An authentic purpose for learning – a makers market.

Tonight our Year 1 and 2 students ran a “makers market” as their last performance for their technology based unit of learning “how do you make”. As you can see by the photo the market was well attended with hundreds of parents participating and buying the products students had made.

The market had a real Asian theme with the students making things like rice paper rolls, chinese lanterns and decorated bowls and cups. Asian intercultural understanding is one of the through-lines in our curriculum.

While I was announcing the winners of the raffle ( the prizes were brightly coloured heat bags made by a year 2 student and her grandmother) I was introduced by a student to her grandfather who had also attended Elsternwick PS as a student from 1942 to 1947 (the war years).

He was telling me about the school during those years where there were 50 in a class with one class per level making a total of around 350 students in the whole school.

The makers market was a big deal with the teachers really extending the children’s learning with an authentic purpose and experience. A great community experience that will be remembered by our students for many years to come.