Philosophy with Year 2 Boys

Today we enjoyed our second reading of Arthur by Amanda Graham and explored what it meant to be ordinary. We talked about ordinary and less ordinary dogs and looked at dogs on the internet trying to justify our decisions.
We then talked about different jobs that people do and placed them on a continuum of ordinary to less ordinary. The boys were very good at justifying their placement of an occupation. For criteria they tended to use whether they had a direct experience of that job, how much talent was needed to do the job and how much training was required. I enjoyed them respectively disagree and state their opinions. Great to see that they had teaching up there with the less ordinary!

Year 2 Philosophy

We shared a great story called, 'Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten'.

After the story we talked about optimism and pessimism. We discussed the phrases, 'the glass being half full' and 'looking on the bright side'. We linked these ideas to the story and finished with thinking about the best and worst scenarios should there be house for sale next door.

Exploring Time in Philosophy

Does time slow down?

• Not really but it feels like it does and sometimes it feels like it goes fast.

When does it feel slow?

•        at night time,  Aoife
•        when you are bored,  Cooper
•        when the clock is broken, Kai Ying
•        when you are on a six hour road trip,  Rory
•        school time, Lucy
•        waiting for a special time

When does it feel like it is going fast?

•        when you are riding a bike because bikes are fast, Kai Ying
•        when you are having fun because you might be running around a lot, Cooper
•        play dates, Rory
•        when you are in a racing cars because racing cars are very fast, Aoife

Can you stop time?

• Smash a clock, Rory

How do we know that time has passed?

•        we are a little bit older, Erin
•    * we have had one more birthday than last time
•        when you have been somewhere and you haven’t been there for a long, long time. Lola
•        when the sun goes up or down a little bit, Rory
•        when day time has gone and it is night time, Lucy
•       when you look at the clock and the time has gone past, Aoife/Kai Ying
•        things might be different like a flower blooms and dies. Cooper

Philosophy This Week

Year 2 continued thinking about 'Where the Wild Things Are' but this week we looked at reality and thought about what was real and why we thought things were real or not. As always great discussion with some funny and interesting ideas.

Year 1 children explored the idea of same and different. They discovered that something's appear to be the same but when you look closely there are lots of differences. Although we all cry it was different things that made us cry. We thought about trees and then brainstormed all the different kinds of trees we could think of.

Year 2 Philosophy

Today in philosophy we started by reading 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak.

This led us to a discussion about imagination. We talked about aspects of the story before talking about imagination and the places it can take us. The children thought that dreams were our imagination at work and thought that in the story Max fell asleep and was probably dreaming. We discussed what it means to have a wild imagination and whether you choose to imagine or whether it just happens.

Children shared that imagination often just takes over when you are relaxing.

All children agreed that the imagination was very useful particularly when it came to art, writing, solving problems, playing and even getting out of trouble!

We then used a venn diagram to compare real and imaginary friends.

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.

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.

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.

Year Two Writers

Our philosophy group has evolved into a writing group. We started this term reading and exploring the idea of memories from MemFox's 'Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge'. Here are some poems that the children put together.

Memories are kind, like a cup of love  bursting with laughter.

They are clouds filling your mind with sadness.

Memories are like popping candy

Making your mind jump up and down.

Lucy

A memory is a special feeling to you.

Like when you hold your new baby girl.

That is special to you, isn’t it?

Sammie

Remembering is sort of resting.

Samuel

Memories make my mind a better place.

I remember happy and sad things like when

I was a little girl and Nana said it wasn’t her

That hid the lollies in her letter box.

She said it was the mail man.

I remember my Poppa tricking me and Libby.

We laughed and Nana did too.

Annabelle

Memories are things that make you cry or laugh.

Memories make your heart glow

When you remember.

I remember back in the days

When my Pop was around.

I sat near him and ate ice-cream.

Bina

What are memories?

Memories are some things that you remember

From long ago.

Memories are thoughts.

I remember wearing my jarmies in the pool.

We were swimming in our sleep.

Ava

Memories are spaces that hold you thoughts.

You can be reminded by all sorts of things.

Like, when I looked at a photo

Of my very first time on a plane.

It brings my self back to where I was.

I remember dancing with Papa

When I look at this old dancing shoes.

Cindy

Memories can make you happy or sad.

They make you laugh or cry.

I remember dancing with Isabella and Miss Pam.

We were twirling and whirling dizzily around the dance floor.

A memory is a wonderful thing to have.

Remembering feels like floating in the air.

Isobel

A memory is a treasure.

It’s special and makes me smile.

It might make me sad or make me laugh.

Memories are old and new.

It brings the past back.

Memories remind us of people or places.

They are as warm as toast or as funny as jokes.

Amelia

On Sunday we went to my Grandad’s house. 

At my Grandad’s house my Grandad said to me that my heart glowed

and memories are nice things to learn.

Kaiying

I remember that I went to my friend’s house.

We played on the x-box.

He was 18, now he’s 19.

Lorenze