ENQUIRE NOW
Latest News
Homepage News and Media Latest News

Deep dive into themes at Wellington: Where did Mr. Darwin go?

22 Apr 2021

At Wellington College International Hangzhou, class teachers plan and deliver Theme lessons based around a topic which lasts for either a half or whole term. The focus can be drawn from any curriculum subjects such as History, Geography or Science. As a teacher, this approach gives me the opportunity to plan and deliver lessons which are tailor-made for the needs of pupils at WCIH. I can take into account children’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds when planning, while, at the same time, ensuring curriculum coverage and opportunities are provided which lead to deeper thinking about the learning objectives in question.

 

Where did Mr Darwin go?

 

For example, our Theme question ‘Where did Mr. Darwin go?’ gives pupils living in Hangzhou the opportunity to learn how to use an atlas to locate places around the world, understand the importance of lines of longitude and latitude and know how these are used to find geographical locations. The pupils are then asked to use these geography skills to understand the journey around the world Darwin took as a young man. In addition, we can use this topic as a jumping off point for a range of other subjects in the curriculum. In English, we read two fantastic books about Charles Darwin and then use these as model texts to write, edit, improve and publish our own Darwin biographies and diaries. Meanwhile in Science, we learn about evolution and inheritance, using Darwin’s life, journey and discoveries to help us to understand how animals have adapted over time and why fossils are so important to scientists.  

Making these links between subjects enables young learners to find out about a topic in depth, whilst also learning the discreet skills and knowledge required of each curricular area. Ultimately, it sparks pupils’ interest for subjects and topics across the curriculum, turning them into enthusiastic, enquiring Wellington learners. 

 

Year 6 themes & recommended books

 
 

Myths and legends

 

 

The Maya

Out of Africa

 

 

 

Existing, endangered extinct

 

Mission to Mars

 

 

Champions for change

 

Related Articles

Huili Forest emerges in the desert of Inner Mongolia – we planted trees and hope27 Jun 2023
The world is not left to us by our parents, it is lent to us by our children. ——African proverb The duty of protecting the environment falls on everyone’s shoulders. At Wellington College Hangzhou, w
Read More
We are Wellington: How we grow a maths champion at Wellington?05 Jun 2023
Wellington children performed exceptionally well in their debut at the *Caribou Mathematics Competition this year compared with their peers across Zhejiang province, China and the whole world! The st
Read More
Embracing AI: Microsoft Empowers Wellington College China26 Jun 2023
The recent emergence of ChatGPT has brought artificial intelligence (AI) to the forefront of all our discussions, with people from all walks of life enthusiastically discussing the challenges and opp
Read More