Language and Clay

Our second unit for this year is on How We Organize Ourselves.

Grade 3 and 4 are exploring the Central Idea that people share their responsibilities in communities through offering goods and services in marketplaces.


In our connected Language time we are reading David Walliams' Billionaire Boy.

"Joe has a lot of reasons to be happy. About a billion of them, in fact. You see, Joe's rich. Really, really rich. Joe's got his own bowling alley, his own cinema, even his own butler who is also an orangutan. He's the wealthiest twelve-year-old in the land. Yes, Joe has absolutely everything he could possibly want. But there's just one thing he really needs: a friend!"

In language we are inquiring into character.
To begin, we noted traits of the characters we met in the Billionaire Boy onto Post-Its. We also read A little bit brave and Curious George visits a toy store and noticed the traits of these characters.

Then *shock* the Character chart was split into two sections! Inside and outside traits.
Learners were tasked with sorting out the traits.

This produced some interesting discussions like:
"If you do something [action] because of a feeling then it should be [an] inside trait. Like running away because you are scared." - Ryann

Then *shock* the Character chart was split again! Inside traits were divided into more permanent personality traits and more temporary feelings and we had to sort again.

Now its time to put our understanding of character into practice and develop our own characters.
Drawing inspiration from artist Peter Opheim we are bringing art into our story writing.
Learners will get to sculpt their own clay characters and develop a description of each individual one. 

Watch this space to hear their stories!