Year 5 have been working relentlessly to complete their settlement islands made of mud roc and other materials.
First they worked with their team to design and sketch a diagram of what their island would look like. They had to consider geographical language learnt this term (eg: valley, fjord, river, quarry, coniferous forest etc) and label this clearly. Then they had to plan how they would create this in the form of a 3D model. The island would be one that their settlement would flourish in. Many children wanted fertile land on their island. Can you say why this might be?
The next step was to make the base of the islands using cardboard and mud roc. This was messy but so much fun. The children were very amused to see the teachers covered in white powder by the end of the day!
The final step took the longest and we invited our helpful parents to create the settlements and add the final touches to our islands such as bridges, houses, fields and sandy shores. This required team work and creative thinking!
Once we finished, each group had the opportunity to share their island with the whole class and talk us through the process. The class gave positive feedback back to the teams and reflected on the challenges they faced during the designing and making. We evaluated our models and thought about what we would do differently next time. We were all very proud of what we had created and the best thing about working with new people was that we made new friends and discovered qualities about each other that we never knew about! Well done Year 5 and thank you to the parents and carers who came to support us with our project.
