Dragon Sanctuary

On a wet and windy September day, Mr Trantor arrived in Swift Class with a package.  He told us he had been handed it by a motorcycle courier, and had been told to deliver it straight to us in Year 4.  

After much debate and discussion, we decided to open this mysterious package.  Inside was a most treasured item we identified as a dragon egg. There was also a letter in the package, with some instructions.

A few days later, we received a video message from the mysterious author of this letter, outlining a task only we in Swift Class could complete: How can we save an endangered species? 

Our mission was large, complex and top secret.  We began by learning about dragons and how scientists classify animals. Using branching databases that we made, we decided that dragons are most similar to reptiles, but with the ability to fly.  We then realised we needed to find out as much as we could about reptiles, so that we could find a suitable location for a sanctuary.  

This involved a lot of research, map work and learning about climates and how reptiles are cold blooded and can adapt to their surroundings.  We learnt about food chains and used this to help us consider a suitable location for the dragons where they would be the top predator in a food chain abundant with energy-rich prey.

Eventually, we found a suitable island perfect for the dragon’s needs: remote, temperate, with lots of wild prey on which they could feast.

Insh Island, off the Western Coast of Scotland was to be the home of our new Sanctuary.  We drew several drafts of different sketch maps including the plans for the sanctuary and made 3D models of the island to show the colonel.  

The day of our pitch arrived, and we 'Zoomed' the Colonel and presented our work to him.  He agreed that Insh Island was a suitable habitat for the dragons, and was impressed at how we had considered their natural behaviours and comfort in our designs.  

Our designs have been passed onto the construction team at the M.O.D. (Ministry of Dragons) and the build is underway.  As a show of gratitude for our hard work, the Colonel invited us to name the dragon egg which has been collected and is being incubated at a lab in Surrey.  The names we chose for the unborn dragon were Dusty Sting if it is male and Ruby Swift if it’s female.

Classroom Updates

As part of our Project Based Learning today, we have been thinking about personal hygiene. We made a list of our own ideas, sang a 'Brush Your Teeth' song, brainstormed with talk partners, sketched ideas on whiteboards & then refined our work on paper with drawings & sentences.

During R.E-flection Day, Swift class spent the day studying Sikhism. A central concept is the idea of Seva (Selfless service). Having learnt about this we prepared & cut apples, carrots & oranges and made juice to serve to Year 3, then made flags with the Sikh symbol (Khanda).