Mysteries and curses
What a wonderful term we have had in Year 5, where we were transported back in time
to the land of the Pharaohs.
The children arrived back in school to find that both Sargent and Wells classrooms had
mysterious covered alcoves with only small viewing holes to see what lay behind. The
pupils used torches to ascertain what lay within the secret room and drew images of
the items they saw.
As the days went by, some children noticed small
tears appeared on the coverings and one morning
they arrived in school to discover that… WE HAD
BEEN ROBBED!!
There was hustle and bustle, quiet whispers and the
report that Mrs Roberts and Mrs Grady had
contacted the police and an investigation was underway. After a few days it became
apparent that if we wanted this situation resolved we would have to take matters into
our own hands and the detective skills of both classes were called upon.
The children gathered evidence, questioned and finger printed a
range of suspects and soon it became clear that there were two main
suspects, but what was their motive?
Finally, after all the ground work had been done, the suspects were
called in for questioning, and to no one’s surprise there was a confession.
We can reveal the tomb robber was our own Mrs Roberts who, in the name of
developing literacy skills, had taken the artefacts to stimulate our mystery writing.
It has to be said that this had the desired effect and the children have shown a
wonderful, imaginative use of language in their mystery stories and have developed
their story structure skills.
Both Wells and Sargent Classes have used this topic to stimulate their design and
technology skills.
Wells Class have taken the idea of simple spiral clay
pots and using the images of Ancient Egyptian canopic
jars developed their own artefacts for a pharaoh’s
tomb. These were personalised for each person and
decorated in the vibrant colours used during this time.
As you can see, the skills used by the children created
detailed treasures fit for any king.
Sargent Class looked at the hieroglyphics on tomb walls and the representation of the
Egyptian Gods. Using observations about animal features the children used papier
mache to construct their own God masks. The children learnt how to layer the paper
and used different techniques to build up and shape the features of each animal. These
were then decorated with paper, fabric, sequins and glitter; the results were quite
stunning.
In Maths we have continued to push forward
with the new National Curriculum and would
like to take this opportunity to thank the
children for working so hard on developing
their skills so maturely. Their ability to
explain their understanding of the maths
they
do
shows
great
application
of
knowledge and skills; we are very proud of
all of you.
Finally we would like to say another thank you to the parents who, as always, have
supported their children in all aspects of their learning. The homework tasks continue
to impress us and the delicious food continues to feed us. Breaking News! There will be
a term where we will cook for you, so you will get a break!
Thank you for coming to our Egyptian Day and we look forward to seeing you at our
next event.
Miss Airey & Mrs Tucker