After those 20 mins, students then gathered on the carpet to talk about a couple of social issues that have been seen in the classroom. We addressed hitting and kicking as this is a trend I have been witnessing on the playground.
We talked about this particular image. What is happening in the picture? Who is this? Is this real or not?
We discussed that Superman is punching. Some students thought and believed that superman is a real person. We talked about that he was invented by a cartoon artist Joe Shuster and that he is a fictional “not real” character….found in comic books. One student said “what are comic books”? I guess i will have to hunt for some now.
Students have been mimicking power rangers, Ninja turtles, superheroes…so we chatted about that those movies, comics and toys are texts that we can read, watch and play with but are not to be done to other friends and classmates at school. I want to honour this type of play while at the same time as setting guidelines for safety.
To further the notion of “Unlearning” and “rethinking” how we act in our classroom, the world and how we learn at school, I decided to put the rest of the lesson on the ceiling by having the students lay on their backs to watch the images. We talked about learning in different ways and learning to “be” in the classroom in new ways.
This lead into the next part of my lesson of “being kind and bullying”. We watched a video from a colleague “Chris D’Souza” who speaks about the importance of acceptance and understanding our peers and embracing our differences. He sings a song that we have been playing in class the last two weeks entitled “I want you to be nice to me”. Watch below:
We then brainstormed on the ipad/ LCD projector where we want people to be nice to us at school?
See attached photo:
If you read this list, there are important social issued revealed. Comments such as “When I lineup to go outside”, “When I play outside”…these are issues that sometimes don’t get talked about. We will continue to address these inquiry statements and these social revelations going forward.
The last part of the lesson was reading aloud text on bullying and “being kind to our peers” and embracing our differences.
We read Anthony Browne’s “Willy and Hugh” —
We talked about the social issues in the text before, during and after it was over. Issues of kindness, bullying, standing up for yourself by using your words, acceptance, understanding and learning from our differences.
I have uploaded the story via powerpoint to Slideshare. If you are able to read via tablet, computer or smart phone, please read digitally with your child this evening and discuss some of the the themes I have mentioned.
If possible, please email me your experience with your child.
Have a great day K6 parents,
Bryan