Year 6 are learning all about the Ancient Maya this term.
To start our learning, they took part in a fun-filled Ancient Maya immersion day!
Children started the day by recapping what they already know about other Ancient Civilisations they've studied throughout school. They then looked at a timeline of ancient civilisations and thought about where the Maya would be placed. They were surprised to find out that the Ancient Maya lasted for so long!
Then, children learnt about how the Ancient Maya communicated and compared their communication system to other communication systems they are aware of. Lots of children identified that the Maya used glyphs in a similar way to the Ancient Egyptians.
Then, children learnt about the Ancient Maya number system and how they used numbers to help them make astronomical predictions. From this, children were introduced to Mayan beliefs, gods and goddesses to prepare them for their future learning! They then took part in some interpretive dance where they were able to role play as a range of different gods and goddesses in the sky.
Year 6 were also introduced to societal roles - this is something they will explore further in our learning sequence. They created a range of different headdresses suitable for a range of different people in Mayan society and discussed the choices they had made.
Finally, children learnt about Ancient Mayan architecture. In order to truly understand the magnificence of Ancient Mayan buildings, we looked at where the Maya settled compared to the settlements of other ancient civilisations. This led us to learn about the complexity of their buildings. Did you know that they had irrigation systems and ventilation systems in their building?
All in all, we had a fantastic day and we are ready to delve deeper into the world of the Ancient Maya!
