Class 4 has started the year with a Main Lesson enquiry into Polynesian and Melanesian culture, history, geography and mythology. ‘Island Song’ has brought lots of activities to the two classes, including weaving with Kim Tait, Haka and Maori songs with parent Matt Murchie and friends, model boat building, a Fijian kava ceremony (Rooibos and peppermint tea with almond milk makes a passable mock kava), as well as painting, drawing and form drawing.
There have been plenty of rich stories from all over the Pacific including the ubiquitous adventures of Maui, the Polynesian demi-god. Michael Lester and I swapped rooms at times to present something of expertise to each other’s class.
Class 4 is the beginning of the so-called ‘heart of childhood’. Harmony and beauty begins to emerge in the 10- and 11-year-old child but the fourth-class child must first cross a threshold during which they often feel at odds with the world - removed from the security and comfort that were supportive in previous years. This is a time to look around and see how one stands in relationship to that which is near, and to find security and uprightness through that relationship.
There is an earnestness stemming from a new awareness of just what they are up against in the world. Questions abound: "How do you know?", “Why is this so?” Stories of the valour and skill of the ancient Polynesian navigators, with their deep awareness of wind, tide, currents, stars and birds, meet their need to make sense of the world they are beginning to see with new eyes.
Our next Main Lesson will be a study of area and perimeter, followed by Class 4 classic ‘The History of Writing’, where they will experience the rich world of Norse mythology. With Egypt, Man and Animal and Fractions still to come there is much to look forward to this year!
William Keyte
Class 4 Teacher
There have been plenty of rich stories from all over the Pacific including the ubiquitous adventures of Maui, the Polynesian demi-god. Michael Lester and I swapped rooms at times to present something of expertise to each other’s class.
Class 4 is the beginning of the so-called ‘heart of childhood’. Harmony and beauty begins to emerge in the 10- and 11-year-old child but the fourth-class child must first cross a threshold during which they often feel at odds with the world - removed from the security and comfort that were supportive in previous years. This is a time to look around and see how one stands in relationship to that which is near, and to find security and uprightness through that relationship.
There is an earnestness stemming from a new awareness of just what they are up against in the world. Questions abound: "How do you know?", “Why is this so?” Stories of the valour and skill of the ancient Polynesian navigators, with their deep awareness of wind, tide, currents, stars and birds, meet their need to make sense of the world they are beginning to see with new eyes.
Our next Main Lesson will be a study of area and perimeter, followed by Class 4 classic ‘The History of Writing’, where they will experience the rich world of Norse mythology. With Egypt, Man and Animal and Fractions still to come there is much to look forward to this year!
William Keyte
Class 4 Teacher
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