.

“I felt really confident at floating because I am having swimming lessons out of school, so it is pretty easy. In the free time we had to practice I floated on my front for longer and held my breathe. I love swimming! Thank you very much, it was nice meeting you. ” Tiana Cosmatos.

Year 6 - 2011

Hi I’m Cody and I’m 10 years old.  My goal is to work hard at my spelling in my writing and reading.  I feel proud being a leader at Kaikoura Suburban School.  I am a good role model at showing the school values: Fun, Organised, Respect, Communication and Excellence.
I hope I have a good year.

by Cody

Hi I’m Stacey and I’m 9 years old.  I going to work hard on my spelling and making sure I’m understanding and learning different strategies in maths.
I want to have a full backpack so when I leave the school gate I’m ready for high school.

by Stacey