Class Three have loved learning all about ‘The Romans.’ To end out topic we have researched an area of Roman life and produced a piece of work on this. The finished results are amazing and included shields, baking, models and fact files. There were all fantastic thank you all very much for your support at home. A selection are now on display in the school hall and here are some for you to see.
Class Three have been very busy designing and creating amazing clay tiles. The children looked at examples of tiles from the Roman period and used these as inspiration for their own designs. They then experimented with clay and learnt new techniques. They then utilised these skills when designing and making their final pieces. Here are a few!
The sun was shining once again as Class Three set off to Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum. The children had an amazing time exploring the remains of the fort and town at Vindolanda, walking in the steps of the Romans. Our geography map reading skills were put to good use as we went on a hunt to work out the missing words, whilst also learning about the buildings and their use. We learnt all about the work of the archaeologists with our very own expert! We then looked at all the discoveries in the Vindolanda museum and thought carefully about what each discovery told us about the Romans. We then moved onto the Roman Army Museum and learnt about the different types of soldiers and life on Hadrian’s Wall. We finished the day by looking at the location of the Magna Fort and discussing the future archaeological dig on this site. A wonderful time was had by all and we will be using our new found knowledge to good use in the classroom.
Class 2 enjoyed an amazing trip to Levens Hall recently. Thankfully, the weather was kind so we were able to start our day with an invigorating walk down to the hall through the fields.
On arrival we were greeted by our tour guides and taken on an exciting and informative walk around the house. It is an incredibly old but beautiful building just on our doorstep. We learnt about the history of the Hall and saw many objects that were used by the families that lived there in the past – including chamber pots and bed pans! We also enjoyed spotting a bird and a mouse hiding in each room that we visited.
The morning ended with some of us having the opportunity to dress up in the kind of outfits once worn by inhabitants of the hall.
After a healthy lunch, we spent the afternoon outdoors in the grounds. Our activities included a sensory walk, a trip to the maze, sketching of the hall and games of follow my leader.
This has been an exciting start to our local history topic.
Another glorious day for a trip! Class 3 walked to Sizergh Castle in the sunshine. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the garden and spent some time producing sketches of the building and looking at the features. We thought about our work in the classroom and looked at how the castle had been added to and changed throughout history. We then enjoyed looking around inside. Finally, we visited the wild trail. A fantastic day for all of us!
Class 2 have absolutely loved their last week of the Spring Term! It started with our school trip to Lytham St. Anne’s, for which the weather couldn’t have been kinder. We observed the outside and the indside of the windmill and the children produced some fantastic observational drawings of the building. The Victorian museum on the ground floor of the windmill was a great taster for some of our history learning that we will be undertaking in the Summer term. As well as learning about the purpose and history of the windmill, the volunteers from the Lytham Heritage Group, also showed us around the lifeboat museum. We enjoyed discounted ice cream from Andy the ice cream man and a lovely walk, before returning to school.
For the remainder of the week, we were designing and constructing our own windmills. The children showed fantastic patience and resilience when assembling the main parts, in order to make sure their models were stable and effective. It was another fantastic week of Design and Technology and Mrs Mason and I were were so impressed with the children’s achievements. Well done Class 2!
Class 3 have been finding out what it would have been like to be one of the world’s first artists, painting on the walls of caves with natural materials and only their hands to create images.
Inspired by the work of our ancient ancestors, we travelled back in time to our cave – the school hall – where we worked collaboratively to create images of hands, animals and people.
It was very different to our usual experiences in art lessons. The large pieces of paper had been crinkled and squashed to replicate the uneven surface of a cave wall; they had been positioned vertically so that we could feel what it would have been like to try to paint on walls; and the hall was dimly lit to imitate the dim light in a cave.
Unlike our ancient predecessors, we were able to use graphite sticks, acrylic paints and pastels.
Class 3 have been exploring cave paintings in their sketch books in our recent art lessons.
We have been re-visiting our prior learning by recapping on primary and secondary colours and we have been finding out exactly how to make brown! Did you know that there are three formulas to make it accurately: it is not a case of just mixing as many colours as possible together!
We have been looking at all the different ways to describe and make the endless shades of brown that can be created using acrylic paints, watercolours, oil pastels and watercolours. As well as looking closely at the earthy tones made by natural materials used in ancient cave paintings found in France, Spain and Argentina that date back thousands of years.
Here we are at work in our classroom this week….
What an amazing day we all enjoyed in Keswick last week, which began with a visit to Castlerigg Stone Circle in the morning. Despite the wet, windy weather blowing across the clearing, we were able to get up close to the stones as we considered what their purpose might have been 4500 years ago.
We have several theories – it was certainly a place of very special significance – perhaps of religious importance or a place for people to gather and trade! Other stone circles around the UK, are believed to have been burial grounds, but not Castlerigg, as no human bones have every been found in the locality.
During the afternoon, we moved indoors to enjoy three workshops with the museum staff. We were able to handle ancient stone axes that had been found in a cave on the Pike of Stickle which were believed to have been the remains of a stone-age axe factory! We learnt about how hunter gatherers during the neolithic period survived in ancient Britain and we also became real archaeologists searching for hidden artefacts in the earth.
See us here, learning more about life in Stone-Age Britain and how historians have been able to piece together so much information about this time long before writing was invented!
Class 2 have had a great morning travelling back in time over 350 years to 1666 and experiencing what it was like during the Great Fire of London. Laura and Adrian from Imagining History brought us an exciting workshop involving drama and role play. We created the kitchen in the bakery on Pudding Lane and then used a range of methods from the past to try and put out the raging fire. We threw leather buckets of water at the blaze, used squirts and water carts. We even tried to create a fire break by using dynamite to blow up the burning houses but to no avail. We took on different roles including King Charles 2nd, James, the Duke of York, scared Londoners and Samuel Pepys to create a big picture of the event, then tested our knowledge with a quiz about the key facts.
