#motivateeducatenurture #wearehistorians

We researched the features and purposes of different masks, before exploring African masks and designing our own lion creations. We then used a variety of materials and skills to bring our designs to life; from cutting and sawing to decorating and embellishing.

It’s been wonderful to watch our designs come to life in their own unique way. Finally, we shall evaluate our projects to complete the process.

We learnt about the ‘charcoal cooler’, which is a completely energy-free way of keeping green beans cool after picking. We explored how pineapples are picked and shipped all around the world from Africa. Finally, we looked at the process of making chocolate from cacao pod to bar!

We learnt about Fairtrade produce and how buying Fairtrade ensures that farmers have been paid a fair price for their produce and hard work.

The best part of our topic lesson this week had to be the chocolate tasting! We tasted Fairtrade chocolate with different compositions of cocoa. The children described the chocolate containing 85% cocoa as being ”bitter, strong and not very nice,” whereas the chocolate with 46% cocoa was “smooth, milky and just right!” There were certainly more votes for this chocolate!

#motivateeducatenurture #worldwise #communitycontributors #Fairtrade

#motivateeducatenurture #wearegymnasts

We explored the mud huts they build, the animals they keep, living off the land and their love of vibrant music and dancing. We loved having a go at the ‘Jumping Dance’ and comparing how high we could jump! Video in the comments section.

#motivateeducatenurture #worldwise #wearegeographers

Before introducing our story, we experimented with making rainbows and the children thought about their favourite weather. These experiences led us to predict that our story would be about the rain and the sun.

We then learnt the story of Lila and the Secret of Rain, whilst comparing it to another story; Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. In the comments section below, we have shared a video of the children’s story performance.

We are now preparing for writing our own innovated African folktales so watch this space!

#motivateeducatenurture #wearereaders #wearestoryperformers #wearewriters

We have been locating different features of Africa such as; Victoria Falls, the River Nile and the pyramids of Egypt.

We ventured off on a virtual tour of the African Savanna, learning about the Big 5 and the grassy, arid landscape.

We welcomed Mrs Moules into class to share photographs and treasured items from her time spent in Kenya and Uganda. This was such a valuable way for the children to hear about firsthand experience of rural village schools, accommodation, foods and traditions. The children were amazed by how different school life can be in rural Africa, with some children walking for over an hour to reach their school with no windows and little resources.

We have been in awe of the beautifully vibrant colours within African art. The children have recreated Ndebele artwork, watercoloured Sahara landscapes and after learning about why African women carry heavy baskets on their heads, using line art and pattern to interpret their learning. The children are looking forward to our final unit in art this term- creating African pottery.

#motivateeducatenurture #weareartists #wearegeographers #worldwise

Before creating our artwork, we explored photographs of the Northern Lights, observing the colours and shapes made by this natural light occurrence.
 

Then to create the background, we used light and dark shades of watercolours, together with paint spotting. 
To create the glacial landscape, we used different layers of collage. We completed our scene by sketching a lone polar bear.

We hope you enjoy some examples of our artwork here.

We've also been learning about a fascinating animal- the penguin. To bring all of our super learning together this term, we decided to write penguin fact files, using all of the writing techniques we have learnt this term and in previous terms. 
 

Here we share some examples of our writing.

This book then inspired us to create our own 'Missing!' posters. We showed of new skills learnt this term to our grown-ups, using alliteration, different sentence types and our new vocabulary in our writing. Word mats, word lucky dips and word cubes helped our grown-ups to learn some new vocabulary too!

We finished the afternoon with another story written by the same author- William and the Missing Masterpiece.

Tomorrow we shall display our posters around the school in the hope that someone may be able to help us find the missing penguin!

Thank you to our grown-ups for joining us in class this afternoon- we loved sharing our learning with you.