If laughter was a colour, what colour would it be?

Laughter and smiling are contagious - you only have to hear somene laughing and you often smile or laugh too. 

This week we talked about spreading smiles and kindness with social movement, as it is Random Acts of Kindness day (RAK) on Friday.

What colour do you think laughter would be? Smiling? Would they be the same or different? 


We looked at Orly Wahba and the work she is doing to encourage people to spread kindness and make the world better.  This is a great video if you haven't seen it - all about spreading kindness. Very inspiring.   Orly Wahba has also done a TED talk too if you are interested - It's only 10 minutes. In it she talks about how she used kindness cards to encourage people to spread kindness.

                                                                 Here's the TED talk.

And here's another little idea for RAK - spreading smiles via post-it notes. My Quest kids loved this simple idea. The grammar / spelling on this video is not the best - but you get the idea!  

Next week we will be looking at ocean currents - movement in the ocean. The good and the bad effects of currents, and how they work (eg thermohaline circulation - temperature and salinity of the water). 

Writing Competition

Do you love to write? Would you like to see your work published in a real book?
Here is a writing competition for anyone up to year 10 (14/15yr olds). This is run by Zee Southcombe - the author who visited the year 5/6 Quest kids in week 1 this term.

The competition theme is NATURE. You can write a story, report, poem etc. Have a go! Remember to edit your work - don't just send in your first draft - check it, improve it, re-read it. Good luck writers!

Details are on this website: https://nzyoungwriters.com/submit/

Animals and Movement

Last week the year 3-6 students looked at animals and movement. The year 1&2 students will learn about it this week.

The year 3-6 students have a fun movement challenge this week - Quizzes and activities to do with movement that we have learnt about so far this term.

We looked at LOCOMOTION - how animals move in different ways - the language of movement eg soar, flitter, creep, stretch, walk, glide etc We tried to classify animals into movement types.
We also looked at MIGRATION - when animals move to different regions. We looked at the reasons for this, some of the animals that migrate, and how humans can affect migration.

This elephant is walking through a hotel lobby. The hotel was built around mango trees that the herd has visied for years on their migratory trail. So the elephant just walked on in to get to the trees.

Here is a fun little video on Wildebeest Migration.

Movement of hands

Hands move in so many ways, and we use them a lot daily. This week we looked at how we use our hands, which hand is more dominant, how the brain controls our hands. We also looked at anatomy of a hand, and children completed a variety of choices. We looked at artist studies of hands, sign language, imagining if we didn't have hands, writing about hands etc.

Below is a fantastic story by Olivia - year 5, written from the point of view of a hand.

I am a hand. Yes, a hand. My life is tough. I am the Left hand, I live with my brother, Right hand and my master, Olivia. I awoke abruptly, I was slapped on the alarm to make the beeping noise stop. Owch! I see my brother still sleeping. Suddenly, Master sat up in bed, my brother was used to wipe sleep out of Master’s eyes. Plop! A big drop of porridge just dropped on my finger. I was then washed, I got soap in my eyes, painful. Then suddenly, I remember I have to write an essay today!! Right hand is lucky, he doesn’t have to write anything! I feel Master pick me up, Oh No! Not the nose, Not the nose! No No No No nooooo! I was shoved up Master’s nose I felt, dirty, I need a shower! A slimy booger stuck to my nail. At school, our teacher says to get the essay books out. I am shoved into Master’s desk, with Right Hand. We have started writing now, I already am in some pain. An hour later, after the essay, I can hardly move!! I guess life is better than my cousins, Left foot and Right foot, they sweat inside old smelly shoes!!

Some students watched this TED video by a neuroscientist. They asked me to share it so they can show parents. It's really fascinating - using signals from one brain to move someone else's hand!

Next week we will be looking at animals and movement.