This topic explores music of the Far East including the following countries: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Polynesia, Bali and Java. Year 5 will also learn about the importance of the pentatonic scale in Chinese music. They will be given the opportunity to learn to play a traditional piece of Chinese music (Jasmine Flower) on tuned percussion and keyboards and will also be set the task of composing their own piece of music using the pentatonic scale. The class will also be given the opportunity to learn to sing a Filipino & Polynesian song as well as taking part in a classroom Gamelan activity for the last two weeks (they will use classroom tuned percussion to create Gamelan style music). As well as broadening their musical listening and experiences this topic is also great for linking with geography and history too.

'Sing Up with Oxfam’ places singing at the heart of primary learning and uses music as a tool to explore global issues. Oxfam, in partnership with Sing Up, have developed the resource to enable teachers to integrate music inclusively into their classroom activities. It is also a fantastic introduction to the topic of food and farming, introducing pupils to challenges and injustices that people face around the world and encouraging them to think about the reasons behind them. Oxfam would like to thank Rachel Wadham for her help in producing this resource.

It's great to see the Olympics bring so many people together, uniting and inspiring so many in Britain. To be a great sports hero requires many &'divine&'; qualities such as patience, determination, endurance, courage and enthusiasm - and brings so much joy. On TV tonight, discussion on the 'exclusive&' nature of sports - equestrian / sailing. But everyone is getting so much joy in watching. The discussion itself should lead to improvements which bring more people into the different sports. I&';d love to see more games (such as Indian Kabadi) from around the world into the Olympics, too.

A series of fact sheets I received from the Danish Embassy in London prior to undertaking our International schools week. They were incredibly helpful as you can see. I thought I would share them to save resources for the embassy :D PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK :D