International Week in the Primary School

Our Nursery and Pre-nursery children focused on Africa this week, learning all about “the Big Five” and other interesting animals. They went on a virtual safari, where they searched for animals they knew. They made their own musical instrument, a djembe, which they then beat in time to the music of Invubu the Happiest Hippo. The children also balanced bowls of fruit on their head, like Handa in ‘Handa’s Surprise’. They finished the week by making some amazing African jewellery out of pasta, creating their own two or three colour patterns. 

The Reception children learned all about different countries in the world, starting with Antarctica. They read a book about penguins, then deciding what clothes were most appropriate for hot and cold weather. Australia was next on the list, with a beautiful book followed by some amazing artwork! After completing activities on England and South America, they finished the week with a story about elephants in Tanzania, learning about capacity and pouring water.

Year 1 made flags from their own countries, and designed their own food menus from around the world. The children dressed up in traditional outfits from their own countries, just like in our annual parade at school! In Year 2, the children focussed on a continent per day, creating fact files, cooking, designing their own flags and learning about famous artists from different countries. 

In Year 3, the children learned about South America. Each day the children were given a fact file and a task to complete, ranging from investigating Charles Darwin and his work in the Galapagos Islands, to making and creating rain sticks from Chile. They also investigated how plants transport water to all their different parts, linking this with the Amazon rainforest. They ended the week by making Guacamole and sharing it with their family. 

The Year 4s labelled world maps and researched a country as part of their International Week. They learned about different landmarks across the world, and even made up their own! They created their own menus of traditional foods, even inventing their own recipes using traditional ingredients.

The Year 5 children and teachers wanted to recreate the amazing Food Fair that the parents prepare for us at school, so they held a virtual one! The children had a go at making traditional food from their home countries, sharing photos, information and recipes with the rest of the class. They then used the knowledge they had learned about poems to write poems about their countries, and these took the form of Haikus, Cinquains, Kennings, Limericks and acrostic poems. They finished off their week by presenting facts about their countries on TEAMS. 

The children in Year 6 learned all about Australasia. They cooked, made Maori Poi, and created Aboriginal Art. They also learned about the traditional art of Samoa, called Siapo. They created their own version of this, using traditional Samoan patterns and colours. At the end of the week the children shared interesting facts about life in Tonga and Vanuatu. 

It was a very successful and busy International Week for our children, and we all learned a lot about places all over the world!