Air Track

Abe had the Air Track up and running today so we could practice some of our flips, rolls and jumps.
Lots of fun had by all and a safe way to show off some of our new skills for the term.

 

Finding a quiet spot

We have shared our digital recordings using Google drive, so we can access them from anywhere in the school. Each group has two recordings to collate and a little lateral thinking has been required to find a quiet spot around the school to begin our work. Luckily the sun has been shining and other classes have been very generous by sharing their listening posts with us.

Collating our oral history information

We have been spending the week finding quiet places around the school (easier said than done) for groups to listen to their recorded interviews and begin the process of collating information, grouping and presenting.

Here is a first listen to an interview from the 1940s. The group will need to listen again to expand on this information with further details and direct quotes from the ex pupil.

Growing up in Mt Victoria/ School Community.	They were taken to school by an older girl The mums had to sew black blankets to hang up on the window so they would not be given  away as world war 2 was going on and they could not let the enemy team see them Janice’s uncle went to war and                    got captured almost as soon as he got there, luckily he escaped
Punishment	Every morning the boys would get one strap each on the hand to remind them to stay in line. girls stand in corridor if naughty she never was naughty
Lunches	she had one pint of milk each day because she liked milk most kids had half sometimes the milk was warm as it was stored in a shed  that’s in the sun before the kids come out of their classroom.
Popular with students	One day she threw the strap on top of the railings and they couldn’t get it down, all the students were very happy but the teachers were not. Eventually they got it down
Use of spare time	the girls liked to play basketball(netball) and hopscocth during lunch time
Clothing worn	Girls wore skirts, dresses and cardigans it sometimes got cold in the winter    Boys wore shorts with pullovers sometimes ties. most mums sewed their  children's clothing.
How do you view things as being different now?	Instead of years they have primers.

Central Zone Athletics

On the 14 of November,a group of Clyde Quay students went to Newtown park for central zone athletics. The students competed in sprints both long and short, relays, long jump, high jump, vortex, quoits but for year 7 and 8s only they did discus instead of quoits and also the 1000m for year 5-8s.The relays were a great start to the day, the year 5-8s did 4x100m relays and year 4s did a 5x80m relay. It was incredibly nerve racking for students waiting for their turn/event. Since the grand stand was closed we sat on the steep grass bank with our Clyde Quay School flag showing were we all were.The bank was so steep we keep slipping down it. Everybody tried as hard as they could and there was a lot of encouragement from the kids watching other kids doing their event. Everybody had heaps of fun and there were great results.

By Saskia, Jamie and Sean

On  the 14th of November a group of us went to Newtown park for central zone  athletics. It was a windy Wellington day. There were 8 categories quoits, vortex, long sprints, short sprints, relays, long jump, high jump and 1000 meter run but for year 7 and 8 they did discus instead of quoits . It was cold and nerve racking waiting for your event. The competition was very competitive, so it was hard to make it through to the next round. Some lucky people made it through to interzones. Only year 4s and up could compete. All schools had a flag so that after a competitor competed they knew where to go to eat their lunch. We were sitting on the bank on the grass. Everyone did very well and thank you to the parents who helped.

By Isla, Anna and Jessica

The Outdoor Classroom

The weather was so hot last week that we decided to embrace the gentle breeze, shady pohutukawa trees and lush meadow. The Year 6s moved their puberty lesson outside to look at some scenarios we might face at home and school. The lesson focused on the different ways to respond to each situation and then decide on the best outcome. We identified responses that were passive, aggressive or assertive.
Hopefully the next time a younger sibling begins annoying them, they will know how to respond in a thoughtful and caring way....
Luckily rain was forecast for that evening (4 seasons in one day) so our chalkboard would be clean for the following day.

What would you do in these situations?

Buddy Art - the finished product

Last week we were able to help our buddies complete their cottages using the Indian ink technique that we learnt in term 3.
Mel was a machine as she lined up the younger children to coat the art in  ink before the rinsing process. I think you will agree that the finished products look fantastic.
Superb buddy work guys!

Recording History

Over the past two weeks we have recorded 12 oral history interviews. The students have been amazing. They have shown themselves to be a fantastic group of historians.
Each group has embraced the challenges set for them over this short period and produced some informative and entertaining results. They start each interview with a quick tour of the school and this has enabled them build a rapport with their interviewee before getting down to the business of recording their memories of CQS. At the beginning of this term we heard a lot about the importance of listening and then building on the conversation by asking further questions. Each group has come through this with flying colours.

We have faced a couple of technical challenges with the wonders of Skype. The group interviewing at the time had a couple of connection issues but managed to work around this on their own and get  the interview back on track. Nice work guys!

It is always great having the debrief after the interview, as each group discusses some of the interesting points raised by the interviewee and we get to listen to a snippet of it. We also get to talk about some of the tricky situations they found and brainstorm as a class how to work around this if another group faces a similar issue.

The next step for each group will be to pull all the relevant information out of their interview and find a way to group this in a meaningful way. This will not be an easy task as many of the interviews reach an hour in length - lots of information to record and process.

Of course there is no rest yet as we still have 4 more interviews to go over the next couple of weeks.
A BIG thank you again to all the ex pupils and teachers of Clyde Quay who have made this process possible. They have been incredible by giving their time to us and sharing so many amazing stories.

First day of Oral History recordings

It has been a busy day in Matai with four ex students coming to visit us today. Each of the groups will report back to the blog later on but it was great to hear their feedback on the interviews. We discussed some of the things that went well and points that groups in the future needed to focus on, so they could learn from any difficulties that past groups faced. It was interesting to hear some of the stories from the four ex students as they spanned the decades of 1940s to 1960s at Clyde Quay School.
A HUGE thank you for their contribution to our oral history inquiry, travelling to the school and giving us their valuable time.

Here are some of the artifacts they shared today - including a report from the dux of the school.

Getting ready for our Oral History interviews

We had a busy morning preparing for our interviews that start this week. As a class we looked at the different aspects of school life and how this might have been different for students over the last 125 years. As a whole class we built some criteria around how a good interview will look and sound and then agreed upon our question line. The photo shows us in our inquiry groups practicing our interviewing skills - especially the listening and following up with questions to give us more information during the conversation. We have 3 ex students arriving tomorrow to be interviewed so it is time for us to have a final honing of the skills.

Here is the question line and criteria we have created for the recording of the oral histories:

The brief for each group of students is to:

• Record the interview.
• Greet and thank the interviewee.
• LISTEN to the conversation you are having - ask questions for clarification or to expand on information given.
• Think of this as a conversation rather than an interview - you are there to learn about Clyde Quay’s history…. so enjoy the process!

QUESTION LINE:

Growing up in Mt Victoria/ School Community.

Best and/or worst memories.

How were people treated - including feelings and attitudes of students and teachers.

Punishment/ Rules/ Responsibilities of students.

Playground/ Lunches/ Popular with students/ Use of spare time.

Buildings and Classrooms at Clyde Quay School.

Teachers and teaching style at Clyde Quay School.

Clothing worn.

How do you view things as being different now?

Halloween Buddy Reading

Some of the Matai students are lucky enough to get some buddy reading time  - 1 on 1 with one of the school's parents. Of course dressing up is not necessary!

If you would like to help out with buddy reading and have a spare half hour in your day, please contact Kerry and she would love to match you up with one of our lovely students!

#Like a girl