“The gentle Earth is my true home, the Sun my hearth does warm.  They give me all I need to build a shelter from the storm.  The strength of stone for refuge, the gift of wood from trees, the will to work with heart and hands to make a sanctuary.”

Though the winds of the world have been fierce in their fury, Class 3 has taken refuge in our Poetry and Building main lessons.  It has been healing and grounding work that the children have thrown themselves into with enthusiasm.

In our ‘Shelters’ main lesson with Ashley the class have been building upon what they learned about Neolithic dwellings earlier in the year with Renee, and exploring the different aspects of construction on a human scale.  We have made models of geodesic domes, built a Noongar Mia-Mia, created a Native American tee-pee as well as constructing cubbies in small groups.  In the weeks ahead we will be looking at Leonardo Da Vinci’s self supporting bridge as well as making mud bricks.  Many students are keen to put their shelters to the ultimate test during our sleep-over later this term.

Huge and heartfelt thanks to Mark and Cheeto for donating all the bamboo for our building projects.  It has been such an invaluable resource.

During our poetry main lesson, the students have been looking at the work of Australian and international poets on themes close to home, such as animals in nature as well as our pets, the moon, bike riding and family.  We have explored both traditional and modern forms and had a go at writing poems focusing on observing with all five senses.  We discussed the way modern poems build on all of the spoken and written words that have come before through our poetry verse:

The lines that form on the page

and those that live on our tongue

are never the author’s alone, they sing

the world from which they have come

They weave together the thoughts

spoken by those who have come before

are the seed from the very first word

through which the world was born.

We have both been so impressed with resilience, depth and sincerity that the children have shown at this profoundly sad time and the way they have supported each other.  We feel this is a wonderful reflection of the way they are being loved and held at home and we are grateful to be a part of such a special community.