March 29, 2022 01:51pm
Our children started the term by delving into their new topics with our exciting Immersion Days!
Our termly Immersion Days provide unique opportunities for children across all year groups to engage with their new topics for the term. From cookery and art activities to dress-up and role play, our Immersion Days are designed to provide a fun introduction to pupils’ new topics, and start the term in an engaging and memorable way that leaves the children excited to learn more and delve deeper into their topic.
The broad scope of the topic areas in our curriculum allows our teachers to plan Immersion Days which really open our children’s minds to different areas of history, science, culture, art and humanities. Our Immersion Days are really valuable tools in building our pupils’ cultural capital and offering them new experiences, perspectives and ways of using their Thinking Tools. Most importantly, our children love getting involved and are really enthusiastic about their Immersion Days – they are a real highlight of life at Gordon!
We are delighted to share with you some highlights from our first Immersion Days of 2022 below.
Reception’s Immersion Day kick-started their new and exciting topic, ‘Will you read me a story?’ This topic is all about fairy tales, so the children enjoyed the chance to come into school dressed as their favourite fairy tale characters! From Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood to Jack and the Beanstalk and Robin Hood, our children looked wonderful in their costumes, and spent the day thinking about features of a fairy tale and even making some porridge as they started to explore the Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears story.
A team of amazing superheroes flew into Gordon on Year 1’s Immersion Day, as children dressed up to start their ‘Superheroes’ topic. Year 1 pupils enjoyed hunting for superheroes around the playground, before thinking about their favourite superheroes and how we can describe them. Ending the day using their creative green Thinking Hats, Year 1 children created their very own superhero puppets and performed puppet shows!
Year 2 children enjoyed getting messy in their ‘Muck, Mess and Mixtures’ Immersion Day activities. In the morning, the children experimented with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, mixing them together and watching the exciting reaction. Things got even messier in the afternoon, as the children made their own messy masterpieces by flicking around paint to make abstract art! This is an excellent example of a practical Immersion Day which encourages pupils to learn kinetically.
‘Scrumdiddlyumptious’ is the title of Year 3’s topic this term, and their Immersion Day was all about chocolate, a brilliant way to introduce their new class text, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Year 3’s activities ranged from designing their own chocolate bars to performing TV adverts promoting them.
Year 4 had a magical Immersion Day which introduced them to their new topic: Harry Potter and Potions. The children wrote their own potion recipes and started their new class text, which the children really enjoyed!
Our Year 5 pupils travelled back in time for their Immersion Day…right back to the Victorian Era! The children came in dressed up as key characters and figures from Victorian history, and spent the day as Victorian pupils. The children loved learning about Victorian school life and engaging in Victorian-style lessons and even following Victorian school rules. What better way to learn about an era of history than living a day in it yourself?
Finally, our Year 6 children enjoyed a very creative Immersion Day, as they started their ‘Frozen Kingdom’ topic by looking at the Northern Lights and creating their own stunning interpretations using pastels.
For more information and images from our Term 3 Immersion Days, click here to view our latest newsletter.
We are so glad that our children enjoyed the exciting introductions to their new topics, and we hope to see their enthusiasm extend over the term!