In Year 6 we have begun exploring our new class book called:
We found out that women have not always been allowed to have equal rights, a voice or have a vote as to who should lead our country.
We began by exploring what it would be like if only boys were allowed to be on the school council and make laws. The majority of boys thought this could benefit them whilst the girls felt discriminated against and that it was unfair. Some boys also recognize that a person’s gender should not determine whether or not they should be allowed to contribute to the life of the school.
Writing with formal language can be difficult as it is not something we are used to doing. However, through the course of the week the Year 6 children planned and wrote formal letters to the Victorian Prime Minister William Gladstone trying to persuade him to allow there to be a law passed in parliament to allow all women to be able to vote and have legal rights.
Through using thesauruses to help find formal language and synonyms, through careful editing and improving the children wrote some very powerful letters.
The overall message of what we have learned is that discrimination against gender, race, religion or monetary status is something that should be challenged and never accepted as right.