HOT TIP |
The WINNERS are...St. Stephen’s CE Primary, Twickenham and Ottershaw CE Junior, Surrey. Congratulations! |
2015 - Year of Mexico in the UK and the UK in Mexico
To play our part in this special cultural exchange ‘Dual Year’ between our two countries, we launched a year-long competition in primary schools focussing on what most impresses children about the Aztecs and the Maya. We received HUNDREDS of entries! Read on... (Written by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
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Just SOME of the entries we received during 2015... (Click on image to enlarge) |
Throughout 2015 we asked schools that we work with to name up to 3 things that most impress them about ancient Mexico/Mesoamerica, and to try to answer as creatively as possible a simple question (below). They were then entered into a free competition for the most creative and original contribution.
After sifting through all the entries - and we had some crackers - our team chose as favourite answer this one from St. Stephen’s CE Primary School in Twickenham*.
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The winning entry. Genius...! (Click on image to enlarge) |
In answer to the question ‘‘If there’s one thing the Aztecs or the Maya could have taught us, it’s.........’ a pupil from class 5EG wrote: to build temples because - no offence to the queen - but buckingham palace would be much cooler if it was a massive temple She’ll go far...!*
Now, how about someone out there turning this idea into a picture...?
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Posters on Ancient Mexico by Yr 5, Ottershaw Junior School (Click on image to enlarge) |
HOWEVER we were also hugely impressed by the splendid range of colourful, informative and well researched posters made by Year 5 pupils at Ottershaw CE Junior School in Surrey. So they are joint winners!
here are just a few of the other answers we received:-
• ‘never to give up, I think this because the Mayans never gave up when challenges faced them’
• ‘how to fight in what they believe in’
• ‘underground reservoirs the size of a football pitch which they built to preserve water’
• ‘loving the family and eating a healthy diet. The healers were the important part of the Mayan community. They believed in natural cycles of life and death’
• ‘healing with nature’
• ‘how to use natural materials to make weapons’
• ‘how to get horns and feathers from animals without killing them’
• ‘how to live a calm and civilised life with no technology!’
• ‘how to make music out of anything we’ve got’
• ‘they treated body and soul as one’
• ‘how to keep rubber bouncy’
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*Lucy from 5EG, St. Stephen’s CE Primary School in Twickenham receives a beautiful hand drawn codex page for her school from the Mexican Consul, Sr. Aníbal Gómez Toledo, March 2016 (Click on image to enlarge) |
[You can download a PDF of the entry form below.
Entries can be on or off the downloadable entry form, can be hand written/drawn, any size/shape/format, prepared on computer or anything else, and can include graphics. Have fun! And consider using this as a creative homework task, especially as follow-up to one of our team visits...
T’s & C’s:-
• No limit to the number of entries per school
• Entries MUST involve the ideas and thoughts of children at the school
• Teachers at the school are encouraged to work with the children to develop ideas but parents and others outside the school are not allowed to influence entries
• The decision of members of Mexicolore’s Panel of Experts will be final
• Winners will be announced in the first week of January 2016.]
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Dawn Winsor and Charlotte Rowsell receive codex bark paper drawings by Dinorah Lejarazú as prizes for Ottershaw School (Click on image to enlarge) |
This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Jan 04th 2016
Download the entry form!