Buddy Day This Friday!

Our buddies are finished and ready to go out to their carers on Friday. Super exciting!!

Edward

Kendell

Skylar

Alfred

Yuko

Hazel

Buddy Day

Buddy Day is next Friday 15th November. What is Buddy Day?

We have been very busy. First we had to create our buddy's story. In our groups we brainstormed our ideas to create our buddies. Brainstorming our buddies and their characteristics. We then published all this in their diaries.

Once we completed this step we were ready to start creating. This was the fun part. Here are a few photos of our masterpieces. You will find more on our class site.  We are all looking forward to following our buddies on their journey this Friday.

Creating clothing for their buddy.

Applying a second coat.

Everyone is so busy and engaged.

Delicately working on facial features.

Doing some research to help choose a face.

Cutting out facial features.

Writing in the diary.

What next in Room 27?

We still have a few students working on the big finale or rich task. Stay posted to see how these go.

Our weekly RAKs are over, but I've noticed that it has become habit now to notice the opportunity to help someone and stepping up to do so. Karishma misplaced her ipad on Thursday and the majority of students went well beyond expectations to help her find it, even at the risk of missing buses. The students of Room 27 should feel pretty proud of the type of people they are and the virtues they all possess, from helpfulness to honesty.

So the next big things on our calendar are our RAK road trip, Buddy Day and our Odyssey night. Keep watching my blog to see how these big events unfold.

Ethan Can't Crank.

Ethan B can't crank, but that didn't stop him from raising money for them! Great attitude Ethan!

Ethan B was all set to participate in Crank, but terribly disappointed in the end to find out you had to be 13 years old. So instead he made caramel slice which he sold and his mum's work. He raised a whopping $410, which he donated to this wonderful cause. Meaningful to him as his mum had cancer when she was 21 years old.

Evan's Cupcakes

Evan baked and sold his cupcakes last term and donated $72 to the SPCA. Good on you for being so organised and proactive Evan!

Our Bake Sale

Part of the Social Sciences curriculum is to identify issues and take social action to help. That is the whole purpose of our rich tasks. A group of students from Room 27 completed their rich tasks today with a bake sale and what a huge success! We planned to sell at lunch time too, but we only had a few biscuits left!

Ryan J raised $63.00 for the Cancer Society.

Aimee V raised $50.50 for Canteen.

A total of $126.50 was raised for the SPCA.

Bridie $20

Mikayla $23.20

Amy G $18.70

Ryan P $16.10

Ben $9.00

Yash $38.50

and finally $210.70 was raised for the WWF

This wonderful group of girls (Kiara, Wei-Xuen, Crystal, Rebecca, Karishma and Jemima) are all keen to adopt a dolphin EACH so are going to attempt to raise another $150.00 on Tuesday so bring some more coins. Good luck girls.

Room 29 will also be selling cupcakes on Tuesday.

Click here to view all our photos

Matt

Matt's "Shave for a Cure" Page.

So now it's Matt's turn to start collecting sponsors. If he reaches his goal he is prepared to shave his head next term after his performance in Beauty and the Beast.

Good luck Matt.

Read more on Matt's blog.

Jamie

Jamie has managed to impress us all with her courage and hard work. So far she has managed to fundraise $896 for Canteen and there is still more money rolling in:-) Well done Jamie!!!

And we love the new hairstyle. Looking very sleek and modern:-)

Be sure to check out Jamie's blog to learn more about her awesome deed.


http://mrshaerewasteppingup.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/week-8.html

Week 9

Check out this link and see how Alicia is fundraising for mobility dogs. Mobility dogs are dogs that help people with disabilities. Do some research and see if you can find out how these dogs help people. If you find any good links put them in the comments of this post. What Alicia is doing is what all my students are busy with.

http://missjunior.co.nz/alicia-k-fundraising-page/

This week as my good deed I will support Alicia in her quest and make a donation via the link above. I see it as helping two parties at once. #1 I am helping mobility dogs and #2 I am helping Alicia in her efforts to fundraise as a contestant in the Miss Junior NZ competition.

I've also shared her link of facebook so hopefully many more people will also donate.

Good luck Alicia's Blog

Week 8

Jamie's beautiful hair that will make someone a stunning wig.

This week my good deed is supporting someone else with their act of kindness.

One of my students is raising sponsorship. She is going to cut off her pony tail and donate the hair to  Pantene's Beautiful Lengths who use it make wigs for cancer patients. Find out more about Jamie's Jamie's blog

Another student will bravely shave his hair to raise funds for the Cancer Society. Generous! Giving up money for a cause is easy, but shaving your head...well that's really something to be commended. Find out more about Matt's task Matt's blog

I think both these students are brave and thoughtful so will sponsor both. Are you able to show your support by donating a few dollars?

