Over the course of Term One this year, all Year 7 and 8 students have been exploring various celebrations throughout the world, with a focus on making comparisons between these, and celebrations that are important within Aotearoa New Zealand.

This has been an opportunity for students to be reflective on celebrations that are important to them and their families. In addition to this, they have been exploring celebrations which they don't personally celebrate, both nationally and internationally. Some of the more common international celebrations we researched included Chinese New Year, Holi, Diwali, Esala Perehera, Hanukkah, and plus many more.

We learned about these in collaborative groups, ensuring that every group member was either contributing research facts, assisting with the presentation of these facts, or troubleshooting issues that occurred during the research (including conflicting answers, and finding out which information was factually accurate, with the help of triangulating information). We presented work in a variety of ways as well, including lists and tables within our Social Studies books, large hand-crafted posters, digitally produced posters with websites like Canva, Poster My Wall, etc. Roll On The Wall (facts on an outline of a person) presentation, Plays/Skits, plus more. By the end of this topic, all the students were expected to be able to ...

• Understand the role celebrations play in different cultures and religions around the world.

• Describe the celebrations that are important to their own lives.

• Be aware of some of the similarities and differences between the way events are celebrated.

• Be able to use a variety of resources to obtain information about different celebrations.

• Work collaboratively to obtain information as a group.

• Represent information in a variety of ways.

The new topic for our students in Social Studies is identifying different leaders throughout history, the attributes of a good leader, and what we look for in good leaders today.