Year 5- The Maya
This half term, we have been learning all about The Maya, an acient civilisation from around 1800BCE.
We first recieved a letter from a professor who asked if the Maya were worth investigating. The class looked at some Maya artefacts and tried to work out some facts about them. We learnt that they were a very advanced civilisation for the time who created their own system for writing and a number system. They were skilled builders and sculptures. The children deduced that they must have worshipped Gods, and we found out that they were one of the first cultures to use cacoa beans to make chocolate!
We had a go at making our own hot chocolate using a Maya recipe and found that it is not as nice as the hot chocolate we have today. We also recreated a classic Maya game called Pok-a-tok. In Maya times, we learnt that Pok-a-tok ended in human sacrifice so we changed the rules slightly! We then spent some time considering how civilised the society could be if they believed in human sacrifice.
"The Maya are really interesting and wroth researching."
5EB Student
"Their hot chocolate is horrible and ours is better."
5EB Student
"I think it's interesting that they were really civilised but then took part in human sacrifice!"
5KJ Student
"This has been a wonderful topic to teach and the children have really engaged with it. There has been a lot of information to take in but the children have found it all really interesting and have developed their inference skills when looking at artefacts. They did not enjoy the hot chocolate as it was not very sweet and they definitely prefer modern hot chocolate! However, they were really sensible when we made it and wrote some great instructions!"
Miss Buxton- 5EB teacher
Clapgate Primary School
10 Cranmore Drive
Belle Isle
Leeds
LS10 4AW
Headteacher: Miss Taylor
Deputy Headteacher: Miss Procter
SENDCO: Mrs Lawton
Office: Mrs Austin,
Miss Johnson,
Mrs Belt and Miss Stamp
Chair of Governors: Mr Bache
Tel: 0113 271 6700
Email: clapgate@clapgateprimaryschool.org
