5 + 5 Activity Resource (No. 9) – 5 Independent & 5 Cooperative Learning Activities to Try

 

Welcome to week 9 of our 5+5 Activity Guide. Before I dive in to the activity suggestions for this week, I thought I’d give a little update from Malaysia.

This week in Penang has seen much easing of restrictions and we can now go outside to exercise. Dining in, with social distancing measures in place, is now allowed in some hotel and shopping centre restaurants. As yet, schools remain closed, but yesterday marked Teachers’ Day here in Malaysia, with an interesting update from Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who assured students and parents that priority will be given to those taking their SPM, SVM, STPM and STAM examinations once school reopens. Interestingly, however, he predicted the future of education lies in the virtual world and that teachers should increase their skills and knowledge to better serve their students with this in mind.

 

Teachers’ Day in Malaysia: Some Background

Teachers’ Day is celebrated on May 16^th as it was on this date the Razak Report was formally endorsed by the Federal Legislative Assembly of the Federation of Malaya in 1956, a year before independence. The report, named after its author Datuk Abdul Razak Hussein, who later became the country’s first Education Minister, laid a framework for the education system in post-independent Malaya and later Malaysia.

 

When one considers the demographic plurality and the different schooling systems for different communities that existed then, we begin to realise the enormity of the task faced. Those drafting the report were charged with, “establishing a national system of education acceptable to the people of the Federation as a whole, which will satisfy their needs and promote their cultural, social, economic and political development as a nation…”

 

While Malay was endorsed as the national language of the country, with all students required to study it, homogeneity was not mandated; at primary level provision was made for Malay-, Chinese- and Tamil-medium schools. Students then progressed to single-system secondary schools.

 

 

Creating Unity Through Recognising Diversity

 

Creating unity through recognising diversity remains as important now was it was then. Given the challenges we face today, there can be no place for ‘us’ and ‘them.’ With that thought in mind, I have selected some cross-cultural resources this week that reflect a global perspective. Rather appropriately, May 21^st is World Day for Cultural Diversity and Development – a day when we have an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to ‘live together’ better. With three-quarters of the world’s major conflicts having a cultural dimension, bridging the gap between cultures is urgent and necessary for peace, stability, and development.

 

 

 

 

Independent Learning Activities

Reading

With this theme in mind, now is a good time to ensure the books in your home reflect diverse characters in terms of race, gender, age, culture, and abilities.

• Mirrormewrite (Instagram)/ @mirror_write (Twitter) is a really inspirational source of knowledge and information about diverse books. With so many multicultural books on all sorts of topics from celebrations, childhood experiences, clothing, family life, food, games, hairstyles, and traditions, expanding your child’s library will enrich their lives no end.

• If you would like to learn more about choosing books for children, you may find the following CLPE guides helpful.

• Monkey Pen has this book available for free to teach young children the meaning of diversity . You will also find 48 free children’s books available on their site.

*Under the history section, you will find more reading materials.

 

 

 

Geography: Homes Around the World

How many different types of houses is your child familiar with? How many types of building materials can (s)he name? What things might influence the type of house you can build?

You can find images of houses on the following sites:

• Kid Cyber

• My Modern Met

• Compassion (Please be informed this is a Christian charity website)

• You can even tour homes on Google Earth.

 

 

Can your child identify and describe the following types of houses?

• Adobe home, Apartment, Bungalow, Caravan, Castle, Cave house, Chickee, Condo, Cottage, Flat, Houseboat, Igloo, Lighthouse, Log cabin, Longhouse, Mobile home, Mud house,, Penthouse, Semi-detached house,  Stilt house,  Tepee, Terraced house, and Wigwam.

• What types of houses are not on my list?

 

 

There is a risk when considering questions such as these that we contribute to stereotypes about different places. The images of people and places we build up in our minds from news stories, films, natural documentaries and tourist ads can be very misleading and often contribute to blanket generalisations. Across the world, wherever we go, there are rich and poor. People share the same needs across cultures.

