Yellow Flag Diary April.
6th Classes
·Class project on Africa-culture, dress,food, traditions.(T.G)
·Changemaker walk with Mr S Wilkons-incorporated many ideas of
YF, teamwork, respect for each other.
·TY students from St Brendan’s College visited to give a presentation
on their recent trip to China.
·Ongoing project on the YF themes involving drama and
video-scripts written by students. Class divided into groups; act out their
themes for ex diversity. Each group is videoed.(NOS)
·Practising and singing of the song ‘Count on me’. A song
which incorporates themes of respect, friendship.
·Participation in an array of workshops for IMAD. Writing
activities-report based on intercultural
workshops. For ex the presentation by the Traveller Community. The report had
the following main ideas
-attitudes to the community prior to the presentation
-The presentation itself; what they saw/experienced.
-Their attitudes after the presentation.(MOM)
Junior & Senior Infants.
Throughout April we continued to focus on working together
looking at the YF themes of ‘Diversity’ –the mix of people..the
composition of individuals from different backgrounds, age, gender, cultures
etc in a group.’ Inclusion’ helping the mix work together. Inclusion welcomes and embraces
the strengths that each person in the group brings to the group.
During our Intercultural week these themes were explored with the children during the
IMAD workshops on Irish dance, art, music, drama and learning about Bangladesh
through food tasting, music, trying on costumes etc.
On Intercultural Friday the children dressed in traditional clothes, brought some
traditional foods in their lunch boxes and brought something to show and tell
to their class ex. Books, toys, flags etc. At assembly the children enjoyed
explaining to us all about their clothes, traditions food and so on.’ Count on
Me’ our friendship song was sung together.
Discussion, writing and drawing activities were our follow on activities regarding
Intercultural week.
First & Second Classes . This month our theme was
Interculturalism. IMAD was based on the YF programme themes. The children were
given the opportunity to experience various cultures through art, music, food
tasting and story telling.
During IMAD days the children experienced a deeper appreciation of the similarities
and differences between cultures. It broadened their knowledge and
understanding. Through the activities the children realised that everyone is
unique but also similar in many ways.. and that together everyone achieves more.
Learning about France.
Helene introduced the children to aspects of French culture such as food, clothes and
architectural structures( Eiffel Tower,
Notre Dame,..)The children tried out some phrases. They learnt about the
importance of food-cheese, chocolate, brioche, croissants. They also learnt
about wine, fashion and perfume.
They looked at the geography of France-neighbouring countries etc. They played a
game to learn colours in French-vert, blanc, rouge, noir...
Poland.
The children attended a station organised by some of the Polish mothers in our
school. The children studied the landscape of Poland while watching a DVD. They
learned about traditional Polish clothes and created a stork (a symbol of
Poland) out of paper. They studied a map of Poland and listened to a traditional story about the
mermaid and the fisherman. They learned that the name of Warsaw comes from this
story. Finally the children created Easter baskets using various food and
decorations .
2nd classes created individual projects based on Poland following the IMAD events.
Drumming workshop-an introduction to Irish and African music and instruments.
Afro Trad Ireland presented a blend of Irish and African music. The children saw
lots of types of drums and traditional African instruments. They looked at
materials the drums are made from. They enjoyed trying the different drums such
as the bodhran, the base drum, the djembe drum shakers and the buffalo horn.
They handled an ostrich egg and feathers. They compared the Irish and Ugandan flags.
Traveller Culture.
The children saw some video clips and pictures of how the traveller community lived
in the past. They learnt about how families cooked and lived their everyday
lives. The skilled craft work of the tinsmith was discussed with an example of
a tin pail with a shamrock design. They also learnt how rare it is now as a
trade. They saw how handmade paper flowers were made and how in the past most
homes would use these flowers for decoration as fresh cut flowers to buy would
have been rare. Horse shoe aprons with embroidery
or beaded pockets were displayed and it was explained that these were
used by the women when selling their goods at fairs.
Martin Mahon a successful actor and play writ gave a very inspiring speech. He told
the children about well known personalities from the Traveller Community who
have been successful in entertainment and sport ..such as Shane Ward, Kelly Mongan..
He showed a part of his performance in the musical ‘Annie’.
He was open and frank about his experiences and of how it is very important to
pursue education and to have the courage to ‘Follow your Dream’.
Art Workshop.
In our art workshops we talked about what makes our family different and created a
skyscraper of differences.
Assembly April 23rd
On Friday we had a special day when children came to school dressed in their
traditional clothes. The children brought food associated with their countries.
Show and Tell was an opportunity for children to share their flag, book,
picture, or other item. The children talked about aspects of their family’s
homeland. This included Ireland, England, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Mongolia,
The Philippines, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Australia etc. We sang our friendship
song ‘Count on Me ‘.
Third/Fourth Classes:
Summary of what classes learned during IMAD days. A particular focus was on the
history, geography, food, costumes &
traditions of Poland and Bangladesh.
Some of the children did posters of their own posters and presented them to their
class. (K S).
Fifth Classes :
IMAD days-stations.
Brainstorming –Diversity Code.
·Recount of IMAD days through art, writing and mind maps
·April Language of the month YOROBA –Nigeria .
·Study on the physical features of Africa, Nelson Mandela,
African tribal masks, recreating African music. (SON)
·Mini project on Europe-country of my choice.
·Study similarities /differences between Irish music and music
of other countries(JOS)
·Mini project –A Country of my choice
·Synopsis of The Gambia.(MR).
On the 21st of April myself and St. Oliver`s Yellow Flag committee visited a small school in the centre of Dublin called Francis street C.B.S. When we arrived we almost missed for first meeting. But we got to show our presentation to the other four schools that were at the meeting. After the first meeting we waited about 10 minutes for the next meeting. At the second meeting it was only for the pupils in the committees. In the meeting we discussed what’s not fair. Then we came up with ideas for plans to show diversity in our schools. In my group we came up the idea to get everyone to make their hand into a heart and then put them all together and make one big heart. After the meeting we walked to a small playground. Then we went to the Viking museum called Dublinia. We had to leave early because one of the schools had to catch a train. So we walked back to the school to say goodbye. After we walked back to the bus and drove home. And that`s our story about Dublin..
