Week 5 NEWSLETTER

Not too long later Chloe and Lily from Kōwhai came into my office to show me their ‘playground house’ creation. The detail was pretty next level…even including a pulley (something they had been learning about in Science) to lift people up to the top floor. They faced some challenges, and told me about the extra support that they had to add in order to keep the top structure stable. They were very proud, and happily talked me through all of the details. At morning tea I saw Miss Hunter who said not only had they shown me…they had taken their creation to Rimu, and ran a session for the kids there showing their creation off! 

These are just a couple of opportunities, from just yesterday…but there are lots of these stories happening each day at DPS. But…great stuff Chloe, Lily and Edee!

And…late addition…just as I was about to send the newsletter to the office to be published, Fletcher brought in his Garageband project. He has created a ‘Matatriki Soundscape’ - a piece of music that invokes reflection, staring up into the night sky…and it is pretty awesome! Love the creativity in action at DPS. Have a listen here!

Lessons from Tom Morello

From whom you may ask? Tom is one of the great guitarists of the modern age…playing in Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave…and has been a part of Bruce Springsteen's band as well. I recently came across an interview between Tom and Howard Stern from a few years ago…and as a guitarist I was interested, but…while I was listening I just kept hearing great wisdom around learning and around creativity…and these little pearls matched up nicely with my beliefs, this schools beliefs about learning and creativity:

I’m going to worry about being creative with the sound I have

Tom had mastered all the basics of the guitar…and decided that now he had this great foundational knowledge, his goal was to innovate rather than replicate. We want our children to Dare to Dream at DPS, to aim for a Better Future…and this can happen at any age. We are great at providing the foundational knowledge here at DPS…and at giving children the opportunities to innovate.

All of my energy into imagination and creativity

Tom wasn’t content just to be ‘another guitarist’ - he knew that in order to be different, to have a new sound…he had to focus not on what had come before, but the future possibilities ahead. 

I went from being a technically skilled musician to becoming an artist

I love the distinction here…being technically good at guitar doesn’t make you a music superstar (you need a story to tell), just like being the worlds best speller doesn’t make you an author (you need a story to tell), or knowing all your basic facts doesn’t make you a mathematician (you need a story to find). 

I stopped practicing scales 8 hours a day, and started practicing mistakes 8 hours a day

Wow, what a great lesson he shares in this quote. Once you have some control over the skills of ‘a thing’...doesn’t matter if it is a guitar, a rugby ball, a paint brush, numbers, words…whatever it might be…once you have that control, it is time to break the rules and find the beauty in the mistakes. You can’t innovate and create just by trying to replicate. And this really lies at the heart of what this school is trying to do…we want (and deliver) great foundational skills, but we really aim to develop young humans who are prepared to take risks, make mistakes and find the beauty in their creation.

Teacher Only Day - Tuesday!

Just remember, no school on Tuesday! Not just us, all the schools are closing for the day. We will be at Wairarapa College undertaking professional development with a range of New Zealand’s educational experts. 

Thanks once again for your support.

Key Dates

• King's Birthday: Monday, June 2nd

• Townwide Teacher Only Day: Tuesday, June 3rd

• Matariki Public Holiday: Friday, 20th June

• Last day of Term: Friday, 27th June

Room 14 have been doing some writing using a story starter.

Story starter….Bang! Boom! Buzz! The big blue balloon flew high in the windy yard. Benny the bunny jumped and ran, his soft feet going thump-thump on the grass. The balloon flew up, up, up into the tall, twisty tree!

She built a pulley to get the balloon. She gets the balloon to give to her friend. She went to the party to give the balloon to her friend. Her friend loved it.

Ava

Bunny rushed to get the balloon! He jumped in the helicopter and flew up to the balloon. He jumped into the tree and got it.  

Hamish

The balloon got in the tree house. I climbed in the tree house. I got the balloon! My dad was down on the ground. I gave it to my dad. Dad felt good.  

Darby

Benny the bunny jumped so high to get the balloon, but then he dropped it. It floated into the sky. He tried to jump again. But he was too tired so he went to get a ladder and he got the balloon. He climbed down and then the balloon popped so he went to get another one from the shop.

Hildred

“Oh, that was for my Mum”, said Benny, “I will make a pulley system”. I went on the pulley system up into the tree. I got the balloon! “Oh no, I let it go again!” I will make a lever with a big rock and a big piece of wood. “I can’t believe it! I got it down.”  

Isabelle

Oh no! My blue balloon is up in a tree. He ran to the big pulley. He pulled the rope and the bucket went up. The balloon didn’t go in the bucket. It was a fail! He had tried his best job and his blue balloon was coming out of the tree. It came back. Benny was so excited! He played with it with his brothers and sisters.  

Hannah

All school teams and draws will be posted on Hero.