“I like Seesaw the best! I can see my friends work and hear my teachers” Sakura

Last week as a teaching team we recognised the need and opportunity for our children to discuss, plan and share how they think we can stay connected while in remote learning.

Children were given the comment “How do we stay close when we have to be apart?” The children discussed the many ways that we can continue to stay connected with our community. FaceTime, letter writing and phone calls were discussed and shared amongst peers. As teachers we provoked the children to think deeper about how they could stay connected with the wider community and not just their friends and family.

• 

• 

• 

The children reflected on past ways of communication and developed a range of abstract ways to stay connected. They thought about communicating through maps, movement, morse code and creating their own abstract devices to use. Other ideas considered the audience, adaptive forms of communication for a particular group or person. Neighbours, friends, and the wider school community were all considered.

“The map can direct you to your friends special place” Zara

“I’ve developed a robot! Whatever you do the robot copies” Arlo

As a neighbourhood we continued to build on the idea of community and communication. Children started to create artworks and objects to share with their wider community. They began to create their own systems of communication through artworks and building. Travelling kindness pebbles were created along with cities with smiling faces that keep the people of the city happy.

“My people bring their own dolls here! This is how we feel connected to our community” Kiko 

“I connected with my neighbour Ravi by giving him a rock act of kindness. He responded by creating one for me too! We stay connected through the rocks we made.” Finn

All this discussion about community, connections and kindness lead the teachers to create a week of wellness. This week allowed for students and families to share kindness in a range of languages. Through dancing, cooking, meditation, kindness poems, window displays and random acts of kindness. It also allowed families to slow down and take time to reflect on the unique situation we find ourselves in and reconnect with each other, nature and the simple things in life. Through this experience, the children thrived by trying new things, sharing special skills and connecting with others in different ways.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We will continue to share kindness to our community and connect with each other through the ever changing modes of communication. 

The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one. Be one.

I liked to connect with the other people who are also reading books and learning, we share what we like to read and get ideas. Elspeth

The children’s literacy skills have been developing at a rapid rate throughout the 1/2 neighbourhood as we continue to work remotely. In line with book week last week, we put the spotlight on how literacy helps us explore the world around us. Literacy skills incorporate not only reading and writing but viewing of texts such videos, songs and poems and discibring and verbalising our thinking through sharing, explaining, and predicting.

Claudia! I love how you have used writing and pictures and music and talking to make this video! It’s so cool! Emma

Each week the children in the 1/2 neighbourhoods engage with literacy in a range of ways, from our inquiry provocations to our morning meetings and afternoon story-times.

By providing a rich and diverse range of literacy opportunities, students can approach literacy learning with agency and enthusiasm while also being supported to challenge themselves to meet their individual learning goals.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I like reading books that are other people’s stories when we get them shared on the blog and I enjoy reading with my mum when I’m at home and sharing my ideas with others. Lucienne

We have also been able to use literacy to connect with the world around us, even through lockdown by having literacy transport us around the world. Other examples of this are our book week dress up day which took place during week 7 and our exploration of indigenous literacy and stories.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Remote learning can be challenging but we have remained connected through shared stories and rich experiences that build and develop our vocabulary. It continued to support diverse learning opportunities to engage, connect and inspire everyone in our neighbourhoods.

We look forward to allowing these connections to growth and flourish throughout these unique times we are in.