Week Seven

http://operationchristmaschild.org.au/

Came across this site and it reminds me of something our syndicate did in 2009. Each child bought in a shoe box of items, new or second hand and we sent them off to Samoa who were recovering from their terrible tsunami. The gifts arrived just before Christmas which would have been lovely for the poor victims who lost everything in this awful disaster.

Watch this!
The joy of a box

Last weekend I watched this with my daughter, Chloe and she said, "Mum, we should send a box!"

During the week I was out and about and I came across these cool bouncy balls that light up when they bounce. I bought one for the shoebox. Chloe saw it on the table and got all excited thinking it was for her. I explained what it was for and expected her to be disappointed, but instead she was excited. "Oh awesome, Mum she'll love it! I felt proud with her response.

Yesterday we both went shopping and bought a variety of things for the box. We got some fun things like a skipping rope and the bouncy ball, some practical things like an inflatable drink bottle and a hair brush, some girly treats like a pretty head band, a little compact mirror and and sweet little bag to hold these things. We also got a little notebook and some gel pens. We hope she'll like all these items.

Now we are giving the box to Mrs Ready who will add to it and then she'll give it to Mr Pearson who will add something and then drop it off at the Manna Christian Bookstore in Greenlane.

It costs $9 to send a box so we are all pitching in $3 each.

If you are interested in doing this visit the site above and find out more.
Here's some information about things you can and cannot include in your package.
Gift ideas
What not to pack

Week Six

So I arrived at school on the first Monday of spring with a bounce in my step. Get it!
The sun was shining and I knew it was going to be a great day! And this was confirmed as I walked into my classroom to warm greetings and two delicious looking cupcakes on my desk. There is no better way to start the day.

Then it was my turn. I took my RAK cards and a packet of Hershey's kisses and started handing them out to anyone who appeared to be doing something helpful or someone who I just wanted to wish a good day. I walked into Room 26 and a girl was very busy untangling cords. It looked like she was helping out her teacher by setting up the data projector. I gave her a chocolate, a card and said, "Have a great day!" She looked very surprised. I just smiled and left. Eventually I saw the road patrollers walking down and was sure to give them one as they do such a good job keeping everyone safe.

I gave out some more on my way to morning tea and lunch. It was fun. It is great to see how people respond to something so unexpected and random.

RAK Day

Sunday the first of September is National RAK Day and Monday is Somerville's RAK Day.

Looking forward to spreading the kindness. I'd better get my thinking hat on and see what great ideas I can come up with.

Here's a link to print out RAK cards if you'd like some more.
RAK Cards

Week 5

Mikayla's poster

Lucas' poster

We all have different strengths and skills. Some of us are good at maths, some of us are good at sports and some of us are good at drawing. Sometimes an act of kindness could be sharing our skills with others, helping them to develop their own ability in that area. It's kind because you are giving up your time to help someone else.

This week I will focus on sharing my skills with others. I started on Monday night, by spending the evening with my eldest daughter helping her set up her first blog. She is going to use it a bit like a CV to help get a job as a primary school teacher. She is currently working in an early childhood centre so when she gets better she might set up a blog for her classroom.

On Thursday I helped Mr Pearson and Mrs Ready. I showed them how to use the gadget, 'add images' to the sidebar of their blog and add a link to any website or you tube clip. They really appreciated the help and left excited and looking forward to adding more to their blogs.

It felt good to help other people, but I was left wondering. Do I wait now for someone else to pay forward and spend time teaching me a new skill or was my time helping these people me paying forward for the many times in the past people have helped me?

Finally I am loving all the RAKs that are happening around the classroom, from people helping others with physical tasks to people baking cupcakes and writing nice notes for each other. I was treated to the most delicious chocolate cupcakes one morning and some lovely handpicked flowers another.

Gaarunyaa and Mikayla did a fantastic job speaking at assembly telling the whole school about what we are doing and convincing them all to get involved in Somerville's RAK day next Monday. We have all made awesome posters which we've hung all around the school and each day we have put inspirational You Tube clips on the daily notices.

A delicious morning tea treat!

RAK Day at Somerville

Our syndicate is going to encourage the whole school of over 900 students to do participate in RAK Day. At Somerville Monday September will be the day we all plan an act of kindness towards others. We have done presentations at assemblies to tell others about the day and are currently making posters to hang around the school. We are looking forward to a day where everyone focuses on brightening up the day for others.

RAK Day Poster

Week Four

So this week my kind deed was to help out a friend.

I have two older daughters aged 18 and 21 so never have trouble finding a babysitter if I need a night out. My friend has three young children. Sometimes my daughter babysits for her, but it costs $10 an hour. I imagine going out to a movie or to dinner would be quite expensive if you have to pay for a babysitter as well as your tickets or meal.

