Class 5 Steiner 

Celebrating Learning

Kii 5S Families

Main Lesson 

Our Ancient Greece main lesson is drawing to a close this week. Over the past fortnight, the children have delved deep into the consciousness of ancient Athens and the birth of democracy, the unity and strength of Sparta, and the education needed to fulfil the expectations in each respective city-state. Last week, the children planned, drafted, edited, and wrote polished descriptive reports capturing the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of ancient Greece. 

This week, they are channelling their persuasive skills to write a letter to convince their parents to “move” to either Athens or Sparta, using well-structured arguments supported by all they have learned over the last two weeks. Our class discussions have compared the values, strengths, and ways of life in Athens and Sparta as an important preparation for the persuasive writing task.

The children worked together as a group to experience strength in unity through a Spartan phalanx formation out in the yard, taking great care to remember focused listening to their commander, awareness of movement before, behind, and on both sides of their bodies, and avoiding at all costs falling out of line -because if one Spartan was not in unison with the others, it meant danger for the whole formation. By the end, there was a real sense of concentration and camaraderie as they moved, and it was wonderful to see them adjust to support their classmates and keep the line strong.

In morning circle, we have been reciting excerpts from Homer in Greek, refining our pronunciation and rhythm. The preparation for our class play continues, with the children learning the song lyrics and harmonies with focus and enthusiasm—and a few bursts of spontaneous singing even outside rehearsal time! The children’s voices have grown more confident each day and we are looking forward to sharing these with you at the play in a few weeks.

Numeracy

We have now completed our unit on transcribing times, timetables, and reading itineraries. This week, our focus shifted to angles once more to enhance and deepen our understanding. We are practising to estimate angles within shapes and then use a protractor to accurately measure them. Students are also working with given angles and side lengths and applying these to create symmetrical patterns. This is a wonderful way to blend precision and creativity with mathematical thinking.

Production

Rehearsals for Demeter and Persephone will begin in earnest next week. Students have been learning their songs in class, and we encourage continued practice of lines at home to build confidence. 

Performance date reminder: Thursday, 11th September at 6:30pm. It has been a joy to see the children bring together history, literacy, and mathematics in such a rich way this term. It is a privilege to witness their growth.