Mrs Szalay's Grade 2/3 class in Ontario asked us about our Celebrations and Traditions.
We brainstormed this morning and decided that there are some days that we think are celebrated just in New Zealand, and some that we think are celebrated around the world.
After school im going to greymouth i hade fane
ReplyDeleteafter school i will go to the skate park
ReplyDeleteAfter school Nathan is Coming To My house
ReplyDeleteWell done B4 for collaborating with students from other countries around the world! I learnt something today from Mrs Yollis Classroom blog about Colombus day which celebrates the USA being 'discovered'. I am sure they would be very interested in our holidays. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteMr Webb and Room 8, Melville Intermediate School, Hamilton, Waikato.
We talked about this.
ReplyDeleteHello Mrs MacKenzie
ReplyDeleteWe are a Grade 5 class (10-11year olds) in South Africa. We also did a mini project on healthy lunches. Here are our photographic blogs on the topic:
Attempt #1 (less healthy): http://ourgradefiveclass.blogspot.com/2010/09/grade-5s-lunchboxes.html
Attempt #2 (after a discussion, slightly more balanced lunch choices): http://ourgradefiveclass.blogspot.com/2010/09/lunches-round2.html
Miss Tyler-Smith, Cape Town, South Africa
Thank you so much for adding a wall wisher to your blog! We love what your students had to say about traditions and celebrations. We noticed that we celebrate many of the same holidays. We don't know what Guy Fawkes Day is all about and we don't know what Waitangi Day is. We would love to know more. There was a problem adding a sticky note to your wall, but we will try again soon. We celebrate Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Groundhog's Day! We also celebrate Canada Day in the summer. Canada is multi-cultural country - we celebrate a lot!
ReplyDeleteThe kids want to know: Do you get snow in the winter?
Dear Mrs. McKenzie and class,
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving a great comment on our Uganda Project blog post about a Day in the Life of a California student. It was interesting to read about how your day is similar, yet different from our day.
We just started a unit called Celebrating Traditions! In it, we learned that a tradition is something that family, friends, or another group of people has done for many years and continues to do on a regular basis
I will encourage my class to come here and ask questions and maybe add an American tradition or two!
I have a question. What is Anzac Day? What does is celebrate and what do you do on that day?
Mr. Webb is quite right. October 12 is called Columbus Day in America. It is a day off of school for some kids and some business are closed. It is the day that Columbus "discovered" America. The Native Americans "discovered" Columbus on that day. We talked about it being the day that Columbus discovered the New World for Europe. A lot was unknown back in 1492!
Great post!
Mrs. Y♥llis
California
Dear Miss Tyler-Smith
ReplyDeleteThe lunches from your class look very yummy. We think it's a good idea to show the lunches before the healthy food talk and then again after!
Do the children in your class prepare their own lunches to bring to school or do their mums and dads do it?
Dear Room 143 in Canada
We don't get a lot of snow in Reefton. Some years we might get snow on the ground for a day, but the mountains around us get a lot of snow and sometimes the roads over the mountains are blocked.
We hope you do manage to add sticky notes to our wall-wisher. I noticed that the site has been playing up a bit, so I hope it improves.
Guy Fawkes day is a custom that comes from England and dates from long ago when a man by that name tried to blow up the Parliament there. Now we have fireworks and bonfires.
Many families have their own, but lots of New Zealanders like to go to community events, as the fireworks can be quite amazing. (And it's safer).
Valentines Day is becoming more popular in NZ, but it seems to be driven more by the shopkeepers.
Lots of people here celebrate St Patricks Day also.
We also celebrate Waitangi Day which for some years was called New Zealand Day.
It celebrates the signing of the founding document of New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi, in 1840, by the Maori tribes and the British crown.
We wonder what Groundhogs Day is all about?
Dear Mrs Yollis
Thank you for your comment adding to our understanding of what traditions are.
ANZAC day is a day shared by New Zealand and Australia. The letters stand for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. On April 25 we commemorate the troops who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey in the first world war.
On Anzac Day our school marches in the community parade. We wear poppies as a symbol of rememberance. The roll of honour is called and wreaths are laid by the cenotaph.
Businesses have to stay closed until 1pm and schools and workers have a holiday.
Thank you all for your questions.
from Mrs McKenzie
Waitangi Day sounds a lot like our Canada Day. Groundhog's Day is a fun day celebrated by Canadians and Americans. It's celebrated in early February and is based on an old folk tale. It is said that if a groundhog awakens and leaves his burrow to see his shadow, winter will continue for 6 more weeks. However, if it's a cloudy day, and the groundhog doesn't see a shadow there will be an early spring. It's celebrated with festivals in many towns.
ReplyDeleteANZAC day is similar to Remembrance Day in Canada, which is coming up on November 11. At the eleventh hour on this day, Canadians stop to reflect on those who have fought for our country's rights and freedoms. We also wear poppies over our hearts and lay wreaths.
Dear Marco, Matt, Grace, Kate, Ana, Luka and Zoe from Mrs Szalay's Grade 2/3
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you managed to add sticky notes to our wall. I like the sound of cinnamon buns on Christmas morning. Some of your traditions are like ours.
A hangi is cooked in a pit in the ground.
Traditionally a fire is lit in the pit with big stones on top. Nowadays sometimes railway irons are used. They heat up as the fire burns down. When the stones or metal is hot the food is placed in the pit. Traditionally the food was wrapped and put in flax baskets, nowadays it is more often wrapped in tinfoil (aluminium foil) and put into big wire baskets.
The meat goes in first as it needs to be closer to the heat source, and the vegetables sit on top.
Then wet sacks are layered on top, and finally the pit is covered over with dirt. The food cooks in the pit for several hours, then it is dug up and enjoyed.
Food is cooked that way in other places too. In Samoa they call it an umu.
How do you like to cook your food?
from Mrs McKenzie