Thursday 28 May 2020




Haratua / May, 2020.
Issue 2.


Tēnā koe, talofa lava, malo e lelei, kia orana and warm greetings to you.

Welcome to the second issue of this blog!

In this issue we exhibit the wonderful entries submitted by ākonga from the Ōtākaro Kāhui Ako in the Avonside Arts Council Gratitude Competition

  • We share artwork from the Chisnallwood Lockdown Mandala Art Gallery
  • We introduce you to the exciting new initiative, the 'Ōtākaro Kōrero' Podcast and include links to the first two episodes
  • We  provide information related to some exciting music resources  AND 
  • We launch a wonderful collaborative music activity open to all students, including ECE ākonga!!



Ōtākaro Kāhui Ako Gratitude Gallery



In the first issue of Ōtākaro Auahatanga we outlined a Visual Arts activity set up by the Arts Council from 
Avonside Girls' High School. Ākonga were invited to visually represent things they were grateful for during the lock down and period of online learning. The variety of artwork is inspiring and we really encourage you to open the link and have a look at the Padlet that exhibits it all. A huge congratulations to all ākonga who participated.




https://padlet.com/vshaw12/8bibbvdu6q9a3hkx









 Chisnallwood Lockdown Mandala Art Gallery


Kia Ora,
The Mandala  gallery is a collection of student work that was completed as part of their regular tech rotation at Chisnallwood. What makes it unique is that it was completed online due to COVID 19. There were tutorials explaining how to do everything, eg how to draw a circle without a compass etc. The task was able to be completed with any materials from basic pencil & paper through to paints, or even just with found objects from home. Open the attached Link and enjoy 😉









https://padlet.com/sgreenwood8/81pjhnrseb61babf




New Initiative: The Ōtākaro Kōrero


The Ōtākaro Kōrero Podcast is about providing inspiring and informative content designed to support our Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning in our journey to create a vibrant education pathway for our community.

For the first episode of the Ōtākaro Kōrero Podcast we were joined by Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch from Evaluation Associates and Tufulasi Taleni from the University of Canterbury. With the impact of the Covid-19 Lockdown being felt around the world, it is important for schools to listen to the voices of our Māori and Pasifika whānau. In this episode, we discuss how it is important, now more than ever, that educators can engage authentically with whānau and co-create the educational environment for our students.

Here is the link to the show… https://otakaro-korero.simplecast.com/episodes/maori-and-pasifika-voices-in-lockdown-learning

For the second episode of the Ōtākaro Kōrero Podcast we interviewed three amazing Samoan staff members in our Kāhui Ako - Enoka Taufua, PE teacher at Shirley  Boys' High School, Elaina Smith, acting Deputy Principal at Avonside Girls' High School, and Thomas Enosa, teacher at Chisnallwood Intermediate. We discuss Vaiaso o le gagana Samoa (Samoan Language Week), what it means to them and how teachers and schools can connect and engage with their Samoan students.

Here is the link to the second episode...https://otakaro-korero.simplecast.com/



Music Resources and links

May is NZ Music Month! Hook Line and Singalong....
Groups or schools may wish to take part in the national Hook Line and Singalong by singing, signing or playing the 2020 winning song "We Are One". It just has two chords - C and Am. The video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/vAGr5kwjnY4 and the lyric, chord, and leadline charts are at http://hooklineandsingalong.com/2020-we-are-one/. You can register your performance ahead of time at http://hooklineandsingalong.com/sing-2/ " 

Chisnallwood will be streaming our videoed performance on Friday 29th May as part of our virtual assembly. 


Some upcoming music dates for music department calendars: 

  • May 27 Bands and Practical Ideas for 0-2yrs of Instrument Tuition, 7pm-7.45pm
  • June 20 Children's Instrumental Music Competition. New Zealand. 
  • July 1st - registration due for KBB online band and orchestra festival  - Aug 21 videos due
  • July 4,5 https://www.learningideas.org/teachertraining Producing quality videos for online submissions by Duncan Ferguson.
  • July 24 - Rockquest video submission date 
  • Aug 1, 2 - JazzQuest band competition
  • August 17-21 TBC - JazzQuest combo competition
  • Bandquest - TBC
  • "Strum Strike and Blow" had its first workshop last week streamed from Chisnallwood and ukulele, marimba and recorder repertoire and tips were shared with teachers from around Canterbury. Register at https://strumstrikeblow.org/ if you are keen to be part of this (NB This is not a physical festival this year but the repertoire is nice to share collaboratively).


Collaborative short performance - Ukulele piece composed by Julie Wylie

ECE and other ākonga groups are encouraged to film their tamariki playing along with this video .

Share your video with jbell@chisnallwood.school.nz 

Judith will edit this together into one joint video "performance" so our students can get to see themselves performing with others....

Julie wrote this song to be accessible. Participants can sing, tap the ukuleles (as in the lyrics) as well as strum and pick the strings, and just enjoy the song.

Videos may be shared through this Dropbox link  or by using  https://flipgrid.com/dad2283d  password Otakaro2020

This is an exciting opportunity for students within our Kāhui Ako to participate in a collaborative music project and we thank Judith Bell for organizing this activity.


Hōngongoi/ July, 2020. Issue 3. Tēnā koe, talofa lava, malo e lelei, kia orana and warm greetings to you. Welcome to the third is...