In theme lessons this week, we started by taking the husks off roasted cacao beans and pounding the inner bean in a pestle and mortar until it was a fine powder. This was really hard work! Afterwards, we added chilli flakes and hot water to make a drink and the children tasted it. Without milk, sugar, marshmallows and spray cream, this definitely wasn't a luxury hot chocolate and not many children liked it. 

In their art lessons, the children have been studying Mayan artwork and hieroglyphs! They have learned how the Maya was the only civilisation to develop a fully-fledged writing system.  The children have been writing their names using the hieroglyphs and putting together short phrases with logograms. They have been showing resilience by making the symbols neat and accurate, just as the Maya would have done. See below for some examples from HB14.