Hippo Class spent the day off timetable learning about Katherine Johnson - an influential and incredibly intelligent women. 

We learnt, through the help of secondary sources, that Katherine loved maths and made a career out of it. She became a human computer and completed calculations which led to successful space missions. One particular mission - Apollo 13 - meant that she saved the lives of a number of astronauts after completing some complicated calculations to get the spacecraft back onto the right trajectory. 

We also spent the day thinking about chronology and where Katherine's life sat in comparison to the rest of the civil rights movement. We made human timelines out in the playground. Many of us were surprised about just how recent the events were. 

We ended the day by writing a detailed biography all about her life - they are well worth the read.