History: Blog items
Year 4 - Discovering Tutankhamun's Tomb
Date: 14th Mar 2023 @ 7:04pm
Today, like Howard Carter in 1922, we entered King Tutankhamun’s tomb. What an experience searching around for clues about the young pharaoh. The tomb was extremely dark, so we used torches to make our way round. Once, we had made note of things we had found, we went back to class and started to discuss the sources of evidence that has survived thousands of years and how they were discovered. At first, we watched the opening scene of a film called Prince of Egypt. This showed that the pyramids were built by slaves. We then investigated evidence as to whether or not that is true. There were argument for and arguments against, however overall mainly agreed that that was not true.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 6:24pm
Today, as part of Science day we learnt about a number of different astronauts including Neil Armstrong. We watched a video which explored Neil Armstrongs life and the key events that led up to what he is famous for! We learnt that Neil Armstrong was born in 1930 and his first time in a plane was when he was just 5 years old. We placed key events in his life onto a timeline, including 1969 when he became the first man to walk on the moon!
Date: 9th Mar 2023 @ 2:55pm
This week, we continue practising and making up a Roman dance. We listened to a piece of Roman music first. We found the beat and decided the type of movements we needed to be making.
Year 4 - Finding the ancient tombs
Date: 7th Mar 2023 @ 6:55pm
This week in History we used our History, Geography and Oracy skills. We started by locating Egypt and England on a world map, then we zoomed in to Europe and North Africa so see how far away Egypt is. Next, we were given a map of just Egypt and in groups we had to discuss and decide where we think would have been best to built the Pharaoh tombs. We came up with some sentence starters to support each other in our discussions. We decided that nearest the River Nile was the best option because of the supply of water for not only building but living whilst building the tombs/pyramids. Many groups recognised mountainous areas on the map of Egypt and we discussed that this would be impractical for building. We then zoomed in on an area called Esna and Thebes - an area in The Valley of the Kings. This is where the tombs were built. To finish the lesson we did a zone of inference task with a drawing found in the richly decorated tomb of Nebamun - discovered in 1820.
Date: 25th Feb 2023 @ 8:43pm
Today we began our History journey by being ‘History Detectives!’ We were given 8 visual clues that revealed details and ideas as to why Columbus is famous, even though he died 500 years ago. We worked in groups to look at these historical sources, writing key words or phrases that came to mind around the outside of the photos. We then combined all our ideas on our class mind map.
Reception Past and Present Teddy Bears
Date: 22nd Feb 2023 @ 9:12pm
Today in Reception the children were invited to bring their favourite teddy bear to school. The children enjoyed talking to their friends about their teddy and why it is special to them. Mrs Clark then introduced her teddy which was given to her by her nana. He was 72 years old. In small groups we compared how the teddies had changed over time
"In the past there was only teddy bears" William
"The old teddy bears were made to look like real bears" Lana-Rose
"Newer teddies can be different characters like Minnie Mouse and Spider Man" Ishaanvir
The children then worked independently to sort the pictures of different teddies in to past and present.
Year 4 - The start of our Ancient Egyptian adventure
Date: 20th Feb 2023 @ 7:26pm
Today we started our Ancient Egyptians unit. First, we did our start of a new unit timeline flashback. We were given flashback cards for everything we have learned so far in History at Boundary and we had to put them in chronological order. We also went to look at where Ancient Egypt appears on the big timeline in the hall and we soon realised it is a HUGE period of time – around 2500 years. Next, we were given a placemat on our tables and together we noted down anything we already knew from the picture stimulus’. Then, we watched a video and did information runs in our table groups. These activities meant that we learned as many new things as we could about Ancient Egypt, spoke about them to peers on our desks and told the rest of the class. After that, we looked at an anachronism picture and we had to use the knowledge we had gained so far to spot the things wish were the odd ones out. Lastly, we went on an Ancient Egyptian Now, Press, Play adventure where we learned more about the afterlife and how pharaohs were preserved.
