KS1 Assembly pictures

  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/26/strange-pale-penguin-rare-yellow-and-white-bird-discovered-among-king-penguins-in-atlantic A pale penguin with yellow feathers has been spotted among the hundreds of thousands of black and white King penguins on the beach at South Georgia. Scientists since have been debating how the penguin looks so different with some calling an albino penguin and some saying it could be in "ino-bird". Whatever the reason for it's difference, all the scientists are saying it is a beautiful bird.  Scientists are debating whether the bird will face disadvantage because of its different colour; for example, it could be easier to spot by prey and also the water will not camouflage the bird when it dives for food. However, others argue the bird is clearly an adult which means it has survived this far and shows it is adapting and doing well.  The photo was taken by Belgian photographer Yves Adams . Yves describes how the penguin gave him...

  https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2021/0317/1204445-st-patricks-day-bhangra-dance/?fbclid=IwAR3jTn2FSIpoalvtVCJI8fb4E-m-6I10pa50t3fHitL_BVzp7n6FKzjAcyw A group of Bhangra dancers performed a Bhangra dance with an Irish twist on St Patricks day to celebrate their two cultures. Gurpreet Singh, Charnjit Singh and Kanwar Singh said their goal is to "spread this unique dance culture to a wider audience and give a platform to their growing community in Ireland, for our kids to stay connected to their roots." You can see the dance in the link above.  - what is Bhangra dancing?  - watching the video, how have the dancers included an Irish twist to their performance? (the music has an Irish flavour) - what is St Patricks day? - why do you think Gurpreet, Charnjit and Kanwar decided to perform this on St Patricks day? - what are they showing about Ireland today? - "for our kids to stay connected to their roots." what does this mean? what are roots? - are roots important? why...

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0eyoCXgwNw A video has gone viral in the last week of five year old Paige Tobin on a skateboard. In the video, she drops in to a 12ft bowl while wearing a princess dress with rainbow socks and a leopard print helmet.  People are praising Paige for her individuality. There are other videos on youtube where Paige is seen falling over and never giving up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA8tZLKvV9g - why do you think this video has gone viral? - what is different about Paige? (you could start the assembly, before showing the picture, by asking children to think about a skate boarder - what image do they have? what does the skater look like? Then show the picture and video of Paige) - why do you think Paige chose to wear a princess dress to skate? (because she wanted to!) - what does individuality mean? - do you think anyone would say to Paige that she didn't belong at the skater park or that she shouldn't wear those clothes? How would Paige repl...

  https://www.upworthy.com/10-happy-stories-from-this-week This photo shows Olympic champion David Brown running the 100m. David is blind and so when he runs he is attached to his guide Jerome Avery using a rubber finger band. Jerome also calls out obstacles and tells David how far he has to go. The aim is for the pair to run as one person; in a video in the link above you can watch David and Jerome work as a team. They are current world and Paralympic champions. In a recent interview David said, "It's really hard t put in to words how much you have to trust somebody when you can't see something. It's an individual sport but you've got to be able to depend on somebody else to help." - what do you see in the picture? - where are they, what are they doing? - do you notice anything different about the runners? - why do you think they are attached? - what are the challenges David faces as a blind Olympic runner? - how are those challenges overcome? - how do you th...

  https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/this-man-stands-outside-the-tokyo-olympic-village-every-day-to-motivate-athletes-080521 https://mymodernmet.com/man-holds-motivational-posters-tokyo-olympics/ T  This man stood Outside Olympic venues every morning in Tokyo holding up this sign; “Even if you don’t get a medal you’re still the BEST!! So believe in yourself!”   He would arrive every morning at 7:15 and stand for two hours holding up the sign as buses carrying Olympic athletes drove past in him to the stadium. He started the day before the opening ceremony and did this every day till the closing ceremony. He says he originally held up a sign saying “Welcome” but four days into the Olympics he changed his message because he noticed people obsessing over medal counts.   This year there were no audiences in the stadiums and many were highlighting the need to support the mental health of athletes.   Lots of athletes took photos of the man as they went past and the ph...

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07p7zg4 Kuda was borm without his left foot. He says children used to laugh at him saying, "He doesn't have a leg!" but then he says he realised, "Being disabled doesn't mean you don't have anything to do in life." Today Kuda is the first disabled person to play for Zimbabwe's Homeless Football Team. Kuda says, "I can do everything; run, jumping, somersaults. I just feel normal." But as a young player Kuda was turned away from many junior football clubs and today he struggles to find work as people say he can't do things. he says, "I am a person, I am a human being." He competed to play for the Homeless football team and was chosen from over 1000 players to compete in the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff last year. Now he wants to be a role model and open a disabled sports school in Zimbabwe. He says his Mum was his inspiration; when he was younger she used to tell him, "Go and face those ...

  https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/care-home-residents-hungry-hippos-17953816 People at a care home in Wales have found a new way to pass the time while in isolation at their home. They are playing 'Hungry hippos' but in a different way. They use wheel chairs and upturned baskets on the end of broom sticks to grab as many balls as they can during the game. The residents are between 80 and 102 years old. The manager of the care home said, "We try to be as positive as we can. We're just trying to keep things as normal and have fun, keep smiling and make sure our residents have fun and are safe." A video has gone viral where residents are heard laughing as they join in. What do you see in the picture? what is happening? Where are they? - what is 'Hungry Hippos'? how do you normally play? - why might some of the residents find playing the original game difficult? - what is different about this version? - why do you think the people in the care...

