Thriving

Gifted Awareness Week 2021 has the theme 'Thriving as Gifted'.

In our classes at Quest this week we talked about what it means to thrive and what might help us thrive.

We looked at examples of highly gifted children (prodigies) and looked at whether we thought they were thriving and what might have helped them to thrive. 

Some ideas of what it might mean to thrive...

"To flourish in the environment you're in and always be able to alter your attitude." Charlie S.

" Opposite to suffer." Amelia

" Healthy, living in good conditions." Cerys.

Below are ideas from some of the year 3&4 students:

We looked at the need to have challenge at the appropriate level for us, and to have motivation to do something. 

This fits in well with our famous people studies and children are researching what helped the famous person they are studying to thrive.

Fame

 Term 2 2021

We are looking at famous people. How do people get famous? What are they famous for? What helps them along the way? What challenges have they faced?

This term I am introducing tamariki to a range of people all famous for various reasons. The aim is to allow children to learn about someone in their area of interest, and to illustrate the perseverance, hard work, determination, motivation etc that is often behind fame. 

We have looked at famous New Zealanders (who ARE all those people on our money?) We looked at Kate Sheppard's determination to make a change to allow women to vote. The picture below is from Maria Gill's wonderful book on the subject.

This week some groups looked at people who have become famous for doing good (think Mother Teresa, Bill Gates, Fred Hollows, Malala Yousafzi - humanitarians and/or philanthropists). We read Malala's book 'Malala's magic pencil' and talked a bit about her bravery standing up for what she thought was right and how she had to deal with people who wanted to silence her. Yes, she was only 15 when she was shot for speaking up - luckily she lived to tell the tale. She is an inspirational young woman.

This term the year 3-6 students are doing a research project on a famous person of their choice. They have access to many websites with examples of famous people to choose from. Most of them have chosen who they would like to study and are currently researching them. They can then choose how to share their research - poster, slide show, diorama, video etc. I plan to have an evening where year 5&6 students can display their research for parents to come and see. 

SUSTAINABILITY (continued)....

CLOTHES

We looked at what our clothes are made of and where they are made. We thought about the effect the material, processing, and transport of our clothes has on the environment. 

We looked at ways that could be kinder to the environment - only buying what you need, fixing clothes instead of throwing them away, handing cloths on to others when we have finished with them etc.

Some clothes are made by recycling plastic bottles - check out this video! Do you think these clothes are better or worse for the environment? 

DEVELOPMENT

We thought about how people make a difference to the environment and looked at how we could make our towns more environmentally friendly. We became town planners and designed our own town, thinking not only about what would go in our towns, but also where it was placed. We looked at ideas from around the world for more sustainable towns - green roofs where flat roofs are planted to encourage wildlife, reduce heat, catch rainwater; the trial of solar panel roads in France; and ideas from Hundertwasser. You may have seen the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa or the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangarei. There are so many ideas for creating great spaces to live and work that are also kind to the environment. I loved all the creative ideas that children came up with!

Vienna

Sustainability

 SUSTAINABILITY

This term we are looking at Sustainability - looking after our world's living things and resources.

We looked at a variety of topics with a sustainability lens.

RUBBISH

Where does it come from and where does it go? What does reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse mean? We found that if we recycle, reuse, reduce and refuse then there is less rubbish that will go to landfill.

We explored what can and can't be recycled and composted. We thought about how to encourage others to recycle. Some students designed contraptions to help reduce rubbish

PLANTS

We looked at biodiversity and why plants are important in so many ways - food for people, food for animals, shelter, shade, habitats, resources, medicine, beauty, etc. 

ANIMALS

We looked at how some animals affect others and the ecosystem. We focussed on keystone species like whales that can have an effect on their whole food chain as well as on the environment. We thought about how we can be kaitiaki and help care for animals. 

Some of the year 5&6's helped to set up and run a sustainability challenge at our school gala this year to encourage others to think about sustainability. Many of our students care deeply about this topic and the idea is to empower them to be able to make a difference if they want to.

Welcome back

 Welcome to 2021! 

Quest will be in K1 this year. Here is the timetable, which starts in week 3 (the week of 15th Feb). Any changes will be in the panui (daily notices). I look forward to working with your children.

QUEST FEEDBACK 2020

 Each year I ask Quest kids (year 3 and up) to give me feedback on Quest - what they like, what could make it better, what they'd tell others about Quest.

I love hearing from kids as they are so honest! The feedback is anonymous, unless they choose to add their name to their comments. It's really just to give me an idea if I'm on the right track and give them a chance to be heard and make suggestions.

Firstly - what they like about Quest... stand-outs here were the new learning, and fun / exciting learning.

Next - ideas for improving Quest. These were more varied. The most common suggestion was that we have a classroom and don't do Quest in the library - easily fixed as we are back in a room next year - yay! Other suggestions were for more time outside, more choice time, and longer at Quest. We also had suggestions for learning about things such as history, dinosaurs, animals - which I will try to add in next year. Some hopefuls suggested lollies and food could make it better!

I loved some of the things they would tell others about Quest...

"you should go to quest to because it's good for your brain and you'll learn a lot of things"

"that its amazing and really fun and that its really cool and we learn about different things every time"

"Quest is awesome - there is sooo much fun education!"

"quest is a fun place that you can go to learn more about the world in a fun way."

And finally... "it is fun and you learn a lot there even though it just seems like fun." This makes my heart sing! Isn't this what learning should be all about? I think if children have an interest in a topic they will be more motivated to learn - that's one of my aims at Quest. So nice to hear such positive feedback from the kids.

And my feedback about Quest?

I am the luckiest teacher around as I get to learn constantly from the kids I work with. I work with kids who love to learn, have great senses of humour, ask wonderful questions, and share so many ideas, as we all stretch our thinking together.

Have a good Summer break everyone - see you in 2021.

2020 farewells

 2020 leavers

To my wonderful year six Quest students,

I want to leave you with something to think about as you go on your way to college. I hope that at Quest you have learnt many skills that will help on your continued journey at school and into the future.

You have been blessed with an ability to think well, but that does not mean that life will always be easy. You will need to work hard and not be afraid to give things a go. You may need to ask for help sometimes, and at other times you may help others. And sometimes you will come across a block in the road, or a problem that seems too difficult to get past. 

The obstacle in our path - a story

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

The peasant learned what many of us never understand! Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

YOU are the one in charge of choosing how you deal with problems - what will you choose? Will you moan and groan and blame others, or will you try to solve the problem? Remember, you can always ask for help if problems seem too big for you. 

Go out and grab those opportunities, give things a go, and make your own path. Surround yourself with good people who will support you and who you can support. I know you all will have wonderful lives ahead of you if you take the opportunities that come along.

Have fun at college. I have loved working with you all and I wish you all the best for the future. Keep in touch - I love to hear from past students!