This term Gefen were so excited to start their first PBL project. They looked at the theme of ʻOut in the Wildʼ and answered the big question ʻHow Would You Survive Out in the Wild?ʼ 

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To answer this question they looked at survival skills such as navigation skills. As part of our launch week, the students took part in forest school activities and learned how to create a den, make tools out of wood and cook in the wild. In literacy, they studied the text about Katie Morag who lives on a remote island in Scotland and looked at what it is like to live on a remote island in Scotland. They also looked at different cultures such as nomads and found out how they survive in the wild. By the end of the project, the children were able to create their own models which showed how to survive in the wild and they could all explain why they had included different sections of their mini ‘Out in the Wild’ world.

Teacher’s Reflection

“I think that Gefen’s first project went well. The children seemed to enjoy the activities and were all able to learn different survival skills and knowledge about how you can survive in the wild. It was great to see them develop from first gaining knowledge to being able to share and present their knowledge during the final exhibition. The forest school trip was a great launch activity as it gave the children first-hand knowledge on how to survive in the wild and taught them basic skills.

They enjoyed the trip, however, I feel that some of them could have benefitted from a longer session to learn more survival skills. I feel that the exhibition went well but that it would have been nice to have invited the parents and hopefully that will be possible for our next project. I would also like to incorporate more IT into the next project – e.g. Different video and picture apps for the children.

What was the best thing about the project?

• Seeing the children learn survival skills
• Watching the children during the exhibition day excited to show their work and able to talk about what they had done and explain how you can survive out in the wild

What did I find challenging?

• Finding different opportunities for the children to experience ‘Out in the Wild’
• Trying to cover all the parts of the project in a limited time” – Stephanie Sungtong

Student Reflection

“I liked learning about how to cook in the wild and making the mini world, especially the mini vegetables.”

– Yoni

“My favourite part was the exhibition because I liked talking about it – and I learnt to build a shelter.”

– Ari

“The project was brilliant. I liked learning how to make a fire in the wild!”

– Bobbie

This term we explored the impact Black individuals have made on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM). 

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We kick-started our project off with several launch events including a trip to the Science Museum, Dance workshops in the style of Alvin Ailey, a Frank Bowling virtual art exhibition and exploration and the Museum of London’s online exhibitions on the Windrush and Mary Seacole. During ‘Knowledge Week,’ the pupils learnt about significant individuals including Mary Seacole, Benjamin Banneker, Frank Bowling, Katherine Johnson, Harriet Tubman and Walter Tull. The pupils then focused on a series of books called ‘Bold Leaders’, which shared the stories of key Black individuals in a child-friendly book format. Using ‘Talk for Writing’, the pupils wrote their own page for ‘Bold Black Leaders in STEAM, Gesher edition’, which made numerous books between the two classes. They designed reading activities around their writing including word searches, puzzles and games. Our exhibition was held at Alexandra School to a group of Year 5 students. We created two video products: our Alvin Ailey style dance and our Frank Bowling Art Installations.

Teacher’s Reflection

“I’m so incredibly proud of the children during this topic as they were so open and excited to learn about a new community. Most of the children previous to this had quite a few misunderstandings around the Black community and it was great to address these and to see the children become advocators of the community. The children gravitated toward Black individuals that had made a change in the world and their biographies were focused on who they wanted to write about. I loved linking this topic to Science and having the children design their own parachutes, just like how Harriet Tubman designed the London Underground. This topic gave our children a chance to have their own voice and to stand up for what they believe is right and fair!” – Emily Bacon

“This project was my favourite. I felt it worked well because we had a social purpose and the pupils could see their impact. Writing to the Science Museum in small groups was an excellent addition to the project. The quality of the products has also continued to improve and the pupils seem very motivated by the process. Presenting our work to another school was also a wonderful opportunity although it came with some of its own challenges. Many of the pupils were embarrassed or dysregulated meaning they did not showcase their work. However, the building of a relationship was a really important step for our school. Next time, I would spend more time working on presentation skills or emphasising the importance of us showcasing our work to another school.” – Rowan Eggar

Student Reflection

“I really liked when we wrote letters to the science museum. l was sad there was no black history. Next time I would like to go back to the science museum to see if anything has changed. I didn’t enjoy walking to the post box.”

– Chaim

“I really enjoyed the trip to the other school and showing them our work. Next time I would like to visit the school again to go to the playground. We could share our topic about electricity. I didn’t enjoy that there was nothing there at the science museum about black history.”

– Jacob

During this half of the term, Tamar class tried to answer the big question of ‘what would the world be like without rainforests?’ 

