The children of Year 5 are often at their best in Humanities lessons, devouring new information and asking questions with impressive speed! It was one of these questions which prompted one of the most memorable learning experiences of the year. A question about the effect the Great Barrier Reef has on the ecosystems of Australia led the class down an educational rabbit hole, discovering huge swaths of new information and digestible facts. By the end of the topic, we had all produced our own portfolio consisting of: artwork, poetry, stories and fact files. It was wonderful to see the children’s own curiosity steering their learning, choosing the factors that interested them the most. The class really enjoyed the independence this project afforded them and took real pride in showing them their final projects. Year 5 deserve tremendous credit for showing such independence with this task and I hope that they look back fondly on this project in the years to come!
