Today is our final day of our diversity week and our focus is on building a better future. During this week we have looked at how we are all unique, why we should not use stereotypes, how black people have been – and how they continue to be – unfairly treated and the importance of being aware of the challenges that people with disabilities face. We all have a responsibility to make sure everyone in this world is treated with respect.

At the beginning of the week, we talked about the symbol of the rainbow during the pandemic. These colours are used by many people around the world to promote peace, acceptance and unity. When we celebrate differences and learn about each other, we develop our understanding that the world is a big, exciting place! We also improve our abilities to work in a team, helping and supporting others, making our school and our world a happier and safer place for everyone.

Enjoy watching this ‘short’ from Disney Pixar: Bad teamwork, good teamwork

What do you think the birds were thinking and saying about the bigger bird at the beginning of the first clip? Were they friendly and welcoming to the big bird? Were they sensible to behave as they did? No! It didn’t help anybody! What could the birds have done differently?

What was different in the crab clip?! The second clip on this video makes the point that working together helps us all, particularly if there is somebody or something more powerful who is trying to make life difficult. It is up to every single one of us to look after and defend the rights of others and make sure they stay safe.

English

Today we are going to write a set of rules for our school so that everybody is clear on their responsibilities for making school a welcoming, inclusive place for everyone. We know rules such as: ‘Always walk in the corridor’ and ‘Put your hand up if you want to talk’, but what about rules to remind people to be more thoughtful towards others? What about rules that promote teamwork and respect for others?

This PowerPoint sets out some examples of the way children can help to uphold the rights of others at school, and is a good starting point for thinking about rules to include: Respecting-Rights-at-School-PowerPoint Here is the same document as a PDF if you prefer: Respecting-Rights-at-School-PowerPoint as PDF

See if you can write at least 5 rules which will help to make sure everyone in our school thinks about, and protects, the rights of others and plays their part in ensuring school is a happy and safe place for everyone.

Some children, particularly those in Room 4, may prefer to make their own inclusion superhero using the template. Imagine yourself as a superhero and pretend that you have the power to make our school, or indeed the world, a better, kinder place! What skills would you need that can help people work better together? What can you do to encourage others to care for one another? Design-a-Superhero-Worksheet

Maths

Today you are going to use your measuring skills to make a ‘diversity quilt’. Room 5 should be confident with this as we have done paper weaving a few times now! Here is an example of the sort of thing we want to achieve. With yours, you may want to use rainbow colours as we have been talking about what the rainbow represents:

For this activity, you will need two pieces of paper. These could be two blank pieces of A4 paper or ones that has been used on one side. I recommend watching this short video first which explains the whole process! paper weaving

Using a ruler, and with your piece of paper positioned at landscape, draw straight lines which are 3cm apart from one another going from top to bottom (so each line is about 23cm in length). Cut these out so you now have 7 strips of paper.

Use your second piece of paper – in portrait – and fold it in half width-wise (see video!). Once it is folded, mark out lines which are 3cm apart. You may prefer to look at an example for this (or even use the example!). If you do, use page 1 on this document. Do not print more than page 1! paper_weaving_templates

An adult will now need to cut along the lines you have drawn on your second piece of paper, making sure you do not cut all the way to the end. You do not want strips! Again, see the video if you are unsure.

Now have fun weaving each of the strips over and under on your ‘loom’ until all the strips have been used. Glue down any loose edges.

You may have used different coloured strips so you already have a pattern. If your paper is white, though, decorate each strip so you can see a picture or pattern on the part of each strip that is showing. You may want to do this on both sides. You could ask family members to decorate a strip so that every member of the family is represented in the quilt.

Once you are an expert in paper weaving, you can make all sorts of different pictures and designs, including the rainbow fish below:

Creative task

You have a choice of two different creative tasks for today. You may choose to do both of them!

We have talked about how we are all different but how there are many similarities between us. As we have seen, groups of people often have symbols, certain colours or particular flags to represent and promote their interests and to let others know that they have important messages which need to be heard. Can you think of any examples?

Activity 1

Can you find a decent sized pebble in your garden or when you are out and about on your walk suitable for pebble-painting? I’m sure you have seen this being done before and you have maybe even done it yourself! Think of a message that you would like to communicate which helps to celebrate diversity. Maybe you have been particularly moved recently about the injustices that face black people just as the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters have been; perhaps you have an important message about you being respected for certain characteristics that you have; perhaps there is something different about your family that you want to celebrate and show pride in. Here are some examples to inspire you!

It would be lovely if you could bring your pebble in to school so that all of them could be put together so once they are done, are you able to leave it safely next to the tree in the front car park please?

If it is proving difficult to find a pebble (particularly in the rain!), then draw or paint your message on this bunting template instead. You could still bring these into school if you wanted to, or you could ask family members to also do a piece of bunting and attach the pieces together to decorate your house: blank-bunting-template

Activity 2

For this task, you will need access to paints or to crayons. On a white piece of paper, draw around your hand carefully. Look carefully at the tone of your skin colour and mix paints, or find crayons, to match this shade as best you can. Paint the hand you cut out. Ask family members to do the same until you have a selection of different sized and slightly different coloured hands. Put all of these hands together so that you have something that looks like this below. You can see that this family have all written their names on too, so you could do that if you wanted to:

Enjoy being creative! Thank you all for your hard work and for making our diversity week such fun. x