G4/5 Express themselves through poetry

Last week, we worked on similes and looked at how they can be used to express ourselves in more interesting and imaginative ways. Together, we planned and wrote brief poems about the emotion 'confusion':

CONFUSION

Our words: disturbing, dark, cloudy, soggy, messy

Confusion is…

As messy as squashed watermelons,

As disturbing as a baby crying,

As dark as a winter night,

As cloudy as the monsoon season,

As soggy as a soapy sponge.

By: Rathnysa, Ty Muy and Nayan

CONFUSION

Our words: messy, twisted, mixed up, dark, foggy,

Confusion is…

As messy as a teenager’s bedroom,

As twisted as a subway map,

As dark as a criminal’s shadow,

As mixed up as fruit salad,

As foggy as a steam room

By: Jun, Hyewon, Kevin and Alex

G5 debate 'Should wild animals be held in captivity?'

Today, after preparing their arguments earlier this week, Grade 5's set out to persuade each other that they were right! They listened extremely well to each other's arguments and responded with very thoughtful counter-arguments. Aex and Jun argued strongly that wild animals should not be held in captivity, while Kevin and Hyewon argued that, under certain circumstances, it may be necessary and indeed helpful to keep wild animals in captivity.

As debate chair, I was impressed with the arguments on both sides. Team members used persuasive arguments, including facts and information researched from the internet, and expressed themselves using excellent speaking and listening skills. Well done Grade 5's!

G2/3 Word Work

G2/3 students have been finding out about the food we eat and where in the world it comes from. They have discovered the names of a variety of staple foods and other plants that we eat. They have also learned the names of the seven continents and looked at which foods are grown where and how they are exported around the world.

G2/3 'Food' Games and Activities

I have added a link to the 'Useful Websites' section of this blog. Click on it to find lots of different activities relating to 'food' - some are more difficult than others. Enjoy exploring!

G4/5 Art Reflections

G4/5 students have been learning about different ways of expressing themselves through various art forms. They have also been looking at how people express their feelings through the arts, what connections can be made between feelings and the arts and how people's responses may differ when they see the same thing.

This week, we looked at two photographs and shared our feelings about them. It quickly became clear that we can have very different responses to exactly the same images.

We also enjoyed thinking about why the photographer took each of the photos and what emotions they wanted their audience to feel. We tried to identify a message in each photo.

Here is the first photo, with two very different responses:

"I do not like the photo because it makes me feel sad. It makes me feel sad because it looks like the mum is sick and the girl is worried. I think the photographer took this photo to show that you should care about each other." Nayan

"I like this picture because it makes me feel calm when I look at it. This picture remind me when I was play with my mom when I was young, because young girl is playing with her mum. The green background makes me feel calm. It is natural. I think person took this picture because the picture is very happy and peaceful to look at." Kyung Won

Here is the second photo, which seemed to make everyone feel the same emotions, but some people liked it and some people didn't:

"I don't like this picture because it makes me feel sad and worried about that boy in the photo. He is crying, maybe he is falling down or maybe he lost his parents and is alone. I think the people took that photo to tell people how sad he is and to help him by donate money and give toys. It makes me think of when I was small and fell down and cry." Rathnysa

"I like it because it can tell people around the world that there are lots of children like this around the world. I also feel very sad and worried because maybe he does not have a mom or dad. The photographer took it because they want us to feel really sorry for him because he is crying by himself and no one is taking care of him." Ty Muy

How did you respond to each of these photographs? 

Did you have positive or negative thoughts and emotions when you looked at them? 

Did you like them? 

What messages did you think they had for the people looking at them?