Year 3 have had a fantastic week celebrating Cultural Week. Our focus was Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. The children have completed a range of different activities across their subjects. In art, the children were looking at the intricate designs of the Pakistani trucks. After they were creating Pakistani truck designs using traditional Pakistani art patterns. In geography, the children took a trip to Pakistan and learnt about some of the famous landmarks, they then wrote postcards home to family members telling them about all the wonderful things they had seen. We read a book called the “The Arabic Quilt” the book is about being proud of your culture and celebrating differences, also, the children all learnt to write in Arabic.  Lastly, the children had the great opportunity to experience an Arabic drums workshop in which they listened to music, experienced the culture and learned how to play the drums!

Cultural WeekTo begin culture week and our study of India, the year 5’s were immersed in a Bhangra dance workshop. It began with a quick introduction to the history of the dance and where it originated from: Punjab, India.
Before beginning the dancing, the teacher shared three key points to remember when dancing
1. Smiling is vital
2. Bounce your shoulders
3. 97% of moves start with the left foot.
The children then learned an 8 step Bhangra dance which they did in time with music and performed.
The teacher then introduced a ‘saap’ -a wooden instrument that claps together to make a sound that represents showing power. The alternative to this is shouting ‘Hoi!’ The next step the children learnt was the ‘fasla ’ which represents harvesting the crops which was done by farmers. The children then performed their final piece and were excellent.
Throughout the week the children also had fun learning all about India. They made maps which identified the capital cities, key states and seas surrounding India and Sri Lanka. In Guided Reading, the children learnt about Princess Sophia Duleep Singh and made informative posters about her life and struggles to achieve equal rights for women. During Art lessons the children made some fabulous Rangoli patterns as well as using their skills to replicate drawings of the Taj Mahal. Some of the children even made fact files about India. Well done to Year 5, for producing such fantastic work and learning so much about India!