Skills for Growing

The Skills for Growing is a Lions Foundation sponsored programme focusing on the health needs of children from Year 1 to Year 6. It is recognised today that some children are at much higher risk of becoming alienated and of developing problem behaviours.  This programme  therefore  focuses on looking at external influences, self perception and positive behaviours in a safe and supportive environment.

We began by looking at what we hope to achieve with this unit of work. Here is an example of our introduction.

SKILLS FOR GROWING INTRODUCTION
by Harry
This is a health unit looking at growing as a person and in a group situation. The learning outcomes are to-

·                   Know about me and my class mates

·                   Know about job responsibilities

·                  How to be a team member

·                 How to be a good listener  

·          

I am good at                                            I am good at swimming. 

eating my veges.

I am good at playing                                      I am good at

rugby.                                                             cycling.

Our first activity as a class was to list individual strengths and weaknesses. The list for strengths was long, our children always striving to reach the stars; often when some have learning difficulties there is always a confidence of being successful at whatever is attempted. Harry listed some above and his mother would be delighted to read that he is good at eating his vegetables.

We discussed our feelings being related to the weather as we sometimes describe ourselves  as being sunny, gloomy or stormy.  Several weather forecasts could be used to describe different emotions.

   WEATHER FEELING WORDS

My emotion is proud when I have just reached Dictionary Level in spelling like today because many people in room 5 have not got there.

I would feel ill if I drank out of a drain but I am not stupid so I haven’t.

I feel annoyance when people call me names and when someone tries to beat me up and that would obviously make me get injured.

I feel guilty when my friends get told off and I don’t when I was doing the same thing as my friend’s which I don’t recommend at all.

By Lachlan 

Friendships are an important component in the wellbeing of a person. Children are taught to be inter-dependent, by depending on each other, through helping and supporting those in our group. This concept was highlighted by this shared poem-
        We are all part of a community of friends;
        My teacher, my classmates and me.
        We are all part of a community of friends.
        A caring and safe place to be.

Here is a friendship story from a pupil in the class.

                                                 Friend ship

Having a friend is helpful and good company. The best thing about having a friend is having fun with them. Pete is a good friend because he never mucks around and always does what he is told .  That is why he is my friend.
By Connor

Vocabulary was built up during this study to create an effective word bank for relating experiences and writing stories. Children worked in pairs to develop lists.

                                                                             

                                   Healthy                                                          

                         

Fitness                                       Skilled                               Clever              

Sharing                                                           Good

                                                             Friendship

            

                      Kind                                                                                           Sports

 Work                                                                  Growing

 By Paige Palmer

Children are taught to be responsible within the community. They are encouraged to perform duties for the benefit of the class or school community. One duty was to collect and store the Physical Education trolley with its pile of sport equipment at the end of the day.
                        Duties 

The PE trolley was my job when you hear the bell. We go to the PE trolley and collect any balls lying around the school then put the trolley in the hall. 

We learn about all the PE gear.  The junior children learn from us when collecting the gear. When they see us put the gear in the trolley they might do it when they have finished playing with it.
By Blake

As part of our writing we were looking at expositions. This encourages children to look at two sides of an argument and establish a well founded viewpoint based on the soundness of the arguments presented.

EXPOSITION-PRESENTINGBOTHSIDES
 By Tobias

State the problem

Motor bike riding is the best activity at camp.

ARGUMENTS FOR

1.         I think a motorbike riding is cool because  you can do stunts.

2.       It could make you famous.

3.      It could make us gain confidence.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST

1.             They could use the motorbike incorrectly.

2.           They could crash and get injured.

 3.  They could run someone over.

CONCLUSION OR SUMMARY
Motorbike riding is the best you could get a good career.