Date: 20th Feb 2023 @ 6:55pm
In our last History session we took part in a Viking themed Now Press Play session. The children learned about:
- Life in Viking Denmark: the Assembly, reasons for leaving Scandinavia, longships
- Raids on monasteries and the invasion of England
- Viking attacks on Wessex and resistance by Alfred the Great
- Viking religion and gods (such as Thor), and writing in runes
Year 3- Stone Age to Iron Age Museum
Date: 19th Jan 2023 @ 2:52pm
In History, we were posed with the question 'What can we learn about life in the Stone Age?'. We answered this question by firstly studying Skara Brae. We looked at what has been discovered and we infered what that could tell us about life all those years ago.
We then moved on into our very own 'Boundary Stone Age to Iron Age Museum' where we were able to explore a varety of artefacts from the Stone Age. Once again, we infered what this could tell us so that we could build up a picture of life in the Stone Age.
Year 6 - A living graph in history
Date: 16th Jan 2023 @ 3:54pm
In today's history lesson we considered the question: How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get? We looked at key points during the Viking period and created a living graph that showed when the Vikings were more or less threat to conquering England.
Date: 6th Jan 2023 @ 8:17am
Today we began our French unit - les Vikings. This involved listening to a song and translating the lyrics from French to English. We then worked through slides that introduced the Vikings and key information in French, which we translated again into English. We are now able to translate much larger sections of French because of the work we did during Autumn term.
Year 6 Introduction to Vikings
Date: 6th Jan 2023 @ 8:08am
Today we began our new History unit - The Vikings. We began with a flashback of all the history we have covered during our time here at Boundary. We discussed together where we thought each key event/period of time went on the timeline and researched dates so that we could accurately order them.
Then we had a quick recap on Anglo-Saxons, which we covered in Year 5. We talked about why we learn about Anglo-Saxons and Vikings together. We then looked at who the Vikings were, where they came from and why they came to Britain.
Date: 5th Jan 2023 @ 3:45pm
Before we started our new topic on the Stone age man, we discussed BC and AD for the timelines in history. We established that the Stone age was the only thing in our timeline that was BC and the rest of the pictures were all in the last 600 years. We put ourselves in the timeline too!
We went on the look at picture sources to answer the question "Was Stone Age Man just a simple Hunter Gatherer?"
Year 2 Stick Transformation Project
Date: 2nd Dec 2022 @ 4:37pm
Today, in Art Year 2 continued our Stick transformation project. Inspired by Chris Kenney and our knowledge of soldiers we began sculpting sticks into our very own soldiers. Next week, we will design our soldiers some clothes and dress them appropriately for battle. We had to demonstrate many of the characteristics including perseverance and determination and some of us even showed excellent patience and teamwork.
Date: 1st Dec 2022 @ 3:01pm
We worked in small groups to create a ‘living graph’ relating to the fighting between Anglo-Saxon kings and the invading Vikings. We placed events on the graph in chronological order, and then, in discussion with our group, moved them up or down on the Y-axis based on the level of threat to the Anglo-Saxons. We then used this to draw the shape of the graph on our own axis and picked 3 key events during the period.
Date: 24th Nov 2022 @ 9:01pm
This week, as part of our History unit 'Remembrance', we continued our learning journey by exploring the key question 'What was it like for a soldier in World War 1?' We began the lesson by learning the key word trench and discussed what one of these was before we split into groups to explore different aspects of life for soldiers in the First World War. We explored how life was in their free time, the trench conditions, food as well as the dangers of being involved with the war by looking at different pictures and interpreting what they were showing us. Once we had explored our given area, we were all very brave and presented our information to our friends so we all had an understanding of all elements of the war.
Date: 22nd Nov 2022 @ 12:03pm
This week we have started a new Reading into Writing journey. For this journey we are learning about playscripts. We have started our journey by reading some good examples. The first example we read was a playscript about Boudicca. We found the features of a playscript then had a go at acting the scene out.
