“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.

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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.

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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.