"Wake up...guess what....!"
"I can't believe it....!"
This morning we worked in small groups to create freeze frames to show the moment we heard a piece of exciting news on the radio. We learnt that in the 1950s families gathered around the radio for evening entertainment, and to hear the news. Each group decided what news they were hearing, either Edmund Hillary reaching the peak of Everest or Yvette Williams winning her gold medal in the 1952 Olympics. Each group came up with a caption for their freeze and spoke aloud thoughts in their head as they listened to the exciting national news.
COLLECTIVE MAPPING
Next we worked as one group to create a map of a New Zealand country town in the 1950s. We decided to call it Elizabethtown (after the Queen!).
Elizabethtown Station and Railway Cottages for Railway Workers including the Station Master, the Porter, the Guard, and the Signalmen.
Moffat Farm
Elizabethtown War Memorial
General Store and Doctor's House
Community Hall, Church, and Cemetry
Longdon Farm
OVERHEARD CONVERSATIONS AND WRITING IN ROLE
We ended our day going into role as members of the Elizabethtown community. We imagined that we travelled as a community by train to a neighbouring community for a shared picnic and organised sports and races. We then listened to conversations happening amongst small groups of picnickers.
We listened as people of Elizabethtown talked about the Queen’s arrival in New Zealand, upcoming Christmas preparations, the sports events they had competed in, how life on their farm was going, the neighbour’s excellent apple pie and so on…
Groups of People in the Communtiy at the Picnic
We then wrote letters in role imagining it was the end of the picnic day and we were writing news back to friends or family who still lived in Britain. Here are some excerpts from the letters we wrote.
Rose:
Dear Mum,
It’s Christmas Eve and I’m missing you so much but if I went back to Britain I’d probably miss my new cottage. The new cottage I have moved into is so perfect. It’s right next to the river and has a stream running through the garden to a pond in the middle. […] On the other side of the street from my cottage is a big meadow with lots of buttercups and a hill in the middle with a weeping willow tree on top. I have learnt to make chains from the buttercups and enjoy going for picnics on the hill. Just on the other side of the river is Moffat Farm. Hannah Moffat lives there and owns it and we are becoming great friends.
I have used the money you gave me before I left to buy some ducks, some chickens, and some fruit trees to grow an orchard. I am making a decent amount of money selling eggs and fruit to the other people who live in Elizabethtown. […]
Now it’s Christmas Eve I’m finding things really strange, like did you know that here on the other side of the world Christmas is in summer! […]
Zara:
Dear Alexandria,
Today is Christmas Eve and the children are so excited and it’s quite obvious they will not sleep easily tonight.
We had a very enjoyable picnic with Charlottetown just yesterday. I made some of my famous apple pie. We travelled there by train. At the picnic there were a lot of interesting games lots of which were very exciting.
I saw the Queen in the paper and I was astonished at how beautiful she was.
Best Wishes, Zara.
Hannah:
Dear Rory,
Yesterday I went to the community picnic. It was Rosa’s first train ride. There was a rugby game and Elizabethtown won.
Did you know that on the radio Her Royal Highness said she will be coming to Elizabethtown!
Farm life is good. Lincoln’s sheep wool is great, we are a lot richer now.
Love from your sister Hannah.
Louis:
Dear Marie Shamon,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. How are you? I’m more than happy, yesterday we met another town and we had a great time, the place was called Charlottetown. We had sports games, picnics, races like egg and spoon racing and sack races. […]
Emma:
Dear Cousin Heather,
Our community had a magnificent picnic at Charlottetown today. The children did sack races. The only horrid thing was that the Charlottetown rugby team cheated! It was horrifying! Although we still won. But apart from that the picnic was splendid!
When I went to the railway station I heard from my friend, who had returned from seeing the Queen, that she looked like an angel in a long white evening gown.
Best Wishes, Emma
David:
Dear Alex.
Merry Christmas. It’s been awhile since I’ve written to you. Life here is great and yesterday I went to a community picnic, it was fantastic. We had lots of games and food, we even had a rugby game. We talked about the Queen’s arrival. […]
From your best friend David
Rupert:
Dear Norman,
Things have been going great. I hope the same with you too. […] All the women are working so hard making food and the kids are leaping with joy. […]
Yesterday the community had a huge picnic. I came first in the sack race and had a nice relaxing sleep afterwards.
Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander, climbed Mt Everest earlier this year, amazing right?
Hope to hear from you soon,
From your great friend
Rupert.
Olivia:
To cousins and family,
For Christmas I might have silly putty, or a Frisbee, a hula hoop, or a Mr Potato Head! Dad is farming as always, mum is putting candles up and my older brother Jack is cutting down the Christmas tree and putting it in place. […]
Best wishes, Olivia
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