HUMANITIES

GEOGRAPHY DAY 

Across the final two days of Term 1, eleven of the twenty-two Year 8 Geography classes came together to participate in the biannual Geography Day. Students engaged with a variety of geographical activities relating to several core geographical skills practiced throughout the semester:

• Mapping Madness

• Where in the World

• Geocaching

• General Knowledge (Kahoot Quizzes)

The sound of laughter, excitement (even a bit of shrieking!) was a great way to end the term and we hope the Semester 2 round will be just as fun as this one!

Below are some reflections provided by students eager to share their experiences of the day:

“The highlight for me was geocaching because it was a fun, hands on activity that got us to work together with our team.”  Isaac Lau

“The highlight of Geography Day for me was the geocaching. I enjoyed it the most because it was hands-on and active, and it felt like a real-life treasure hunt! Using the map to search for the hidden stamps around the school made it exciting, and there was a fun sense of competition as our group raced to complete the stamp card before the others. It was a great way to work together with my Kummargee group, while also using our map-reading skills in a practical way. Going through such a unique activity not seen as commonly to us Year 8s was a fun and thrilling experience!” - Harper Chen

“The kahoot because it was fun and chaotic. We worked in a fast-paced environment that really brought the best out of our team.”  Henri Peignoux

MEDIAEVAL DAY

Medieval Day (which has run for at least twenty years at McKinnon in many different iterations), saw eleven forms compete over two days in creative challenges, bringing their study of the Mediaeval world to life. In Kummargee groups, students completed  the following challenges:

• Castle Building

• Armouring

• Feudal Fashions

• Shields Making

• Grand Tournament of Knowledge

All the works were hilariously presented afterwards with a highlight being the different exercises all the knights had to do in their armour to test the armour’s functionality.

Finally, a tournament of “Mediaeval Minute to Win-it” saw everyone competing in different skill-challenges (highlights being the Queen’s Quoits, the Royal Relay and the Moat Crossing) to gain points for their group. 

Below are some student reflections on the day:

“For Medieval Day, we made shields and had a really fun four periods. Our team made a metallic-looking cardboard shield with “8F” on it, plus an origami sword and axe. I liked showing our creations to other classes and explaining how we made them. It was also just fun hanging out with three of my classmates while we worked. Overall, it was a really enjoyable day.” Zac O’Regan

“The presentation part was super fun, and dressing up was a blast. But our favorite part was definitely making the cardboard box castles. We all had to work together and share ideas to build a castle that wouldn't fall down, which was really fun and made us cooperate.” Georgia Newton, Riham Russel and Keira Nixon

My group competed in the Tournament of Knowledge where we played Kahoot, word searches, crosswords, and riddles. It was exciting to cheer on my classmates and watch them present their creations. The highlight of Medieval Day was the friendly competition and working with my classmates. It was a welcome break from our usual history lessons, and we all had a lot of fun! Aarna Budnar

I was in the castle-building group, where we used materials like cardboard, tape, and pens to create our own medieval castle. The first two periods were spent carefully brainstorming, constructing and focusing on the stability of the walls in the castle and building towers. It was more challenging than we expected. The day was full of teamwork, fun, and learning. Thank you to the History teachers for organising such a memorable and enjoyable event. Chamath Dharmadasa