Date: 20th Nov 2022 @ 8:08pm
As our journey into Anglo-Saxon Britain continued, we found out how the Anglo-Saxon kings were converted to Christianity by St. Augustine, who was sent to England by Pope Gregory I in 596AD. After learning the facts, pupils were challenged to use their history skills to uncover sources of evidence and decide 'how we know' what we know about the Anglo-Saxons.
Date: 16th Nov 2022 @ 7:10pm
We began our history topic with reading the story ‘Too Many Toys.’ We read and discussed the story, talking about other children’s favourite toys, before moving onto identifying our own favourite toys. We found out what Miss Kay’s and Mrs Websters favourite toy were and listened to the reasons why, before contributing our own thoughts and ideas. We became confident using the phrase ‘My favourite toy is ___ because ___’
'My favourite toy is Lightning McQueen because it has flames and can go fast'
'My favourite toy is a ukalele because it can make music'
'My favourite toy is Elsa because she has long blonde hair and ice powers'
Date: 18th Oct 2022 @ 7:47am
Today we had our first Now Press Play session and we chose to listen to a Maya story. It involved the tale of a young Maya child, who is forced to leave their village when drought hits. On route, their mother is kidnapped by warriors from Tikal. Along with their friend - Ixcel - and your pet jaguar - Soft Paws - they make their way to Tikal to get their mum back. We enjoyed the session as it allowed us to imagine what life was like in a Maya village.
Date: 17th Oct 2022 @ 2:57pm
This month, as part of our School celebration of Black History Month we have been completing our writing journey about Rosa Parks. As part of our GPS lessons we looked at information about Rosa Parks and the influence she had on Black rights by refusing to give up her seat and wrote statements about her life and questions we would have liked to have asked her if she was still alive. We will use our knowledge to write a letter to Rosa thanking her for her hard work and determination.
Year 4 Why did the Roman Empire end?
Date: 6th Oct 2022 @ 2:45pm
This week, we started to focus on why this huge empire came to an end. The Romans were so strong and well-trained, but eventually invading so much of Europe caught up to them. Having such a vast army all over Europe was costly and soon issues were occuring. Have a listen to some of the children explaining more reasons...
Year 6 - How did the Maya empire grow to be so successful?
Date: 28th Sep 2022 @ 11:42am
Our History lesson today involved looking at how the Maya managed to survive in jungle conditions for such a long period of time. We learned that they were skills at clearning large areas of woodland in order to create flat land. They also learned how to farm the land and when the best time to grow crops was. Over time, they were able to gather precious raw materials in order to sell and trade with other Maya states. In turn, as states grew powerful, they were able to attack and conquer neighbouring cities and claim their land.
Reception Once they were giants
Date: 20th Sep 2022 @ 8:55pm
Recption have been reading the story 'Once they were giants'. The story is all about a little girl growing up in a supportive and loving family. Throughout the story we discussed the different skills the little girl learns as she grows like sitting up, crawling, walking and talking. As a group we talked about the different things we have learnt since being a baby.
"I learnt to go to the toilet and not in my nappy" Kazimir
"My mummy taught me to eat food and not throw it on the floor" Kayden
"I learnt to ride my bike" Nathanial
We talked about how all these things we had learnt were in the past and discussed what we might learn to do in the future.
"I'm going to learn to read at school" Lana-Rose
"I'm learning to write my name" Miley-Rae
"We are learning numbers at school" Alfie
"I want to learn to drive a car like my dad" Ishaanvir
We then looked at the life of the queen and how she grew and changed over time. We looked at pictures of her as a baby and discussed how she changed as she grew into a child, an adult and then finally an elderly lady. We talked about all the different things she learnt to do and achieved throughout her life and then set some goals for ourselves.
Date: 20th Sep 2022 @ 4:03pm
This week, we found out why Boudica revolted against the Romans. We also looked at the way she has been described in the past and what image we have of her. We decided that she is strong, brave and determind. We then had the opportunity to experience a Now, Press, Play session all about Boudica's revolt. We were a boy, who's father was fighting for the Romans as Boudica revolted.
