History
It was lovely to have so many parents join us this afternoon for our family learning and to be able to meet the grown ups of our crews. Thank you to all the grown ups for getting involved with the gas mask making, making fighter jets and identification labels. There were some great fighter jet designs.
Today we took the opportunity to immerse ourselves in our expedition. Children came dressed up as evacuees which was lovely to see. The minute the sirens went off, we had to quickly build an Anderson Shelter to protect themselves from the bombs being dropped by the Germans.
Once we realised it was no longer safe, it was time to pack our suitcase and head off to the countryside.
The suitcases were packed and we then boarded the train so we could leave London and move to the countryside where we’ll be safe.
This week we’ve started building some background knowledge about World War 2. We also put the main events into a timeline which took some great team work. Children had to consider days and months due to quite a few events happening in the same year. When we’d completed this, we used the timeline to help us create a knowledge organiser that highlights the key events and people.
To kick start our expedition, Upper Key Stage 2 were whisked off to the Milky Way within the amazing Wonderdome. We were able to fully immerse ourselves into our solar system, exploring each of the planets and learning in-depth information about the Sun, Earth and Moon. Matt, our space expert, was extremely knowledgable about all things space – past, present and future. We were able to discover that Earth is the only planet that humans can live on as it is in the habitable zone (also known as the Goldilocks zone) where the conditions – temperature, water and oxygen – are just right! We were also taught about the first astronauts to travel into space and land on the moon. Did you know there were THREE astronauts? Interestingly, it wasn’t just Neil Armstrong (the first man to step on the Moon) but it was also Buzz Aldrin, who walked on the Moon’s surface alongside Neil, and Michael Collins, who stayed in the space craft to keep it safe. We were excited to find out that there will be another attempt to travel to the Moon next year, with 4 new astronauts set to orbit the moon!
Year Two took a lovely scenic walk up to our local church at Owston to complete our first case study in Christianity. Along the way we ensured we were stewards of our local area and collected litter, we were praised by the public for our lovely manners and care to our community. When we arrived at the church we were excited to explore the grounds and noticed lots of old artefacts which dated back to 1086, Owston Church we discovered was also mentioned in the Doomsday Book. A fantastic piece of history, right on our doorstep!
During this case study we are learning about the Egyptians. We have learnt about who they were and recalled key dates. When we were being historians, in our research we soon discovered that the River Nile was extremely important to the Egyptians as they used it for so many different things: helping to grow crops, fresh water, fishing and transporting goods. Because of the River Nile, the Egyptians were successful farmers and were able to grow a variety of foods which they ate to keep themselves healthy. We then compared childhood today to that of Ancient Egypt and experienced what they did for fun; below are some pictures of board games we created inspired my the Egyptians. We further learnt that the Egyptians believed that if they led a healthy lifestyle in this life, this would then mean they would also live a healthy and a good life in the afterlife. Hence, why the Egyptians placed such an importance on having a healthy lifestyle. Despite the Ancient Egyptians living over 5000 years ago, they were also the first to really look into medicine and began to investigate how bodies worked and how best to look after them. They created medicines, gave massages, performed surgery and used honey for its healing properties and even made toothpaste. We also learnt about the process of mummification and how they took great care in preparing bodies for the afterlife.
Today we continued to be historians, exploring our village of Carcroft. We went on a local walk to see all of the buildings that have changed over time, we had a tick list to find – DFS (which used to be an old pub), Iceland (which used to be a picture house), Coffee corner (Which used to be a chapel) and the old auction room (which used to be a farriers). We noticed and wondered about how any why these buildings changed. Leo suggested that the more people lived in Carcroft so more shops were needed like Iceland and Asda.
We also visited the memorial wheel and did some sketches of it.
On the way back to school we noticed a very peculiar tree, we became scientists and investigated this, it was the workings of the processionary moth.
Today we went on a local walk around Carcroft to see all of the buildings that have changed over time, we had a tick list to find – DFS (which used to be a furniture shop), Iceland (which used to be a picture house), Coffee corner (Which used to be a chapel) and the old auction room.
We also visited the memorial wheel and did some sketches of it.
As we came towards the end of our history case study last week, we consolidated out learning on the process taken to make chocolate. Then we had an opportunity to look at the working conditions before fair trade and after fair trade. We then worked together to sort a range of statements into fair and unfair. We were surprised to see there were a lot more unfair than fair. Finally, we conducted a conscious alley, where we were asked to debate a side of the argument. We really enjoyed this activity.
In expedition, we looked at the process a cacao been has to go through to become chocolate. We were surprised to find out there were lots of different stages of the process: harvest, fermentation, drying, roasting, winnowing, grinding, conching and tempering. We sorting the names of the process, with the correct description and picture. We then sorted at fair or unfair statements. After this, we did a conscious alley where we dug a little deeper into whether we thought it was fair or unfair.
