The history topic in Year 4 this term is ‘Olympians!’
The children had a great day this week with our visitors from Durham University, learning all about the Ancient Greeks.
First, the children explored where the Ancient Greeks lived and all about the different Greek city-states. We learned about symbols used by some of the states and how different it was for men and women – this caused some intense debate. Over the day we discovered so many ways the Ancient Greeks had influenced the world, with arts, democracy, maths and architecture. We spent time translating Ancient Greek text and exploring real life artefacts found by archaeologists from Ancient Greece. The children held pots and jugs made from clay or bronze, tried on a helmet, held a replica shield and many more objects – some up to 2,500 years old.
The children turned into architects when they had these objects, trying to work out what the object would have been used for, drawing detailed pictures of them and writing clear, brief descriptions of them.
We enjoyed making clay offerings for the Gods and then joined together in the hall to participate in a piece of theatre. The children learned that during the Ancient Greeks, only men were allowed to perform and they took on lots of different roles, using masks to portray the characters. At the end of the piece, the children had to decide whether it was a comedy or a tragedy, with many struggling due to how funny they found the play but also how many tragic events occurred!
