On Wednesday 13th February, Year 5 students held their ‘Famous Explorer’ morning. The children were in the role of ‘experts’, having spent the previous 4 weeks learning in depth about their explorer.
The project had started by identifying what an explorer is and noticing the patterns in history when they were most common.
The children then picked an explorer they knew nothing about. They were given tasks to achieve each week, including researching facts about their explorer, keeping a bibliography and analyzing their sources of information, completing a timeline of the explorer’s life and a map of the exploration route. They used a rubric so they knew how to be successful.
On the day, they came dressed in a costume to look like their explorer, showing an understanding of the clothing of that period or clothing that helped the expedition. They had bought or made a prop that showed something essential to the explorer. Some had made replicas of ships or rockets, while others had compasses or weapons! The students also prepared a question box, containing open and closed questions, that visitors could ask them to help prompt their knowledge. Everything they found was summarised in a poster which they also displayed behind them.
There was a great buzz of excitement and learning during the morning of sharing. The student learnt from each other and discovered many new facts about explorers throughout history. The students answered their questions confidently but many were also able to go beyond their basic facts and use the information to answer broader questions, such as ‘how did my explorer change the world?’, or ‘what would have happened if my explorer had never lived?’
So what did we learn?
We were inspired by many of our explorers, though many of us weren’t sure if we could follow in their footsteps!
Many learnt how difficult expeditions were and that many journeys required many years of planning and sometimes training- this meant the explorer had to have a goal and break it into manageable steps.
Even with the planning, we realised that all explorers encountered many challenges and dangers. This meant that many explorers were brave, determined and showed great perseverance.
We learnt you don’t have to be ‘special’ to be remembered. Doing something extraordinary is possible for anyone.
Technology and equipment help! From compasses, to the Aqua-lung, to pick ice-axes, all our explorers used something to help them or overcome their problems.
Year 5 Leader & Y5D Co-teacher – Victoria HARRISON