Over the last three weeks we have been celebrating Black History Month. Here are some of the activities that have taken place across the Federation.
Reception – In Reception we have been learning about some amazing people in our history. We enjoyed reading Mo Farah’s ‘Ready Steady Mo’ and learning about his amazing achievements at the Olympics. We looked at some iconic music created by black artists and learned the sign for dancing when listening to Martha & The Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets”. We also had a go at dancing to Bob Marley’s classic hit ‘Three Little Birds’.
Year 1- In Year 1 we started learning about Black History Month by discussing the importance of treating everyone equally. We looked at our PATHS rule ‘Treat others the way you want to be treated’ and talked about the importance of British Values. We enjoyed listening to Mo Farah’s story ‘Ready Steady Go and also danced to Martha & The Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets”. We were inspired by the determination and courage of a little girl called Grace in the story ‘Amazing Grace’ by Mary Hoffman & Caroline Binch. This is a great story for teaching us that gender and race should never be a barrier. The year 1’s were also very excited by the steel drum music from the story ‘My Two Grandads’ by Floella Benjamin. After listening to the story we enjoyed practicing our dance moves to some amazing steel drum musicians from Jamaica.
Year 2 – As part of Black History Month, Year 2 have been learning about Black History Heroes including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Bob Marley and Stormzy. We also read ‘Ready Steady Mo!’ a book written by Mo Farrah that the children enjoyed and were inspired to go out running!
Year 3 – As we reached Black History month, we recapped the life of Mary Seacole and of Harriet Tubman and the impact of their lives on others. We discussed equality and individual liberty and listened to some multi-cultural stories.
Year 4 – For Black History Month, Year 4 have been practising the Old Town Road dance. We have watched some of the inspiring stories on CBBC’s Black History Heroes. SW4 class were particularly knowledgeable about black sporting legends such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Usain Bolt.
We found Misty Copeland’s book totally engrossing! We thought Misty’s message was that ‘you can be whatever you want to be, so long as you don’t give up.’
Year 5- During an assembly, we listened to Misty Copeland reading her book “Firebird” and reflected on the messages that she conveyed to us.
Misty Copeland (born September 10, 1982, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.) became the first African American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
The phrase in her story, “…..I’m grey as rain…..low as a storm pressing on rooftops….” prompted these responses from some of the pupils:
“Even if you are having a bad day – don’t give up.”
“Forever is not so far away; if you don’t try you won’t accomplish your dreams.”
“If you give in you will never know how good you could have been.”
When Misty described dancing on the stage and “spinning wishes for new little children,” a child in LW5 said she was “trying to inspire others.”
We also tried to perfect the moves of the Cha Cha Slide Kids dance. One child in SJ5 found it “exhilarating to move to and he enjoyed it.” The children found it fun and energetic and gave each other positive feedback, to help build confidence and self-esteem. We also tried to dance to “Old Town Road” to experience a different genre.
Year 6 – In year 6, the children really enjoyed the Cha Cha slide in the ‘move’ resources of the black history month pack. The resources will also be sent home for half term via dojo to encourage children to try out some of the recipes from different cultures.