  https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/27/female-wrestler-wins-state-title-high-school-heaven-fitch?fbclid=IwAR18s4EL5C61NqTBmoiozIFa1jxxF8N6JVzcUajfAVRhiU5mLivlYpkKmOA Heaven Fitch has won a state High School Wrestling Championship in North Carolina. She has made history by being the first girl to win a state wrestling championship. She had a 54-4 record for the season and won most outstanding wrestler in her division. Last year she came fourth. Heaven says she started wrestling because she watched her older brothers take part in the sport and wanted to join in, but they would not let her and she had to convince her parents. "I nagged my parents basically because I wanted to do what my brothers did. They didn't want me to wrestle. I'm pretty sure it was because they didn't want me to get hurt. But I would just be like, "Well, if they can do it, then I should be able to do it." Interviewed about the championship, Heaven said, "I just wrestled by be...

  https://scoop.upworthy.com/deaf-mom-invents-face-mask-with-plastic-window-so-others-like-her-can-continue-lip-reading Justine Bate is a mother who has a ten year old daughter. Both Justine and her daughter are deaf. Lip reading is one way people who are deaf communicate and Justine was worried about her daughter being able to join in at school if people wore masks. So Justine invented a new mask to help her and her daughter and since she posted this photo on social media, she has been inundated with requests for masks from others.   Justine says she is not only receiving requests from deaf people; there have been requests from people with small children who are afraid of people in masks. These masks help children to be less frightened.  Justine’s husband Carl says, “The amount of people who have come up to her and asked for these masks is quite overwhelming. She’s loving the fact that she’s helping others make a better quality of life in this situation.”  - Wh...

  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/skateboard-mom-cerebral-palsy-7-year-old-boy-from-brazil-skateboards-for-the-first-time-look-of-pure-joy/ Joao Vicente is a 7 year old boy living in Brazil. He has Cerebral Palsey. Joao’s Mum works with him every day and felt worried when he stated to ask about using a skateboard. Mum knew Joao would not be able to hold himself up on a skateboard and she tried to dissuade him from the idea, thinking it would be impossible; ”I tried for a long time to replace the desire for skateboarding with other tools. He rode on a tricycle but that’s not what he wanted.” Stevan Pinto is a physiotherapist and Daniel Paniagua is a psychologist; together they started the Skate Anima project adapting skateboards so that children with disabilities could enjoy the sport. Joao’s mum says their work is “very powerful and beautiful; it’s necessary.” The video of Joao skateboarding with his mum went viral. Mum say; “Understand that places that don’t welcome everybody are dis...

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-53932181   https://nen.press/2020/08/31/caeden-has-done-it/ Caeden Thompson is a seven year old boy from Northamptonshire who last week conquered Ben Nevis to raise money for disability equality, charity scope and his local hospital. When Caeden was born his parents were told he would never be able to sit, walk or talk. Caeden’s mum says, “Caeden’s life began with a huge struggle, stress and a feeling of the unknown. He is a very happy boy who tries his very best not to lethis disability stop him from keeping up with his two older siblings and his friends. He told us that he is so happy for all the things he has in his life that he wants to give back.” Mum said that caeden wated “to inspire and empower others that just because you’ve got a physical disability doesn’t mean you’re not capable.” The climb took 13.5 hours up and down. Caeden says, “My body hurts a lot but I’m ok. It was really really hard. I felt sick and ex...

  https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/lonely-widower-poster-thousands-of-friends/ Tony Williams in 75 years old and lives in Alton, England. Last May, Tony’s wife Jo died. Tony has no family nearby and became very lonely. He says he sat at home willing the phone to ring, but it never did. Tony put a sign in his window; “I have lost Jo, my lovely wife and soul mate. I have no friends or family, no one to talk to.. can no one help me?”   After a few weeks Tony started to get a few phone calls. Strangers – now people he calls friends – from all around the world and he has now been inundated with offers of friendship from America, Germany, Australis, Holland, India, Canada, Egypt and Japan. A woman invited him to Florida, USA, and said she would show him around. People have asked if their children can adopt him as a grandad.   Tony says the offers have brought tears to his eyes; “They’ve sent me pictures of their kids, their pets, told me about their aspirations and telling me th...

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54393232 Stumble is a duck who lives on a farm in Nottingham, UK. After an accident with a fishing line, Stumble lost one of his legs and as he gets older, he has been finding getting around increasingly difficult. Di Slanley looks after the farm for disabled animals where Stumble lives. She says Stumble does not give up and neither does she; they “keep trying”. Di wanted to try and find a way to make life easier for Stumble. First Di tried to fit a prosthetic leg, but they could not get it to fit. This week Stumble was given a wheelchair which he appears to like very much. Di says, “The fact that he won’t quit means that I won’t quit. I won’t give up trying to make his life better.” In the video link above you can see Di and Stumble and also other disabled animals that live on Di’s farm. -          Why do you think life is difficult for a duck with one leg? -     ...

  https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/girl-builds-unicorn-horn-prosthetic-that-shoots-glitter/ Jordan Reeves is 14 years old and lives in Missouri, USA. She has inspired millions of people around the globe with her superpower. She can shoot glitter out of her arm! Jordan was born with a left arm that stopped below the elbow. Some people saw this as just a disability; Jordan saw it as an opportunity to deveop her alter-ego: Glitter Girl. When she was 10 years old, Jordan attended a STEM workshop that encouraged children with disabilities to think creatively about their differences. At the workshop Jordan invented a prosthetic arm that shoots glitter. Jordan wants people to see disablities as gifts. Jordan and her Mum started a group called “Born just right” to make the world more inclusive. In the link above you can see Jordan talk about her invention on a LEGO documentary. Jordan says, “A lot of people think that disability is maybe a sad thing. But when I make this cool stuff… when th...