Year 5 and 6 Wonders

Last week, we recognised that lock down had been a very strange time for us. We had challenges that we faced but also we made some special memories too. We discussed this as classes in year 5 and 6 and the children were very mature in their discussions. We then completed a reflection of our lock down experience.

We delved into the world of Auggie from the book Wonder. We first listened to the song that inspired the author to create the book and really analysed the lyrics, recognising the challenged that were faced. We then looked at the powerful blub that Auggie himself uses to introduce himself.

“My name is August. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”

We thought about what we would describe as the blurb for our life and wrote it on the back of our book – most of us described our lives as very average where nothing out of the ordinary happens.

We then thought about our front cover and how we would summarise our lives in a snapshot.

The best part was the inside though – where much like us as people – the best bits are. We focused on aspects of our personality that made us unique and we then got ‘reviews’ from people in the classroom about why they loved us. It was interesting to see that they focused on our personality and not our looks. Some of our reviews to each other were like “She is the friend that everyone deserves to have.” This made us realise that looks are not important. It was great to hear some reviews from home too – the people who know us the most. We spent some time sharing these.

We read extracts and watched clips of the film where Auggie is bullied which allowed us to recognise where the unkind behaviour turns into bullying and we had some advice for the bullies but also Auggie himself.

We completed an activity where we were allowed to say unkind things to our teachers. She acted like she didn’t mind but you could see her paper heart becoming wrinkled with every insult she received. All of the children apologised and her heart became flatter again but the wrinkles were still there. We could see that there could be lasting effects for unkind things that are said to people – regardless if an apology is given. This was a really powerful lesson and we have pledged to think about the things we say before we say them.