Dark Ages Day

Hooray Hooray it's the Dark Ages Day!!

Everyone came into school dressed for the Dark Ages, ready for a fierce battle!

The children began their victorious Viking day by playing a game of strategy which involved rival tribes battling against each other to dominate Britain. 

One of the key questions the children discussed was how Britain was developed through a collection of different groups of people. We then made this relevant to their identity in society, realising how we all have different hair colour, skin colour and other visible differences, understanding that it is still the same today!

In groups, we explored different factors that influenced settlements and mind mapped what we would need in choosing a desirable location.

Using maps of the UK, we researched different towns and cities that include Saxon names, some were local including Astbury (bury means fortified land) and Macclesfield (field means a field). 

We then created our own Saxon settlement on a map and named them after the Saxons. 

After break, we moved onto learning about the Vikings, discovering how gruesome they really were! We learnt how they travelled to Britain on longships, which had flat bottoms so that they could venture through rivers easily.

Before lunch, the children were shown some pictures of objects from Sutton Hoo.  They were then asked to describe one object to their partner and they had to draw it (wthout looking).

After our Dark Age lunch, we rushed out to the field where we built a roaring fire, and furthermore began designing and building our own Anglo Saxon hut out of materials we rummaged to find in the forest. 

Finally, we learnt some listening and note taking skills by carefully selecting key information about the Dark Ages which was being read out to us. 

If you would like to take part in more hands-on archaeological fun, then Mr Machin is running a holiday school on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of December. You can come for just one day, or all three!

Further details can be found at: 

http://cmachin1980.wix.com/learningletloose#!archaeology/gw480

If you would like to book a place, please email cmachin1980@gmail.com