By Sunil Joji, Year 3 Teacher.
The theatre was full of excitement and intrigue as students discussed the launch of our new topic ‘What makes the Great Wall so great?’.
Our topic explores the significance of real historical events, conflicts surrounding invaders and settlers, and evaluating the impact of the Great Wall on various people’s lives (amongst other learning objectives). As the construction of the Great Wall began during the Ming Dynasty (shortly before some teachers were born), what better way to connect with these events than to create our own imaginary walls and invisible boundaries at BSG! For one day, students in each house were restricted to several areas in the playground, could only use certain toilets and had various other privileges or restrictions ranging from wearing full winter uniform, to wearing PE kit or home clothes to name a few!
“That’s not fair,” one Year 3 student complained. “I wish I was a Norman!” protested another. The launch for this topic ignited several interesting conversations and questions from the students, mostly from the Romans who had the most to complain about! Since then, Year 3 have embarked on various fun-filled activities including researching and creating timelines, reading about legends, soon building up to a debate and writing diary entries from various points of view.
Where will this topic take us next? An afternoon of traditional Chinese games where the students correct Mr Hogg’s terrible pronunciation of Chinese words? Or another assembly where Mr Marwood dresses up in yet another ridiculous outfit? I’m sure the students are looking forward to other highlights that include our end goals of celebrating with traditional Chinese games, enjoying a feast and creating a graffiti wall to show off our knowledge.
A huge thank you as well to the TAs for creating some amazing displays!