On Friday 14 September Year 4 were fortunate to spend the whole day ‘visiting the past!’ The day consisted of four curriculum-relevant, hands on activities, enhancing the living, breathing experience of the Romans and Celts. The activities were led by the Butser staff who provided direct access to crafts and technologies of the period studied.
Our meeting point was around the fire in one of the round-house. From here the children participated in Celtic jewellery making. They designed Celtic knot rings and work collaboratively to help each other.
After lunch, the children experienced ‘clunching’ to help build a new outdoor shelter’s wall. This was hard work! They had to clunch (grind) chalk, add water and hay and then mould the mixture to build the wall. This was great fun, but very messy!
The afternoon started with a tour of the Roman Villa – seeing how they warmed their rooms, cooked and even saw where they went to the toilet. The children were thankful for the toilet developments over the years compared to the Romans! They completed amazing symmetrical mosaics in the villa to show their understanding of how floors would have been laid.
Finally, the children made a flint wall. They worked extremely hard on this and used the skills that would have been utilised in Roman times. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the activities provided.
We will be using the knowledge learnt at Butser to create recounts in literacy – look out for some examples on our website soon! Thank you to our families for supporting this super off-site visit.
18th September 2018
Category: Whole School