Rooks at Fishbourne

Some pictures from today's visit to Fishbourne Roman Palace with Rooks. Everyone had a really interesting day investigating the mosaics and artefacts. We also had an excellent talk by one of the museum staff and some fun activities. Thankfully, all the 'slaves' were given their freedom at the end of the trip!

Rooks Roman Day

Today, Rooks became Romans!

We began the day by watching a production of 'Helen of Troy' narrated by Histronics and acted out by members of KS2, with a lot of audience participation.  The result was factual, yet hilariously funny!  A story, I think very few watching will ever forget!

After break, Rooks settled down to some art and DT.  We created a class mosaic of the Bitterne Manor Logo, some Roman Helmets and also Roman Laurels.  The class were incredibly proud of their mosaic and want it displayed with Rooks class and the school moto "Learning to be the Best We Can"

Lunch came around very quickly and food was prepared.  The neighboring Egyptians however highjacked our food and we forced to go into battle to retrieve it.  In true Roman style however, we did not just run in, we discussed strategies and carefully planned our battle strategy.  As a result WE WON! and a delicious feast followed (not so sure the olives went down that well, but many of the class were willing to at least try them!)

A fantastic and victorious day was had by all!  Hopefully the Roman Army, now safe in their own territory, will get a good nights sleep ready for the last day of term.

Rooks Trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace

Today Rooks have had a fantastic time exploring the Roman Palace remains, at Fishbourne.

When we arrived, the children were able to participate in a Roman Activity workshop (as slaves) which included learning new skills.  Some of these included; building an arch, a roof using tiles (that didn't leak!), working as scribes (writing on wax tablets and using Roman writing implements), mosaic building and yarn spinning!  All important tasks for a Roman slave if they wished to be useful to their owners.  Some slaves even got the opportunity to work in the kitchen, supervised by one of the head slaves Mr Adams!

Throughout the workshop, we were unaware we had a Prince and Princess in our midst.  They eventually showed themselves and were dressed in expensive royal finery by their two personal slaves.

After being released from slavery, the children had the opportunity to watch a short film about the Roman Palace at Fishbourne.  Afterwards, we had the opportunity to explore the museum, mosaics and the Roman gardens.  These contained information about the history of the Palace and archaeological site, as well as some of the many artifacts that have been uncovered.  The most popular discovery with the children, was the skeleton that was uncovered during the excavation of one of the mosaics.

 

Rooks Science Day

In Year 4, we have been looking at Sound.  Over the past few weeks, Rooks have been experimenting with the pitch and  amplitude.

Linking to our Roman Topic the children were set a challenge.  They had to send a message on the battle field, to the entire army to let them know it was time to GO!  We began our day discussing ways we could communicate with a large number of people over distance.  The children came up with a number of suggestions.

After much discussion the children decided to see how sound is affected by distance.  So after planning and predicting, we created our own battlefield outside (without the swords and shields).  We measured distances and tested our theories.