It has been a colourful start to Class 5 with our ancient Indian Mythology main lesson.  Some highlights included the stories and antics of the myriad of characters in the Ramayana and learning some Sanskrit letters and words.  Learning an Indian dance and music was lots of fun. But of course planning and preparing for our Indian feast stands out as a favourite for many of us.  Cooking garden produce we had planted and harvested in gardening classes with Neal led to an amazing curry and dahl. Thanks Neal!  Also thank you to Pamela who guided us through making traditional Indian sweets called Coconut Ladoo and Badam Halwa.  Dressing up in saris, dhoti, and wearing a bindi, as well as drawing henna style mandala decorations on our hands also added to the occasion.

Since leaving Ancient India we have been immersing ourselves in our Decimal Fractions main lesson!  We began by learning the types of numerals used in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian cultures.  We found out how ancient Indian and Chinese cultures viewed Zero. It is the magic number in our Arabic number system which increases numbers tenfold - as we saw when we revised place value.  Amazingly we are learning how the Zero can make numbers ten times smaller on the other side of the decimal point as we wrap our minds around ten thousandths, hundred thousandths and millionths!

Many class 5’s have been enjoying music lessons and ensemble with Marie as well as our group instrumental lessons and choir sessions each week.  Friday afternoons are an artistic immersion for us as in between our violin lessons we explore watercolour painting, sketching and drawing activities as well as our old favourite - beeswax modelling.

It is hard to believe we are already over half way through the term - we will be off to explore the world view of the ancient Persian, Babylonian and Mesopotamian peoples next.

We are also keeping our eye on the changing seasons and plant life in our environment.  We will have an introduction to our Botany main lesson when the season moves from Bunuru – Meertilluc and into Djeran - Pourner, but that’s another story!