Room 17's ANZAC Focus: 

Room 17's ANZAC Study and Art:

Room 17 and the rest of our school have been learning about ANZAC Day. Quite a few children had grandparents and/or great-grandparents who served in World War 2 and World War One. Hannah had a great-great-grandparent and a great-grandparent who each served in the world wars. Liam Sofia and Hugo also had great-great grandparents who served in World War 1 or 2. (I hope I have this right; it was a hard one to work out exactly with the children, but they were all very proud of their family contributions to the peace and future of our country).

The children were able to tell me about the Why as well as the What that happened. They also could tell me the How - as in how ANZAC soldiers built clever timer devices that fired their guns at different times during the night of the troop evacuation from Gallipoli. I was very impressed.

Here is a short piece by Athena:

Anzac Day is a very special day. It's a day when we remember the soldiers who fought for our country. Now, on April 25, we have a public holiday for ANZAC Day. The word ANZAC is very special. It stands for the Australia New Zealand Army Corps. 

We have Dawn Parades and a lot more parades all around the world. 

A lot of those soldiers who survived were very sad because they lost their friends who did not survive.

That is why we say, "lest we forget."

ANZAC Artwork by room 17:

Room 17 remembered our soldiers by creating a beautiful field of poppies. We worked collaboratively to create our stunning art. First, we designed our own individual poppies and used pastels to carefully shade them in, then cut them out to add to our field. It hangs with pride in our classroom, where we will remember what they did for our country.