Oak Class Spring Term Week 7

Aside from the play we have had a busy week in the classroom too!

On Monday we performed as part of the whole school dance festival and the Oak children showed off their performance skills as snakes hunting their prey. They were extremely impressive and a lot of hard work had gone in to designing and remembering the moves they performed.

This week saw the completion of our topic on the Mayan civilisation. We looked at their religious practices and beliefs and how their dominance as a civilisation came to an abrupt ending. Historians explain that there are around 88 theories to sort through to explain why this might have been, and we discussed and debated what the most probable causes could have been. We also looked at Mayan art too, drawing some of the intricate patterns that were seen in the art work in the temples. On Friday we tried out Chocolatl - hot chocolate Mayan style with honey or chilli for extra flavour. The reactions were mixed!!

On Wednesday the children handed in the digital element of their homework project based on modern day South and Central America. They all chose a country from the region to research - Brazil was a very popular option but we had a great variety of countries. They also had the option to add to the Google Classroom research by creating something to accompany what they had learnt. We had some extremely creative ideas ranging from recipes and photos of cooking, a model of a Brazilian Favela, a jigsaw, a pinata full of sweeties, a dance and several models. It was lovely to spend the morning celebrating what we had learnt from this independent learning task. They had certainly learnt a lot!!!

Thursday brought Internet Safety Day, so we spent the afternoon developing our understanding and awareness of the importance of staying safe online. We worked through a series of activities and watched a short film which highlighted common dilemmas the children will face as they use the Internet in different ways. They were generally very knowledgeable about how to stay safe and understood the concept of a digital footprint and how their actions need careful consideration. I was impressed by the choices they made in connection with the dilemmas.

By Friday we were pretty tired, but we still had the energy for an 'after show party' with treats and an award ceremony. A perfect way to finish off this extremely memorable half term. We are officially half way through the school year now...eeeeeeeekkk please stop the time rushing by so quickly!!!!!!