Today Year 5 shared their learning on the Civil Rights Movement with their parents.
Their learning journey began with a segregation lesson based on the Jane Elliot racial discrimination experiment taught in 1968. She felt that this powerful yet upsetting lesson was a way to show the children how to ‘feel ‘discrimination’ not just learn about it.
We carried out a similar lesson and the impact was astonishing! Whilst the children were initially upset, the learning which followed was something which we are very proud of.
Following the experience lesson, the children learned about the racial discrimination which African Americans have experienced since 1865 when slavery was legally abolished.
They went on to learn about how this discrimination came to ‘a head’ during the 1950’s/60’s in the deep south of America when the Civil Rights Movement began and laws began to slowly change.
During their learning, the children learnt about key figures, key events and reflected on how each of these influenced the changing of the laws regarding segregation.
The children wanted to show their appreciation and gratitude to a chosen individual which had a personal impact on them and so wrote a letter of appreciation thanking them for their efforts and courage. We went on to send these letters to the Martin Luther King Museum in Memphis and hope to get a response.
Finally, they watched the film Hidden Figures which portrays the efforts and discrimination of four amazing black women who were heavily involved in America’s success in the space race. They went on to write a biography about one of these women.
They shared their learning through drama and speech to the parents in a very moving and powerful performance which ended in the children sharing their own ‘I have a dream’ messages and then asking the parents to share their dreams for the future.
We are very proud of all the children in Year 5!
