Nelson Campus
YEAR 3-6 MATHS
The Year 3 – 4 students have recently been working on algebra in their maths, looking at patterns and exploring relationships. Leroy, Fletcher, Connor and Saxon were using Cuisenaire rods to make different “mats” to develop the concept of “equals”. First of all they worked out the value of each of the rods, then they arranged rows of rods in their mats to equal a certain number. The boys started off by making a “5 mat”, then they wrote the equations that corresponded to the arrangement of rods in each row of their mats. The boys have since worked with 10, 11 and 12 mats, writing equations to match each row of their rods.
They have also been working on geometry. Alana, Perry, Ranger and Sali used solid shapes to discover nets, then they made their own solid shapes from nets.
YEAR 3-6 INQUIRY
As part of our inquiry we all visited the Richmond Refuse and Recycling Centre. This is what Alana Petrie, Year 3, wrote in her report:
At the Refuse and Recycle Centre people sort out rubbish into different bins.
The first thing that you can see at the recycle centre is huge, heavy wooden crates. In them are wine bottles, cans, aluminium and cardboard. Anybody can put rubbish into the different crates. Next the people that work there sort the rubbish into piles that are squashed into bales and taken to Auckland.
Behind the crates is a little hill and if you go up there right ahead of you you’ll see tonnes of tyres and tonnes of metal, for example the metal was fridges, rusty old cars and glass.
Further on there is some heavy, compacted bales of cans. You would need four or more people to carry it. How many people do you think you would need to carry it? Beside the bales is a factory. When I went up the stairs I got a glimpse of two men sorting out rubbish and plastic. The plastic and rubbish were actually sliding on a conveyor belt.
Across a bit I saw a cylinder swerving round and round. I spotted two black, rolling conveyor belts at each end.
These are some of the drawings we did showing what happens at the Refuse and Recycling Centre.
THE BALANCE BATTLE - BY BEULAH DECK
The balance of school work, social life and leadership responsibilities. How do we give each of them the same amount of dedication?
Our chatter grew quiet and our eyes widened as our heads turned to face the graduation stage. The mighty seniors strode across that stage for the final time like soldiers victorious after battle. Marching with their heads held high, their confidence inspired us. Their exuberance was contagious. Everything they did awed us. The assemblies they ran, the speeches they gave, the talent quests they organized, the team sports they supported, the school lunches they served, the list was endless. As they took their last steps on that stage with pride in their achievements, we wondered; how did they do it?
What we as juniors, didn’t realize, was the reason our year 13’s were able to stand up on that stage with pride was because they had won the battle of self-discipline. They were now reaping the rewards of having balanced life. Balance is an even distribution of weight that enables something or someone to remain upright and steady. To obtain a balance between school work, social life and leadership responsibilities requires self-discipline and dedication. This is what it took for each individual year 13 to step off that graduation stage with pride.
Nestled between the mountains and often stormy seas, the little West Coast campus has a small tight-knit group of students who push for the highest standard of work. The ‘balance battle’ year 12 students fight here is an individual’s battle. It makes no difference what size a campus is. Entering year 12 after a relatively easy year, it appears that the biggest challenge is the extra CAP course. It was said by a student, “because there wasn’t much time in school given to do CAP, I had to do it at home. This prevented me from attending social activities with my friends.” So how did she overcome it? She quickly implemented a disciplined routine before the silent enemy of mismanagement crept up on her.
The scary leap to year 13 is a big one for year 12’s. It’s the last battle of school life. Suddenly, the role of leadership has been thrown at students, forcing them to factor in yet another aspect to balance. Tara Hill who is a year 13 student on the West Coast, has experienced a little of what it is like to be the fallen soldier when it comes to the mission of balance once a leadership role was added. “Often during school in year 13, we’ve had to quickly organize things like assembly,” she said, “which meant placing school work second and, leaving it to do after school hours.” She also commented on how the workload builds up and it becomes natural to procrastinate. When there is suddenly an assembly to organize and speeches to prepare, the students’ social life suffers. Schoolwork gets pushed out into the time they had planned to spend with friends. However, they have coped. They have set up routines, taken on strategies and worked together to relieve the pressure. A teacher commented, “they now realize that they need to work as a team and communicate,” after seeing the students had changed with the added leadership role.
Maintaining balance throughout year 13 NCEA is crucial for success. West Coast PE teacher Pip Hateley spends time supervising and observing students in the learning center. “The ones that I don’t see spreading things out,” she says, “they will rush at the last minute, so their time management will be poor.” It will pay students to note this as they move into year 13. Avoid the frantic last-minute overload of work. Self-management learned in school is a life skill that students can take into adulthood. Mrs. Hateley considers that the most important reason to maintain a balanced workload is mental health. “If you’re not mentally in the right space, you can’t learn, you can’t cope, and you will just give up. That’s the top for me.” She has watched this happen in students and knows the consequences of becoming too buried in work. She has seen how depressed students can become. The war of deadlines without balance can become an unconquerable mission.
The seniors of the past are now gone. Soon it will be our turn to climb the stage steps at graduation. According to the teachers and senior students at West Coast campus, the battle of balance is won through routine, collaborating, using resources wisely, and most of all looking after our health and wellbeing. Standing on that stage, we could be slumping our shoulders, wishing ourselves not there and regretting our year of overwhelming imbalance. Or, we could be holding our heads high with pride after winning the ‘balance battle’. Which soldiers will we be – the fallen or the conquering?
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