Humanities
Welcome to our Humanities Page. Here you will find information and links to websites to support the topics covered in different year groups throughout the year.
To celebrate the lives of the fallen heroes of world war 1, Year 6 produced a diary entry from the viewpoint of a solider in the trenches. In order to produce an accurate representation of what life would have been like, we explored the lives and empathised with soldiers using our knowledge to create some fantastic diary entries.
Year 1
Our Year 1 children took part in Toys of the Past workshops led by Wakefield Museum Service.
Year 4
Egyptian Day
The children worked in various workshops throughout the day. One of which consisted of looking at architecture in Egypt and compared this to architecture throughout the world today. We discussed why it is believed the Egyptians built the pyramids and some of the work which went into this, thinking about how they are still around today. The children then took part in a STEM problem solving activities to build a strong pyramid. The second activity was an embalming workshop where we were archaeologist's discovering some artefacts before then using them to mummify a body, discussing the process and why this helped them in the afterlife. The final activity was looking at amulets and why the Egyptians used these before designing and painting our own amulets.
Year 4
Year 4 took part in an Ancient Egypt workshop. They learnt about the mummification process by completing the process on a mannequin, including removing its organs and putting them into canopic jars, mummifying the mannequin and performing the 'weighing of the heart' ceremony.
Year 6
Here are some of our Mayan mirrors as part of our current History topic in Year 6.
Year 4 History Workshops
Year 4 participated in exciting workshops this week, where they learnt about the life of Roman soldiers and communities in 'Lagentium', otherwise known as Castleford. They had a taste of what it was like to live as a shopkeeper, a blacksmith or a soldier over two thousand years ago and were able to compare these to their lives today.
They had the opportunity to handle precious artefacts, such as statues, pottery and jewellery, where they were able to deduce information about life in the past. Replica Roman clothing was worn, herbs and fish oils were smelt and the Latin language was spoken - all which evoked a detailed picture of a bustling, ancient Roman town.
Year 2 - Eden Camp
As part of our World War II topic, Year 2 went to Eden Camp. We learnt about what life was like for the people who lived through the war. We visited lots of interactive exhibitions, and learnt more about how Britain prepared for the war, what life was like in the Blitz, the role civilians played in protecting people, and what women did in the war. We also got to see watch a fantastic music and puppet show where we joined in with lots of wartime songs.
Year 3 - Stepping Into the Stoneage
Year 3 enjoyed a day of fantastic workshops led by Wakefield Museum Service.
Year 6
In our recent Year 6 Geography topic, we explored time zones. We used this wonderful book from the Cross Curricular Library to help our understanding of time differences around the world and on Art Theme Day, used water colours to create our own pictures depicting the same moment around the world.
Year 2
Our World War II launch day today.The children made ID tags and cards (they all had '1939 names'), and experienced 'blacking out' the classroom windows and making Morrison Shelters.
Private Peaceful
All children in years 4 and 5 will visit the Theate Royal in Wakefield to watch a showing of Private Peaceful.
Commemorating the 100th year anniversary of the end of World War One, Private Peaceful relives the life of Private Tommo Peaceful, a young soldier awaiting the firing squad at dawn. During the night he looks back at his short but joyful past growing up in rural Devon: his exciting first days at school; the accident in the forest that killed his father; his adventures with Molly, the love of his life; and the battles and injustices of war that brought him to the front line.
Winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year, Private Peaceful is by third Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo. His inspiration came from a visit to Ypres where he was shocked to discover how many young soldiers were court-martialled and shot for cowardice during the First World War.
‘Private Peaceful at the theatre is a moving experience that not only tells the story of a young soldier’s final day in World War One, but perhaps more importantly conveys the strength of human spirit.’ – Michael Morpurgo
Charles Waterton Workshops - Year 1
On the 9th October, our children took part in an exciting workshop where they learned all about Charles Waterton, his inventions and his travels to the South American Rainforests. They thoroughly enjoyed learning about the animals Waterton came into contact with and had a great time acting out how to use a blow dart to capture birds! They also made bird feeders and drew their very own animal inspired by Charles Waterton's creations.
Olivia was so inspired by what she heard and saw that she asked her mum if they could visit the Museum this weekend. Olivia and her mum emailed the lovely message below.
Just want to send a quick email to say how lovely it has been to hear how much Olivia has enjoyed learning about Charles Waterton in Mrs Moses class. She is so interested in the topic that she asked if we could go to the museum to learn more about him.
Olivia asked if she could share some of the pictures with her class. The museum was lovely and we bought a book all about him which was available for a donation. Olivia recognised some displays at the museum as she said she had seen them when a lady came into school. Olivia can’t wait to show Mrs Moses and her friends the pictures and tell them all about what we saw.
SM- Parent of child in Year 1
Pupil Voice -
In response to the History/Geography pupil voice responses evidenced below;
We have listened and taken action to ensure that as a staff and school we are continually evaluating and responding to the voice of our children in order to further enrich the curriculum opportunities on offer. Our children suggested to incorporate additional visits to Museums and Castles whilst also sourcing a wide range of visitors to school who could lead workshops would further develop and enrich the curriculum for all children.
We have therefore worked closely with Wakefield Museums and Castles school learning team to weave a range of workshops throughout the academic year for each year group into our curriculum topic blocks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/
http://resourcesforhistory.com/historywebsites.htm
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/history/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/history-for-kids
http://www.historyforkids.net/
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/geography/
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/#