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FPS - Human Rights

We are currently exploring human rights for our next FPS challenge. Here is a link worth watching that explains about the Declaration of Human Rights and the role of the United Nations.

GIFTED AWARENESS WEEK COMPETITION 2012 - RESULTS To mark Gifted Awareness Week (18th–24th June, 2012), the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children ran a competition to celebrate gifted kids, their families and professional educators, with support from HarperCollins Publishers, Warehouse Stationery, New Zealand Geographic, Post Haste, Weta Digital and South Pacific Pictures. The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Connections’ and entrants were invited to interpret this theme in any way they chose. Comments from the Judges: * The writing standard was exceptional this year. * In a number of poems the theme ‘connections’ was more obscure. This impacted on the final result. The results, announced today, are as follows: WRITING 1st=: Lucy Jessep. Yr 5, Selwyn House School, Christchurch. 1st=: Alison Winstanley. Yr 6 St Cuthberts College Auckland 3rd =: Jamie Norris. Yr 6 Northcote Primary School, Auckland 3rd=: Isabella Sagar. Yr 6 St Cuthberts College, Auckland. Commended: Rosie Greig. Yr 5 Clearview Primary School, Rolleston. Commended: Geoffrey Kemp. Age 10 Rotary Park School, Dunedin. Commended: Amelie Harris. Age 9 Dunsandel School, Leeston. Congratuations to the students who produced poems for the competition. I’m sure that you will agree that the remarks of the judges reflect the quality of work submitted. Well done everyone. Mrs Hunter

Kiwi Kids News

During Term 2 a group of talented Year 3 and 4 students worked together to create the very first edition of St Albans Kiwi Kids News. They first watched news from other schools and established who their audience would be and discussed how this would effect content. The children then set about the task of gathering photos and footage and working out how it would all fit together. 

Thanks to Julius, Samantha, Emma, Will, Luca, Lachie, Maddie, Triny, James and Lydia. They did an absolutely fantastic job!

 

These are the last of the poems written by our Year Six students at the end of Term Two. We hope that you enjoy reading them. Ava discusses the special bond that she has with her sister.

The theme of that special bond continues in this poem written by Sofia.

Elliot has developed a unique way of sharing his fear of failure. This is a common emotion found in students who set themselves very high expectations. We are pleased that you overcame that feeling to write your poem Elliot.

Hilary's poem describes her personality well. So important is that ability to dream and escape from the pressures of life. Hilary has obviously found a way to do that.

Zoe has given much consideration to what is happening to our bee population. As Zoe so rightly points out, without bees we may find our planet far less colourful and our food supply in somewhat short supply.

Our theme of Connections Continued:

Laouena's poem entitled 'Just a Machine' differs greatly from Roisins. In this poem the connection between the horse and owner is questioned. Laouena also introduces a time factor into her work.

Gabrielle's poem invites us to think about what it means to be a twin. From birth, two children bond in such a unique way.

Connections Writing Extension: A Year Six group of students was provided with the challenge of producing poems that would be suitable for submission to a poetry competition organized by 'Tall Poppies'. The theme 'connections' provided ample scope for abstraction of ideas. The group assembled once a week over a period of six weeks to study poetic form with Mrs Hunter. The difficult phase for most students was the transition from a narrative style into poetic structure. Most students wrote in free verse while Laouena selected rhyming couplets as her structure. While ideas and methods to express these came rapidly to some students, other students found themselves redrafting a number of times. Completed work is the result of much determination and hard work. To ensure that the rules of the competition were abided by, students were asked not to share their work at home until it was completed. Poems will appear on the Blog over the course of the next four weeks. Poem One: It is very apparent that global trends with respect to the environment concern Jesse. If all people felt the same Jesse, we may have a solution.

Poem Two: Pigeon Post, a poem written by Roisin plays with the theme 'connections'. The idea of mail and distance is interwoven with the relationship between the bird and its caretaker.