Ancient India

In class we have begun our Ancient Indian main lesson.  Our first week proved very exciting as we first learnt and applied our newly acquired grid mapping skills.  A great follow on from geometry.  We spent the week looking at the positioning of the array of cities in relation to the many river systems of India.  This led us into the vast differences between the population density between India and Australia.  We focused on religion, traditions and of course cuisine.

As a class the children contributed to our ‘vegetable mandala’, which slowly but surely took place once we had learnt the significance of a traditional mandala.

The vegetables and herbs weren’t there for long and soon were chopped, seasoned and cooked into a delicious vegetable curry.  This was served with rice, poppadums, cucumber and yogurt raita, tomato and chili salad and mango chutney.

This week we have read the wonderful and enchanting story of King Pandu and his sons.  Much discussion has focused around the ‘class system’, which was very dominant in Ancient times and quite prevalent today.  Each child had to choose (out of a hat), whether they were a Braham (holy person) and teacher or a warrior and a member of the royal family or finally a tradesperson or peasant.  We discussed the pathways of a Prince compared to a Princess.  A Prince, being educated and instructed in warrior type activities.  A Princess learnt a musical instrument and perhaps some intricate handwork.  A peasant or tradesperson would never be able to marry above their class and a Prince could not marry below.  This caused quite a discussion as I have many Princesses who would love to shoot an arrow from horseback and many Princes who so enjoy needlepoint!  Which I think is so wonderfully fabulous…  Also a peasant girl gardener who won the love of a Prince and become a Princess regardless!  So in tune!

It has been a wonderful descriptive writing activity, which the children have then read out to the class, and we all have enjoyed the stories.

A mixture of mediums with wet on wet painting and pastels made for beautiful lotus flowers with Kate.

As a class we performed the autumn story, the Shadow Giant.  The children performed beautifully at our autumn festival and I was very proud of them.