Marvellous Maya

18th June 2024Sophie Hawkins

As part of our Maya topic in History, we had a visit from a Maya warrior called Big Nose.

We had a fantastic day! We learnt about different aspects of Maya life: what they wore, what they ate, their numbers and even some different ways the Maya sacrificed people to please the gods!

We took part in drama activities in groups acting out Maya stories; how to prepare the most important drink from Maya times (chocolatl); a Maya ball game called Pok-a-Tok; and how to prepare a body for burial.

There were Maya artefacts for us to look at and we thought about what they might have been used for, and what clues they gave us about Maya life.

We ended the day all together acting out the Maya creation story. Did you know the Maya believed the first people were made from corn?

What a great start to our new History topic!

80th Anniversary of D-Day

6th June 2024L Moore

Today we had a special assembly to mark to 80th Anniversary of D-Day. The children discovered what D-Day was and why it was so important. They also found out about men from South Shields who played a role in D-Day. They heard stories from the book ‘Their Finest Hour’ by Terry Ford. Terry has been working with Oxford University and the South Shields Local History Group to collect stories of ‘South Shields Heroes from World War II’. The children enjoyed listening to some of these fantastic stories!

That History Bloke visits Y2L

19th March 2024H Langley

Richard, That History Bloke visited Y2L to teach us all about George Stephenson. We used drama and games to learn about his life, his inventions and how he became known as ‘Father of the Railways’. We also had the opportunity to create our own candles that would have been in a coal mine and made clay models of a locomotive, just like George liked to do when he was little.

Year 3’s trip to Arbeia and The Watch House!

15th February 2024C Whitehead

We have been learning lots about the Romans so we were very excited to visit our local Roman Fort in South Shields. We took a tour around the fort, we learned that it was key military supply base to other forts along the wall. We visited the soldier’s barrack block, it was dark and cold inside their rooms! After that we went into the very impressive commanding officer’s house and spent some time in the Summer dining room. We really got a feel to what life would have been like for a soldier in Roman Britain!

In Geography, we have been learning lots about the rivers and seas around the UK! On our trip to the Watch House, we were able to view where the River Tyne meets The North Sea! We all enjoyed having a go in Mr. Ratcliffe’s jeep, he even let us play the siren before going inside to see how much the lifeboat brigade has changed how they respond to emergencies. We went to the very top of the Watch House and could spot lots of local landmarks- we could even see Tynemouth!

 

 

Year 3 explore local History!

9th February 2024C Whitehead

Year 3 have been learning lots about the Romans. This week, we had a special visitor  who came to teach us all about The Regina Tombstone. This amazing piece of history was found in South Shields! It is usually displayed at Arbeia Roman Fort but is currently on loan to the British Museum.

With our visitor, we looked closely at the tombstone with our historian heads on. One of the really interesting things about this tombstone is that the inscriptions is not only written in Latin, it also has a line of Palmyrene script as well, and this is unique in Roman Britain!

We thought about the meaning of monuments and then designed our own using creative art!

 

 

History in Year 1- Toys from the past!

6th February 2024P Mullea

This half term we have been learning all about toys from the past. We have been exploring how toys have changed from Victorian times to Modern day and trying hard to use historical vocabularly. We can discuss old toys and their properties and discuss how they are different to toys we have today.

As part of our topic we were visited by ‘That History Bloke’- Richard. We had a fantastic time  learning all about life in Victorian times and we even got the chance to play with some Victorian toys! We were excited to see the kind of things children in those times would have played with including Thaumatrope’s and Spinning tops! Some toys are still around today like Yo-Yo’s although they would be made out of plastic now.

We also visited the Discovery Museum and got to see even more Victorian toys. We are now experts in spotting which toys are from the past and which are modern. We took part in workshops were we even got to make our own Victorian toys and completed a hunt around the museum for Victorian toys using clues. We had a fantastic day!

Year 3 Investigate Roman Artefacts

2nd February 2024C Whitehead

Year 3 were so excited when we received a special box filled with with Roman artefacts. We handled the artefacts discussing what we thought they could be. We were so curious to find out about them! At the end of the lesson, we learned that some of the artefacts had been found at our local Fort- Arbeia! We are all looking forward to visiting the fort in a couple of weeks!

Roman Britain- Year 3

26th January 2024C Whitehead

In our History lessons this half term, we have been learning all about Roman Britain. This week we had a special visit from ‘That History Bloke’ (Richard). Richard taught us what life would be like during this time period and in the Roman Army. We handled artefacts from those times and were able to dress up like a Roman, write in Latin and play some games that would have been played!

 

Y2A Beamish Visit

5th December 2023Emma Adams

Y2A visited Beamish to help us learn about the lives of a coal miner and their families. We enjoyed going into the mine, visiting the miner’s cottages and having a Victorian lesson in school!