Kiwi Kids News Term 3, 2013

This episode of Kiwi Kids News is all about the arts as that as been our inquiry focus this term. This episode was made by Gabrielle, Caleb, Charlotte, George, Estella, Miyuki, Catherine, Hugo, Emmanuel, Sydney, Lucy and Emily.

Loneliness

Today our Year 2 group continued to explore the idea of loneliness. They then recorded their thinking in a poem and described the image they would like to accompany their work. I then put them together for publishing.

How do you know who and what you are?

Today's discussion centred around what makes us special and unique. We first explored things about us we thought were pretty special.

Ava loves her long hair and playing in the sandpit.
Mae loves that she is great at reading.
Max loves he has lots of friends.
Rory loves his jumping.
Kai like playing games and paling on the big playground.
Olivia loves that her Mum and Dad take her out for dinner.
Charlotte likes she is gentle.
Cooper loves having lots of people that love him.
Patricio likes that he is strong.
Magnus likes that he is love.
Emily loves how fast she can run.

How do we know what and who we are?

• by measuring ourselves
• our family tells us
• we can listen to our selves
• we can write down information about ourselves
• look at photos
• watch DVD's and videos of when we were younger
• look in the mirror
• ask others
• feel yourself
• our friends and teachers tell us
• people want to be out friends
• we can use similes to describe ourselves

Sometimes Work Has to be Hard

This is a timely post today as the FPS team prepare to undertake their final booklet under lock down conditions. This is a very hard and uncomfortable task for them. I believe even if they don't do as well as we hoped the exercise is making them stronger as learners.

Work feeling hard is a foreign concept to many able learners and something I have talked about them needing to experience before they get further through their schooling. I encourage them to feel okay with the uncomfortable. I stumbled across the same post today which is say the same thing.

Click on the image to read the full article.

Friday's Philosophy

This week the Year 2 group continued to use Amelia Ellicott's Garden although this week we explored the concept of loneliness.

Was Amelia Ellicott really alone?
What does it mean to be alone?
What does it mean to be lonely?
Is being alone the same as being lonely?
Can you be in a crowd and be lonely?
Can you be by yourself and not be lonely?
Are there times when it is good to alone?
Are there times when it is good to be lonely?

Next week we will write some poems, drawing on our discussions of loneliness.

The Year 1 read the Kathryn Cave book 'Something Else.'

We then discussed what is the same and different amongst our group.

Same	Different
·      Hair ·      Bodies ·      We play games ·      We wear clothes ·      We cry ·      We laugh and smile ·      We can move and jump ·      We talk	·      Eye colour ·      We are boys and girls ·      Some wear glasses ·      Coloured hair and kin ·      Speak other languages ·      Play with different otys ·      Learn different things ·      Have different kinds of families

We finished the session by identifying and sharing the things about ourselves that we really liked.

Wilfred Gordon and Names

For the past few weeks we have discussed names. Our homework this week was to find out the story behind our own names.

Magnus the Magnificent - Magnus was named after Magnus Magnusun. He is famous in the U.K. for being the presenter of Mastermind. His Dad loved the name even though he was very small when he was born.

Erin Isabel - means 'Ireland's Poet'. It is her Mum and Dad's favourite girls name. Isabel is her English Grandma's name.

Charlotte - is the feminine form of Charles. It is both French and Italian. Charlotte's Mum and Dad thought is was a beautiful name. Her middle name is Rose and her parents thought she was a beautiful as a rose.

Cooper - Cooper's name came from a pair of trackies that his Mum wore when she was pregnant with Cooperstown New York on the label. His Mum also loved Mini Cooper cars and now she has her own little Mini Cooper. His middle name, John is also his Grandad's name.

Olivia - is a name linked to the word olives and also means an army of elves.

Rory - Rory's parents liked his name and it means strong.

Emily - this name comes from England.

Kaiying - Kaiying's Dad chose her name.

Patricio - this name can also be Patrick. It means leader.

Ava - Ava's name means a bird in German. Her parents also like Ella or Alice but she doesn't think her Dad really liked the name Alice.

After we had talked about names we talked about simile and metaphor and came up with simile for the following starters. What words would you use?

• As hungry as a...
• As funny as a...
• As tall as a...
• As silly as a...
• As grumpy as a... 

Thinking about being neighbourly

This week we read and discussed this interesting text. The key themes to explore are being neighbourly and feeling lonely.

Here is a glimpse of today's thinking.

What did the story make me think about?

• visiting neighbours - Lucy
• my Poppa's chickens and their names beginning with H - Annabelle
• that I would like some chickens - Ava
• my neighbours Wayne and Nova - Lorenze
• checking on neighbours after the earthquake - Mrs H

What did you like and agree with?

• That they shared the garden - Bina
• They helped put the garden back together - Sammie
• Baby chickens hatching - Ava
• That the neighbours go to know each other - Lucy

What did you dislike and not agree with?

• The tornado ruining things
• That Amelia didn't have a family - Lucy

We then spent time discussing and categorising actions into neighbourly, not neighbourly and not sure.

What do you think of these situations? Where would you put them?

• Being asked to look after your neighbour's fish but not doing it until the day before they came back from holiday.
• Taking apples from a neighbour's tree, making a cake and then gifting it to your neighbour.