This week, the first piece of homework brought in is nothing short of extraordinary. Vinnie has brought in a handmade, Maya inspired shield which dazzled us all!

Vinnie was able to explain, very articulately, what this interesting piece was, how he created it and why he chose the different materials on it, showing off his knowledge of the Ancient Maya beautifully and bravely in front of the class who were captivated. He showed a lovely sense of spirituality too, reflecting on the moment he had making this shield with his mum, dad and sisters, all helping and having fun with it as a family. 

Thank you for bringing this fabulous piece of homework Vinnie, well done! 

Well done Adam for a really good shield and dagger, inspired by our Maya knowledge. Adam was able to explain his colours and design choices to the class and could tell ius that his double edged sword was made of obsidian, a very precious black glass that they used to make well needed weapons in times of war. Adam even showed us his fiercest Maya warrior pause with his shield and weapon in hand! How terrifying! 

What a beautiful piece of art in this fantastic Maya shield! Rebecca was proud to show her shiny shield representing the God Kukulkan wrapped around the important Ceiba tree that was said to enable the Maya to comunicate with their gods since its branches were so high, they could reach out to them! Well done Rebecca! 

Another breathtaking shield with amazing colours, including purple, a colour only worn by the elite, the nobles and the kings and queens of Maya society. Natasha was able to explain that her shield represented the God Kukulkan too but in his bird form as he came down from the sky to give the cacao tree as a gift to the Maya people, retelling the story of chocolate beautifully. Well done Natasha!

Flo has wowed us this week bringing in this amazing piece. It's a Maya head dress no less! Flo was able to talk about it with great detail, explaining why she had picked the vibrant colours for the feathers or why she had picked this shape or the purple band around the back, representing the colour of the rich and powerful. She could tell us that there were feathers on it because Maya used to revere and use the feathers of the precious quetzal bird, being the image of the god Quetzalcoatl himself. Flo explained that the pipe cleaners structure at the front was meant to represent the shape of a jaguar's face, since we had been working on Maya culture too, their society and warfare and we had learnt about the mighty jaguar warriors. What an impressive display of knowledge Flo! Fantastic job!

David has come in with the most incredible Maya war suit this week and has really impressed his teachers and classmates. He has been able to comment on some of the constructing of the different pieces and was confident in his materials and colour choices, which he explained beautifully. David told us that the purple feathers were representing the rich class and the nobles who were the only people in Maya society to be allowed to wearing the colour purple (unless you became a successful Eagle warrior yourself!). He was also able to explain that the feathers of the prized quetzal bird were very precious to Maya people in those times.

His war suit was mostly made of cardboard pieces ingeniously gathered from packagings and put together with glue and cable ties, painted in bright colours and were added some extra bits like the black bristles of a broom to represent the obsedian blade on his double-edged sword.

Well done David for your inventive design!  

Edie has come in with a very colourful and bright headdress which she described very well to her classmates. She was able to explain why there might have been feathers of different colour on Mayan headdresses and that people wore them because it was a sign of rank or wealth, demonstrating good understanding of our topic this term. She was excited to wear it and proud to take a picture for our website too! Well done Edie!

Today Ethan presented us with two Mayan pieces he has made and which were inspired by our learning in class but also by a fantastic information book that Ethan had showed us before during Show&Tell. Ethan was able to show us the mask in the book and explain what colour it was and that jade was a precious stone only worn by the rich or the jaguar warriors in Ancient Maya times. He explained that the shield represented the Jaguars too and the feathers represented the precious bird that the Maya revered. Ethan even had notes about these items that he was so proud to read to the class. What a fabulous job Ethan!