Carnival

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Learn about, plan and stage your own carnival…

This is one of four units designed to be delivered at any, or all three of the stages of Primary school. Through exploration of the topic ‘Carnival’, children at EYFS can develop ‘Building Blocks’ of knowledge and understanding in key areas that will help equip them to make sense of the challenging history of transatlantic slavery later in their schooling. Explore the unit’s ‘Learning Objectives’ to understand how this unit prepares children for approaching this history. The topic has been designed to also deliver key components of the EYFS curriculum.

Children in this unit learn about, plan and stage their own carnival. In doing so they explore some of the historical and cultural significance of carnival in Britain today. Children at EYFS will use the unit as a platform to learn about African, Caribbean and South American culture and how and why it has a strong influence in UK society today. As the children progress through to Key Stage 2, the unit provides a creative and non-threatening entry into learning about the history and legacies of transatlantic slavery.

The unit is structured around a learning cycle and offers teachers a topic that can be tailored according to the needs and interests of the class and teacher.

Stage 1: Entry Activity

Carnival

Children are introduced to ‘carnival’ through images, video clips, music and stories to establish an understanding of what it is (context of UK carnivals eg. Notting Hill; St Paul’s, Leeds). The class (or school) will be staging its own carnival parade and to do this they must find out about carnival, the Caribbean and why we have carnival in the UK.

Teacher Approach

Adult led / supported – drawing out questions from the class such as:
  • Why do people celebrate carnival?
  • Why do the costumes look like this?
  • Where does the tradition come from?
  • Who has been to one?

Big Question: What is carnival and why do people celebrate this?

Stage 2: Immersion

Children identify their challenge and raise their own questions to investigate. Final challenge is introduced.

Big Question: What is carnival and why do people celebrate this?

Pupil voice

opportunity for learners to ask questions to direct the enquiry
  • What do we celebrate?
  • How do we celebrate?
  • What have I dressed up as?
  • Why do we celebrate?
  • Do my family take part in carnival?
  • Have I seen a carnival?
  • Are there carnivals near where I live?
  • Where can I see one?
  • Why do they dress like that for carnival?
  • What kind of music do they dance to?
  • What do I know about the Caribbean?

Teacher Approach

leading the class or dividing into groups to undertake suggested activities
  • Reading stories about carnival
  • Listening to carnival music
  • Watching footage and searching online for images and info about carnival.
  • Using maps to locate Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean and setting up a “Caribbean’ home corner
  • Exploring any local links
  • Reading Caribbean/African stories (Anansi stories etc)

Stage 3: Have a go

Children use their learning to have a go – activities that allow them to make mistakes and develop skills.

Big Question: What is carnival and why do people celebrate this?

Pupil voice

opportunity for learners to ask questions to direct the enquiry.
  • What do we celebrate?
  • How do we celebrate?
  • What have I dressed up as?
  • Why do we celebrate?
  • Do my family take part in carnival?
  • Have I seen a carnival?
  • Are there carnivals near where I live?
  • Where can I see one?
  • Why do they dress like that for carnival?
  • What kind of music do they dance to?
  • What do I know about the Caribbean?

Teacher Approach

leading the class or dividing into groups to undertake suggested activities.
  • Cooking with African / Caribbean foods from ‘home corner’;
  • Listening to and composing Caribbean / African / South American music for their own carnival
  • Creating costumes and masks
  • Working with local artists/musicians to develop their carnival
  • Using museum collections to get ideas for their costume & mask design.

Stage 4: The Challenge

Big Question: What is carnival and why do people celebrate this?

Suggested ‘challenges’ to answer the ‘big question’

Children stage a carnival at school – they make their own costumes based on African and Caribbean and South American themes and listen/mvoe to music from these places.

Additional aspects such as the serving of Caribbean food and telling of Caribbean stories could be incorporated, with parents invited to contribute and to join the carnival.

Children prove their learning by answering the ‘big question’- adult steps back, children are empowered and supported.


Learning Objectives

Making sense of the history and legacies of transatlantic slavery in Britain today requires first some knowledge and understanding of some key areas.  These have been listed in the Building Blocks resource as ‘Learning Objectives’ under the headings

  1. Africa, the Caribbean and North and South America (the African diaspora)
  2. Trade Links
  3. Human Rights
  4. Identity

Carnival within Britain has come to represent a celebration of Caribbean culture and community. The event has a fascinating history and melds together African, Caribbean, South American and European culture and tradition – the convergence of these cultures was and is a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade. Within enslaved African communities, carnival represented a form of resistance – offering a chance to celebrate forbidden African music and culture and mock the slave ‘masters’ and plantation owners. The costumes, customs and musical traditions in modern day carnival in Britain (eg Notting Hill) and around the world (Trinidad and Tobago; Rio de Janerio) contain many references to transatlantic slavery and resistance.

It is important when children learn the history of transatlantic slavery at Key Stage 3 that they understand the many ways in which African people resisted their enslavement and that there were many forms that this resistance could take – physical, cultural, intellectual and passively. Without this understanding, a study of this history can lead to stereotyping, misunderstanding and, at worst, racist impressions of superiority and inferiority. By learning about carnival, children have a positive context within which to place the distressing details of this history and one which helps them to appreciate both its positive and negative legacies in Britain today.

Beginning with simpler concepts at EYFS, then working through more sophisticated issues at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, completion of this unit will allow children to better understand Africa and its ‘diaspora’, human rights and resistance to their abuses and cultural identity– essential building blocks of knowledge and understanding to make sense of transatlantic slavery. All children will learn this history at Key Stage 3.

USI Carnival ‘Building Blocks’ Learning targets

By completion of this unit at Key Stage 2 children will:

  1. Africa, the Caribbean and North and South America (and the African ‘Diaspora’).

    1. Be able to identify some of the Caribbean islands and North and South American countries on a contemporary map and use their knowledge to describe some of the geographical features, traditions, culture and ways of life in these countries.
    2. Know why North and South America and the Caribbean has a strong link to Africa and be able to communicate their thoughts and feelings about this history.
    3. Know how and why Britain has historical connections to these countries that impacted directly on their development and Britain’s, and understand how these connections are reflected within Britain’s diverse society today.

  2. Trade Links

    1. Be able to make links between the history of Britain, Africa, the Caribbean and North and South America to understand why inequalities exist between these countries in terms of trade.

  3. Human rights

    1. Know that people in the world suffer abuses of their human rights and use their knowledge to give examples.
    2. Be able to give examples of when and how individuals have resisted the infringement of their human rights past and present.

  4. Identity

    1. Know that British society is shaped by a long history of various forms of migration from around the world and be able to give examples of how this has influenced our identity, and how Britain is viewed by other countries.
    2. Be able to identify some of the direct influences of African, Caribbean and North and South American culture, individual achievement and tradition on British contemporary life and use their knowledge to discuss this.
    3. Be able to make historical connections between Britain, Africa, the Caribbean and North and South America and use their knowledge to recognise how this history’s legacy has shaped attitudes and values in both negative and positive ways.