We have had a very interesting week as we have celebrated Harvest.
We learnt that Harvest is celebrated in many different ways all around the world and has changed a lot in modern times.
In England many years ago, it was a celebration of all the food and crops being harvested and stored ready to feed the village over the winter.
In modern times of supermarkets, fridges and freezers and food coming from all around the world we no longer need to do the 'harvest and store' but, instead we think about people all around the world who, for many reasons, do not have enough to eat.
We all started by thinking about people in our own city and brought food to school that could be taken to help families in Moscow.
In Y5 we also learnt all about Fair Trade.
We played the Trading Game - and very quickly learnt that some countries in the world start with massively more resources, skills or money than others. Others just have lots of resources - and no matter how much they try, they cannot become major power holders in our world.
They were not impressed when the prices for their goods (shapes) in the Stock Market suddenly dropped and other shape prices rose -but some very quickly learnt to 'speculate' and keep certain shapes to trade when the next 'Stock Market Newsflash' came in - hoping the price had risen this time......
We role played being 3rd world farmers trying to sell our produce to big companies and found they could very easily be cheated, particularly if they could not read.
We then also role played being 3rd world farmers who grouped together to form co-operatives and worked together to get fair treatment from the big companies (click useful links top right).
We watched video clips from the Fair Trade Company to see how they helped the 3rd world farmers to get fair prices for their produce but also educate them about their farming and improve the lives of their families by installing water pumps and building schools.
We harvested our own vegetables (well, the carrots anyway!) that we planted as seeds in May - and ate them with our lunch the next day (Thank you to the kitchen staff!!!)
We had a super Harvest Assembly. So many children joined in with great costumes or autumn colours and leaves. We displayed the fantastic amount of food we had collected to give to families in need and all classes joined in with our Whole School Bake and made biscuits.
We had also learnt some special Harvest songs and even one where we learnt the words to sing - but also in sign language (BSL).
We really learnt a lot about so many different things!!!
We learnt that Harvest is celebrated in many different ways all around the world and has changed a lot in modern times.
In England many years ago, it was a celebration of all the food and crops being harvested and stored ready to feed the village over the winter.
In modern times of supermarkets, fridges and freezers and food coming from all around the world we no longer need to do the 'harvest and store' but, instead we think about people all around the world who, for many reasons, do not have enough to eat.
We all started by thinking about people in our own city and brought food to school that could be taken to help families in Moscow.
In Y5 we also learnt all about Fair Trade.
We played the Trading Game - and very quickly learnt that some countries in the world start with massively more resources, skills or money than others. Others just have lots of resources - and no matter how much they try, they cannot become major power holders in our world.
They were not impressed when the prices for their goods (shapes) in the Stock Market suddenly dropped and other shape prices rose -but some very quickly learnt to 'speculate' and keep certain shapes to trade when the next 'Stock Market Newsflash' came in - hoping the price had risen this time......
We role played being 3rd world farmers trying to sell our produce to big companies and found they could very easily be cheated, particularly if they could not read.
We then also role played being 3rd world farmers who grouped together to form co-operatives and worked together to get fair treatment from the big companies (click useful links top right).
We watched video clips from the Fair Trade Company to see how they helped the 3rd world farmers to get fair prices for their produce but also educate them about their farming and improve the lives of their families by installing water pumps and building schools.
We harvested our own vegetables (well, the carrots anyway!) that we planted as seeds in May - and ate them with our lunch the next day (Thank you to the kitchen staff!!!)
We had a super Harvest Assembly. So many children joined in with great costumes or autumn colours and leaves. We displayed the fantastic amount of food we had collected to give to families in need and all classes joined in with our Whole School Bake and made biscuits.
We had also learnt some special Harvest songs and even one where we learnt the words to sing - but also in sign language (BSL).
We really learnt a lot about so many different things!!!
