This term we are looking at topics through the concept lens of 'Challenge'. The aim is to explore challenges that people face and how they deal with them, and for children to see that everyone faces challenges. Some of our children can have perfectionist tendencies, so it is good for them to understand that it is normal to find things challenging at times and have strategies for dealing with that when they experience challenge. It is also good for them to have some empathy for times when others may not find things as easy as they might.
DIFFERENTLY ABLED
We started by looking at challenges of being differently abled. We tried doing some things without using our hands, and then looked at this inspirational girl who was born with no hands.
We discussed how we felt when things were difficult and what we could do about it.
We also thought of other ways people could have different abilities - both visible and invisible differences. This brought up some good discussions about ADHD, dyslexia, ASD, tourettes etc - some children have some of these and were happy to share their experiences.
Children chose a variety of activities to extend their learning - some learned how to sign their name, some experimented with drawing using their foot, some read more about learning differences.
FLIGHT
We looked at the challenges of designing and making something that can fly. What helps something to fly? We explored the Bernoulli principle and air pressure, and looked at thrust, lift and angle of attack. Then children made a paper plane and experimented with improving it. Some looked at flying creatures and explored how they fly. Some designed flying machines of the future. Some looked up information about the Wright brothers and Richard Pearse. Some explored how to make the world record breaking paper plane. Some taught others how to make different paper planes.
