Teachable moments: Commonwealth Day

Are you ready for Commonwealth Day?

It’s just a week away.

As members of the Commonwealth, we’re part of a large and wonderfully diverse family made up of 2.1 billion people in 53 independent and equal nations (one-third of the world’s population!).

There’s a lot for our students to learn – and it’s all helping to build their knowledge of the world.

Reading the world before reading the word

Paulo Friere coined the phrase “reading the world before reading the word” to emphasise the importance of community literacy practices: giving meaning to text by drawing on prior and world knowledge. Reading researchers agree – the more world knowledge a student has, the better they are able to comprehend what they read.

What better way to build world knowledge than Commonwealth Day?

A Young Commonwealth

The theme for 2015 is ‘A Young Commonwealth‘ with a focus on recognising “ … the capacity, contribution, and potential of young people”.

This is highly relevant to Kiwi students. Here are three ways you could bring Commonwealth Day into your classroom:

1. If you have some literacy budget up your sleeve, purchase A River of Stories Educational Resource, developed by the Commonwealth Education Trust to engage young readers in  water-themed stories and poems from around the Commonwealth.The resource aligns to Levels 2–4 of The New Zealand Curriculum and links to the science, social sciences, English and the arts learning areas. It includes graphic organisers to support writing activities and guidelines for assessment of students’ writing. To find out more and view samples, go to A River of Stories Educational Resource website.

2. Plan a lesson that helps your students explore core Commonwealth values, such as democracy, equality, human rights, tolerance and respect, freedom of expression, and sustainable development. The Commonwealth has created an educational resource to help you do just that! Download for free from the Commonwealth website.

3. Tell the Commonwealth how you plan to celebrate the theme of “A Young Commonwealth” on Facebook or Twitter. Make sure you tag your posts with the hashtag #YoungCommonwealth.

And more…

New Zealand teachers and students are renowned for their energy and innovation – we’re sure there will be many more learning activities that you come up with on the big day. Just don’t brag too much about the cricket! There’s an old saying “Pride comes before the fall”…

– Neale Pitches and Jenna Tinkle