It is Letās Talk About The End of the World morning in Room 13 at Kia Kaha Primary School.
Letās Talk About The End of the World morning is not in the timetable for Thursday 9.00am.
Thursday 9.00am is Maths.
But sometimes Ms Barry will change the timetable if it is a teachable moment.
Tash says
Miss, I asked Dad to help with my maths homework last night and he said
what's the point?
Putin is going to blow us all up anyway
And then he crunched his beer can and threw it at the bin and missed
and Mum said it's really not your week is it Mike
But what did he mean about us getting blown up, Miss?
And whoās Putin?
Thomas says
I know, heās the one who looks like the loser elf in Harry Potter eh Miss.
Abi says
Yeah, Dobby! Hard out thatās what he looks like.
Why does he want to blow us up Miss?
Henry has his hand up.
Henry always has his hand up for general knowledge.
Henry says
Miss, it's because heās losing the war in Ukraine so heās saying people had better look out or he might nuke them.
Tahlia says
How do you nuke someone?
Henry says
Itās the worst kind of bomb.
It like just vapourises you and it's huge and it can vapourise like whole cities.
We watched this movie where Russia and America fired all their nukes at each other
because one side had fired one in Europe
and the other side fired back
and next thing you know everyone is getting vapourised.
Tahlia is looking at Ms Barry
Tahlia says
I don't want to get nuked.
Ms Barry says,
He didn't say that exactly,
but yes that's what he wanted people to think.
He is the president of Russia
and the war he started in Ukraine is going badly
and he's worried now that he might have trouble at home
because even his supporters are starting to think he got it wrong.
And sometimes when you're running out of options you start making big talk
that you don't really mean.
Saskia says,
My brother is like that.
He's so like that.
All talk.
It's tragic.
Henry says,
Yeah but like this guy has people thrown out of windows.
Ms Barry says,
Have you finished your maths problem there Henry?
Are you ready for another one?
Tahlia says
So are we not going to get nuked Miss?
Ms Barry says,
Just remember that the things that go wrong in life
are never as many as the things we worry about going wrong.
And if we worry about the things we can't do anything about,
it really only hurts us.
Tahlia says
So are you saying he won't?
Ms Barry says
I'm saying I think he's probably doing what Saskia's brother does
and we shouldn't worry too much.
Tane has his hand up.
Miss, this question about a passenger train leaving Auckland for Wellington
and a passenger train leaving Wellington for Auckland
at the same time and going at the same speed,
it's a trick question eh?
Like, there's only one train that does that trip,
and only in the one direction,
and only like twice a week.
Ms Barry smiles and says,
You're right Tane.
But let's pretend we live in a better world than the one we've got eh?
Madison says,
Miss, what about the volcano that's going to blow us up?
Mum said thereās one under TaupÅ
and last time it blew up it blocked out the sun for a century or something
and it's about to go again.
Ms Barry says,
Well thatās sort of true.
There is a volcano under Lake TaupÅ.
When it exploded 26,000 years ago they think that might be one of the biggest the world has seen.
And it covered the central North Island,
and basically led to a hole that filled up with water
and that's how we have Lake TaupÅ
And now itās showing some activity again,
which it does from time to time.
All the children have stopped doing their maths problem now.
They are looking at Ms Barry.
Abi says
So even if we don't get nuked we're going to get erupted on?
Ms Barry is thinking of saying,
Have you seen the volcano exhibit at Auckland Museum?
What you get from that is basically
we came here about a billion years too soon.
But she decides to say something else.
Ms Barry opens up her laptop and says
Here's what the scientists say.
She reads out to Room 13
TaupÅ volcano is a very active volcano
and further periods of volcanic unrest are likely to lead to an eruption at some stage,
although this could be hundreds of years away.
The volcano is carefully monitored by GNS Science
using seismic, ground deformation and chemistry techniques.
Moana says,
Miss, this is freaking me out.
Ms Barry says,
It's okay to be a bit freaked out, Moana.
Things can get scary sometimes.
But you know what?
Most of the things we worry about don't happen.
And even when terrible things happen do you know what happens then?
Moana says
What?
Ms Barry says
We tend to be kinder and better to each other,
because we know that when things are hard
the best way to get through is to look after each other.
We really are survivors.
Ms Barry looks at the sun shining outside.
She says,
Who feels like a quick game of Bullrush?
