Whaea Jude's Norwegian Wood-stack

Lockdown. What have you been up to?

Kia ora Kiwis

When I'm not on hangout this is what I've been doing and, I have to say, I have discovered muscles in my shoulders I didn't know existed.

Post a picture and tell us what you have been doing.

The pieces of wood in the first photo started their lives off as the the round in the second photo. They weigh a ton or so it seems. 

This one is one of the smaller ones. It is 60 cm in diameter and approximately 25 cm thick. It is also fresh so it has lots of water in it. 

How much do you think it would weigh? 

How could I weigh it? I can' t pick it up. 

Put your best estimate in the comments and suggest a way I could 

weigh the round. Let's see who can get the closest estimate.

Locked down but not out.

My wonderful Kiwis and I had our first 'Hangout' today. It took us a wee while to work out the kinks, however we got there in the end. (Thanks to those of my students who know more about driving the computer than I do).      

Sneeze (snot) Dab

Mr B's Scooter Safari support group; a Haiku.

Raising heaps of cash

For the Alpine Scooter Trek

Jude is really BALD!

The Skeleton Woman; a shadow puppet show.

This is Ruma Kiwi's first attempt to create a shadow puppet show to retell one of the stories we learned as part of our Storytelling programme. It was quite tricky especially as there were so many elements in the story and each one needed a puppet. It got very crowded behind the screen with: arms, legs and puppets getting a little tangled on occasion. Nonetheless we were happy with our efforts and invite you to take a look at Ruma Kiwi's production of a traditional Inuit tale called: 'The Skeleton Woman'.
 

Last Thursday the students of Rūma Kiwi held its first 'Babble of Writers'; an event to celebrate the publication of the first stories emerging from their 'Writer's Notebooks'. Invitations went out, books were printed and bound, and sweet treats were plated in readiness for our guests to arrive.

 Quite a turn out.

To say that the lead up to the 2:30 pm deadline was chaotic would be an understatement but, when the door was thrown open and the children's whānua came in, every one in the class had a story to show them. I was delighted with the turn out and, while not all the children's whānua could attend, those that did took the time to read many of the stories on offer.

As an added extra whānua had the opportunity to preview a diorama, the class are working on, depicting scenes from Morris Gleitzmann's novel 'Once'. Although the diorama is still a work in progress it was clear some students took great pride in explaining it to their guests.

While the process to get to this point has involved some metaphorical, blood, sweat, and tears, every one of the children have worked hard to achieved, what for some, is the best piece of writing I have seen from them all year. More important than my view of their writing is the way they are beginning to see themselves as writers. As one boy so eloquently wrote in his 'writers profile':

              "I found out I had things inside me I did not realise that were in there. 
              I'm a pretty good writer and other people think that too, not just me".

             " I also learned that I knew more than I realised and I need to believe in myself. 
             I have interesting ideas and other people want to hear them". 

Explaining the 'Once' diorama.

 Checking out the book covers.

Lots to see.

Lots to read.