She is a very special friend and she had a rough week so I thought she deserved a night out. I sent her an email explaining that she should organise to go out for lunch or to a movie with her husband. Then I made a voucher which read something like:

This voucher entitles the bearer to two hours worth of babysitting. I even made up an expiry date.
It was kinda fun:-)

I will just pay my daughter for the two hours.

Could you make someone a voucher? Perhaps a voucher for Mum that says she is entitled to a cup of tea, or help making dinner. Perhaps a voucher to clean Dad's car, read to your little brother or walk the neighbour's dog?

RAK Day - Sunday September the 1st

On Sunday the first of September it is Random Act of Kindness Day. You would be wise to plan your weekly act of kindness for Sunday. What you might like to do is spread the word and convince other people to also do something kind on that day. Perhaps you could make a poster to hang in the school somewhere.

The suggestions in this poster and aimed at adults. Can you think of deeds more suitable for kids your age?

RAK day poster

Week Three

On Monday some lovely person put
three lovely home made cookies on my desk, wrapped beautifully in a pink bow. What a lovely surprise! They were delicious and gave me a great idea for my weekly act of kindness.



Every Friday the teachers have a special morning tea. We all take turns bringing in lots of yummy treats. This Friday is Syndicate C's turn. My daughter has allergies and can't eat a variety of foods and I know how disappointed she gets at birthday parties and shared lunches when she can't partake in these fun events.

The Vegan cupcake I bought for a colleague

One teacher in our school is vegan which means he doesn't eat any animals or animal products, so no dairy, eggs or meat. There is usually nothing at our morning teas that he can eat. I have decided I will go to a special shop called The Cup Cake Fairy and buy him a vegan cupcake for his morning tea. We often go there to buy these for Chloe. She loves them so hopefully he will too.

http://www.thecupcakefairy.co.nz/

A lovely surprise left on my desk!

Week Two

This week's act of kindness was something small, but big. What do I mean? Well sometimes the little things can make a big difference.

On Wednesday evening an elderly lady was at the supermarket and when she pulled something off the shelf lots of other packets fell to the floor. She was a little embarrassed so I made her feel better by saying, "don't you hate when that happens." Then I picked them up for her. It didn't take me long at all, but I could see she really appreciated it.

Have you ever walked past someone when they were picking things up off the floor?

How nice would our world be if EVERYONE stopped to help others ALL the time?

They say what goes around comes around and I think this is true. After tech and spec on Thursday two of my students came in and were excited to tell me how they did a random act of kindness. On the way to class a teacher aide was carrying lots of orange speech cards and dropped them all over the floor. They kindly picked them up for her. Holding up my newly laminated orange speech cards I said, "did they look like this?" Our lovely teacher aide was kindly doing me a favour. Cutting and laminating my speech cards for me. In the process my students helped her. It's like a chain. Who will be next?

Read Karishma's side of this story.

Read Alana's side of the story.

Week One

Alicia at Ronald McDonald House after donating her XBox 360.

My first act of kindness was to help a former pupil of mine. Alicia is fundraising to pay her entry fee to Miss Junior NZ. She is selling chocolates and holding a garage sale in the weekend. I donated a bag of clothes to sell at her garage sale and offered to try to sell a box of chocolates for her.

If you would like to buy a chocolate bar please see me next Monday:-)

I am happy to help Alicia because I know that last year she did a lot to fundraise for others. In fact just recently she donated her XBox 360 to Ronald McDonald House. I believe that what goes around comes around and this good deed is evidence of how people are happy to help those who are generous to others.
Check this out

Also because I think she is inspirational to others. She's had a great deal to step through in her life and if this small favour helps her to achieve her goal then that's great.


In week one I was also the recipient of a good deed. At morning tea time Mrs Ready and I, along with some other teachers were talking about how we still needed to pay our IOUs for the staff raffle, as we seldom carry cash. Then this week's winner was drawn. Mrs Ready won! A short time later Mrs King, who runs the raffle told me I no longer have an IOU, thanks to an act of kindness my debt was paid. It was supposed to be a secret, but I can guess who this kind person was.

Introduction

I teach in Room 27 at Somerville and we are focusing on Stepping Up - Performing acts of kindness towards others. Every week my students and I will do a good deed to help someone and write about what we did on our blogs.

Throughout the term we will research an issue that effects us or our community and plan a big act of kindness, which is called our rich task. Something significant to help others.

Follow us on our journey as we learn the joy of giving.

Click here to view student blogs.

Click here for ALJ guidelines for our rich task.

Click here for some ideas.

Some more ideas

New Zealand's Random Acts of Kindness site.

Click here to read some heart warming stories of people helping others.

Check out this awesome site Dylan found

http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

Click here to view Mrs Ready's blog.