A busy week in Kea class!

This week we have enjoyed improving our swimming skills everyday. On the last day we practiced our survival skills by putting on lifejackets and falling out of boats!

We also went to the Suter Art Gallery to make Christmas decorations from clay.

The Middle Syndicate Celebrate Celebrations

Celebrations and Festivals are an ongoing part of life, where we say "thanks" for what we have or the milestones that have been passed. Each country, group and family have different celebrations but the connecting threads in these are: fun, sense of thankfulness and appreciation, connection with the traditions of past (in family, group, country), moments of reflection and importance. As part of our Celebrations and Festivals topic, the Middle Syndicate students have been rotating around Kereru, Kotuku and Kea classrooms each Thursday afternoon to learn about a new celebration. The students have decorated Calavera (sugar skulls) which are used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) and the Catholic holy day All Souls day. Students celebrated Guy Fawkes day by creating 'Fireworks in a Jar' and firework art. Candle holders called diva were made (yet to be decorated) to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu 'Festival of Lights'. The students really enjoyed spending time in other classrooms with a mix of children from across the syndicate. A big thank you to parents and grandparents who helped out in the classrooms!

Checking out the new Suter Art Gallery

We went to visit the new Suter Art Gallery. We saw the building where the original gallery was. We found out about Bishop Suter and his wife who built the original gallery so that all the people of Nelson could enjoy the paintings. We listened to the story about Nelson heroine Huria Matenga who helped save people who were shipwrecked at Whakapuaka while we were looking at a painting of Huria Matenga. We finished our visit by going on a scavenger hunt to look for paintings in all the different galleries.