 

• Gapminder has a tool called Dollar Street that enables us to sort homes by income. It may contribute to dispelling some false ideas we have about particular places. 

• Delve further into cost of living on these websites:

  • Numbeo

  • Movehub

  • World Population Review

• Your child may also enjoy some of Gabriel Galimberti’s projects. In particular, the toys one is a great one to explore with children. 

 

 

 

Mathematics

• Can your child apply their learning? This is an interesting task prompting children to consider what cost of living will be like in 100 years’ time. Some accompanying teaching notes are to be found here.

• Another useful resource asks children to compare prices and calculate the best buy.

• Game of Real Life: This is a bumper resource for older students as they prepare for transition into adult life. They are challenged with delving into some of the tasks they will be required to do as adults, e.g., job and house hunting, shopping and budgeting etc.

 

 

History 

Reading tales of emigrants/immigrants is a useful lens into the topics of diversity and acceptance.

• Here are some tales of Irish emigrants as collated by the EPIC museum.

• Tales of recent immigrants to the US can be found here on the Scholastic website. Students can also learn more about Ellis Island and find immigration data here.

• Migrant Child Storytelling features storied of migrant children. 

• Child Migrant Stories features a video of child migrants’ experiences of  leaving home, journeys, arrival and feelings of belonging. I recommend you listen to the content as there are some recount of violence.

 

 

 

Personal, Social & Health Education

What is the difference between an immigrant and a refugee?

• In this lesson for older pupils (Year 10 Australia), hear refugees talk about their experience upon arrival in Australia. There are accompanying question stems which learners can use to explore further their thoughts and perceptions.

• The How You See Me series from Soul Pancake videos are useful for prompting reflection and discussion around how we see others. We cannot change our thinking and perceptions if we do not confront those ideas; these videos offer prompts for doing just this.

  • How You See Me: Asian

  • How You See Me: Latino

  • How You See Me: Arab

• There are 12 videos in all. The other topics covered are: Black, Disability, LGBTQ, Women, Men, Body Size, Practising Understanding, The Victim Card and Why do Labels Matter?   

• You may wish to watch these videos with your child; otherwise, some follow-up discussions on the contents are to be recommended.

 

Cooperative Learning Activities

The Wonderment is a free site that allows students to explore, create, connect, inspire and get support for their ideas. There are two means for this: paths and projects.

 

 

Paths can be used to:

• Ask others a question

• Explore an idea with a community.

• Collaboratively create something.

• Put a challenge out to the world.

 

Projects can be used to:

• Start a specific action or project to impact your community.

• Document the work you (or your team) are doing.

• Connect with resources to help make your project happen.

• Share that work to coordinate with or inspire others.

 

The paths and projects are organised by topic. Why not have your child choose some questions from the ‘Culture Channel’ and engage with others today? What would they like to ask others?

 

 

Outside the theme of diversity, here are some other great resources you may wish to use with your child this week.

 

STEM

I cannot speak highly enough of this wonderful range of STEM cards I have discovered from GCSC STEM. I recommend you print these and use to dip in and out of in the coming weeks. They are clearly laid out, you are likely to have most of the materials, and they cover a wide range of concepts. Simply fantastic!

 

 

Design

Why not hold a family challenge to create a puzzle this week? There are lots to choose from on Puzzlemaker.

 

PE – Kings and Emperors

Play a game of Kings and Emperors or select from any of the other games, fitness challenges and problem-solving tasks on PE Hub Portal.

CardEd

As ever, I have a new CardEd Activity Guide for you for the week. Download it for free here!

 

To make life even easier for parents, we are beginning to create some CardEd videos for home use. Read more about this in this linked blog post below! Find our first CardEd quiz here on Youtube!

 

I am Smarticus! A CardEd Quiz to keep your Quizzy Bees Busy!

 

 

That completes our 5+5 Week 9 Activity Guide. Hopefully there are some ideas your family will enjoy and the materials suggested here will supplement those set by your child’s teacher. As always, if there are particular topics or themes you would like guidance or support with, do not hesitate to get in touch. 

 

Take care and stay safe all!