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To do so, they researched and produce a piece of work about a rainforest animal that is on the endangered animals list. They also organised a ‘movie and smoothie’ fundraising event to raise money to help protect these animals. They organised the event by choosing the movie, informing the other classes by making posters and even designing their own posters.

Teacher’s Reflection

“I enjoyed this project as it allowed the students to organise an event which linked to their work. This was the project that they seemed most engaged with and everyone was excited by the event we organised. This was also the project where students had the most independence over the work they produced. I think it would have been nice for the students to have more opportunities to showcase their work and explain how their work fed into answering the big question. Next time I would also like to invite parents or have a separate showcase for parents.

What was the best thing about the project?

– Students had ownership over how they produced their work (e.g., poster, presentations, videos)

– Organising an event which involved the whole school

– Allowed students to design the event

What did I find challenging?

– Differentiating the options for how students produce their work

– The audience for the showcase could potentially have included parents – this is something I have found challenging throughout PBL this year

– Not enough time at the zoo to see rainforest animals

– Found it challenging to refer to the big question throughout and for students to understand the implication of losing animals” – Sam Dexter

Student Reflection

“I loved the project because I enjoyed making my presentation. My highlight was watching the film because I liked Zootropolis. The project taught me how to use google slides.”

– Jack

“Best project ever! I loved the movie and smoothie morning.”

– Yitzi

This term we explored life in Great Britain and the differences between the four different countries by using our leading question, ‘What makes Britain great?’ We explored popular cuisines, and landscapes across Great Britain and made newspaper articles to reflect all of our knowledge.

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We started the project by going on a hop on hop off bus trip around London, which we later used to choose our favourite landmark and sketched them out using different materials. We each researched places that we were from or that we were interested in and presented them to the class. We also had a special afternoon tea, where we took inspiration to create our final product the ‘Great Gesher Bake Off’.

To end our project, we invited all parents to our ‘Gesher Cafe’. Here, they were given ‘Great British’ treats that we made, had front row tickets to our ‘Great Gesher Bake Off’ event, read our newspaper reports and looked at the art exhibition of our drawings.

Teacher’s Reflection

“Considering it was only our second Project for a group of varied pupils with additional needs, it was a huge success! Especially with so many of our pupils who have sensory difficulties around food. They seemed to enjoy the variety of styles of learning and having more control over their own learning – I created digital worksheets for them and many of the pupils mentioned that they enjoyed using the laptops. I am really proud of their top trump cards, as I was trying to think of a more creative way to engage them in their learning which was a success.

I also loved how enthusiastic they were on the PBL Exhibition day and how much they thrived when their parents came in. If I did it all again, I would ensure to incorporate more history lessons as I think it would have enhanced their learning on Great Britain as a whole.” – Rowan Eggar

Student Reflection

“I thought it was good because it was full of fun things like making food and I got to show my parents. Overall it was amazing! It was a good journey in my learning. The only thing was the apple crumble was too cinnamon-y.”

– Ben

“I loved 99% of the project. I didn’t really like the exhibition. The exhibition just didn’t really capture what I like, but at least I got tea! I would’ve liked the exhibition if it felt longer.”

– Daisy

“I learnt that you can do top trumps in a different way. I learnt about Scotland and it has the oldest tree in Great Britain, and that the official animal is the unicorn. I learnt about newspaper articles and different recipes from Britain.”

– Moishy

This half term, Tamar class explored rivers through the big question of ‘what happens on, and in rivers?’

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To do this we visited the Iver Environment Centre and became ‘River Detectives’. We wrote a non-chronological report about river wildlife and designed and built our own riverboats. For our final project, students raced their own boats in Gesher’s first regatta! This took place in the penultimate week of term, with parents and other classes being invited along to watch.

Teacher’s Reflection

“Overall I believe the project was a success with the students being engaged throughout. In addition, this was the first time we had incorporated a trip into our PBL sessions and this provided an excellent real-world experience. It still remains a challenge to adapt the projects to meet the range of needs within the class. However, the more projects I am involved with the more skills I am developing to be able to do this. If I was repeating the project again I would like to have had a larger audience (including parents and other students).

What did I find challenging?

– Weather during the trip meant we weren’t able to fully explore the river.

– Incorporating meaningful literacy lessons into the sessions – we wrote a non-chronological report about beavers but this could have had greater links to our topic.

– Lower-achieving pupils found the technical vocabulary related to the rivers to be challenging.

– Exhibiting the project – only our class were able to visit the river to test the boats.” – Sam Dexter

Student Reflection

“My highlight was going on the trip to Iver Environment Centre and catching creatures with the net. It also taught me how to recognise what fish are.”

– Gadi

“It taught me that projects are more useful than normal lessons.”

– Yitzi