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King's St Alban's
14 March
Hands on learning brings history to life
Year Two: The Great Fire of London
Year Two had a super afternoon with Mr Cadle, The History Man, expanding their knowledge of The Great Fire of London. During the workshop, the children were transported back in time, looking at an array of props, including a model London Town from 1666 and traditional clothes that were worn during this time. The highlight for all the children was when they put out a controlled fire, using some of the methods they would have used in 1666. Well done Year Two: you showed such enthusiasm in your learning. Our huge thanks go to Mr Cadle for such an interesting workshop.
Year Three: Ancient Egypt
Year Three pupils got their new history topic off to an enthralling start with another visit from The History Man. During this workshop, pupils were transported to the Ancient World, where they experienced life as Ancient Egyptians.
They learnt about Egypt’s location and why, due to the extremely dry conditions and arid land, the River Nile was vital to everyday life, whether it was used for travel and transport, providing water for irrigating their crops, washing their clothes, or for drinking.
Mr Cadle, The History Man brought the topic to life with his enthusiasm and exuberance. The children found out about the Rosetta Stone and how it came to be that we were able to understand Ancient Egyptian writing, or “hieroglyphics”. We were all fascinated to know that the word “hieroglyphics” comes from the Ancient Greek: “hiero” meaning “sacred”, or “holy” and “glyph” meaning “carving”. So “hieroglyph” means “sacred carving”.
The pupils loved experiencing life as an Egyptian child, playing with a plethora of toys and games. These included games similar to Snakes and Ladders, Jacks, Draughts, and Noughts and Crosses. The children were excited to see whether they could beat Mr Cadle at any of the games. Other toys included wooden crocodiles, and rag dolls made from the leftover rags used for clothing.
Highlights for the children included making clay scarab beetles and ushabti figures, and they thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as Ancient Egyptians.
One of the more gruesome occurrences in ancient Egypt was mummification, and the children learnt how a mummy would have been wrapped, with each finger being individually wrapped and tied very carefully. They’re looking forward to studying this further later in the term.
