How We Strive to Bring Topics to Life in Year 5

Since the dawn of time, teachers everywhere have been striving to bring topics to life for their students, and the same is never more true than in the Year 5 corridor at St. Julian's School.

Underpinning the Year 5 curriculum are the fabulous topics we teach throughout the year, from the wonderful Victorians all the way through to Space and Beyond; the learning is designed to inspire deeper questioning and develop curiosity in our children. But how exactly do we bring these topics to life? And how do we make learning about events in the past relevant to our students?

One amazing way of achieving this is to explore and understand different sources of information, and as we all know, historians try to get as close to a primary source of information as possible.

Recently, our students were visited by a parent of Mexican heritage (Mrs Erasmus) who prepared a wonderful presentation all about the culture of Mexico and how its roots were embedded in the country's Aztec past. They were treated to folk tales from Mesoamerica, such as The Rabbit on the Moon and were wowed as they learnt about the Alebrije, the protector animals, which is a hybrid of two animals (Tona and Nahuale) defined at birth. The children were thrilled to discover what Miss Mills’ two animals are: a jaguar and a snake, and many made links to other cultures who have similar traditions, as well as obviously trying to find out how they would discover their own and would the characteristics suggested be true to them.

Allowing students to have contact with an individual whose cultural identity is founded in the traditions of the topic we have been studying was a privilege for our children. Our students were able to explore their questions and ideas in more depth as they were provided with access to a much more knowledgeable other, and we thank Mrs Erasmus for her time and preparation for the session.

The experience culminated with students being afforded the opportunity to create their own El Penacho (the equivalent of an Aztec crown), an activity introduced and resourced for by our expert visitor. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of our children, and this experience generated even more questions, such as: “Do the different feathers mean different things?” and “What gems did the Aztecs really use?”.  Of course, our teachers leapt at these questions as opportunities to take their learning even further.

But the exploration does not stop there; students will be visited again by experts in the different Mesoamerican cultures, as we will be welcoming another amazing visitor. So, parents, you have been warned and do not be surprised if your children come home full of curiosity and questions all about the Aztecs, but please feel free to work with them to independently seek answers and knowledge.

Ciaran Finnegan
KS2 Phase Leader and Y5 Teacher