Black History Month
For Black History Month, each class took on a different aspect of Black History or a significant person from the past. Here is a snippet from each class.
The children in Nursery celebrated Black History Month by having an African themed week. The children went on a pretend safari where they looked at different animals in the Savannah. They liked watching the lions and elephants the best. They listened to the story Handa's Surprise and used puppets to retell the story. They then did a puppet show for the teachers. Whilst reading the story the children noticed that Handa was wearing colourful clothes. We talked about and looked at different fabrics and the children created their own bracelets and necklaces with coloured pasta. We explored African instruments and the different African music. The children made their own instruments with lentils and pots. They also carefully used our African drums and rain sticks to make lovely music.
During Black History Month, the Reception children read Elmer as a class. They discussed how Elmer was different. They looked in a mirror and discussed the facial features that make people different. Just like Elmer, they discussed that they don't treat people differently based on how they look and they must treat everyone fairly. They made their own Elmer booklets by retelling the story using pictures. They also drew their own elephants on paper and made them all look different.
Year 1 learnt about Matthew Henson. He was an American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic. He is best known for his participation in the 1908-1909 expedition that claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Henson said he was the first of their party to reach the pole. The children enjoyed discussing his voyage and looking at his clothing. They ordered a timeline of his life and created a large collage of him, dressed for his expedition.
Year 2 enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King. They were shocked to learn that when he was only six years old, he wasn’t allowed to play with his white friend. The children created short plays to show their understanding of equality and fairness.
Year 3 focused on the life of Katherine Johnson. The class began their work by story boxing and understanding her life and what lesson we can learn from it. They then performed plays based on her life and the lessons they learnt from it.
The Year 4 children enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King for Black History Month. They learnt all about who he was and why he is a significant figure. They performed and re wrote his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech.
In Year 5, we learnt about Mary Seacole’s life and about her contribution to the Crimean war. The children worked in pairs to create a timeline about her life.
Year 6 took part in their own research projects over Black History Month. They chose an athlete who they believe made a significant change to the world. They researched the person and created a 3 minute speech to tell the rest of the class why they were significant in History. The children then took part in balloon debates to decide who was the most significant. The children also looked at Michael Jordan and Jesse Owens during class time. They used these athletes to think about why they were significant to history and what changes they made to not only the sporting world but the world in general.
