Year 5 have once again researched an ancient civilisation

Since the beginning of January, Year 5 have explored how the Spanish Conquistadors came to discover the Mayan cities and a people who they considered to be quite cruel and barbaric.

Timelines, artefacts and ruined temples have been researched. The lesson on the Mayan Creation story was entertaining- especially the moment where the gods first created animals but became extremely upset and disappointed when they could only make animal noises and not the expected praise, anticipated Acting out stories is always fun!
Comparisons have been made between Ancient Egypt and this group of people and conclusions made.
Looking at the Mayan gods involved learning who gained a place in Paradise and who had to sail into a kind of underworld where terrifying monsters and gods could leap out in front of you, at any moment!

I think the most memorable lesson has been this week’s ‘University Challenge’ on the Mayan society and teams such as the ‘Messed Up Mayans’ the ‘Mayan Academy’ etc were challenged to answer a series of questions on this half term’s content. Watching the ‘quiz master’ trying to emulate Jeremy Paxman was very entertaining! The pupils organised the quiz and the slide presentations and took responsibility for the learning!