Spring term 2017 – Pupils in upper KS2 have been studying the Romans. This has been a cross curricular project and will culminate in a visit to the Urban Study Centre in Chesterfield with Mrs Wildgoose and Mrs Flower.

Jacob wrote:
During this term we have been learning about Celtic Britain in the Iron Age approximately 700 B.C. (before Christ). We learnt about their fascinating built houses and their interesting jobs. We made a leaflet about their houses and how they were built by wood, wattle and daub. For jobs we had a specific one each, I learnt about the spinner who made the wool from the sheep into yarn (woollen thread) and traded with the weaver so the yarn could be made into clothes that were very colourful. Did you know onion skin makes a lovely yellow and woad made a very popular blue in the Celtic times?
Also we have recently been learning about Pompeii and Vesuvius’s eruption on 24th August 79 A.D. I love it because we have been able to pretend to go back in time to save the city of Pompeii from the natural disaster. The people of Pompeii thought they had upset the gods and made sacrifices to make them happy by giving presents. They had not upset the gods at all, it was just unfortunate that the city was built on the base of an active volcano and it erupted and killed everyone. The people of Pompeii (who were Romans) thought there were giants roaming on the moorlands but they were actually seeing clouds of thick smoke coming from the tiny cracks in the volcano.
Next week we are going to the Urban Centre in Chesterfield to learn more about the Romans and their lifestyle. It will be a lovely way to end the term.

Josh tells us about Pompeii:
During this term we have been learning about when the volcano called Vesuvius erupted and how it affected the people who lived in Pompeii. It happened on the 24th of August AD79 and 2,000 people were killed.
Tonnes of ash came down on the people and lava rocks too. There was a lava flow also coming down the mountain and that was called the pyroclastic flow. The people of Pompeii thought the Gods were angry with them because they did something wrong but they weren’t. The erupting went on through the night and for half a day.
When it was all happening there was another city called Herculaneum and people were already running away but some people were still there. But in Pompeii the wind changed direction and the ash cloud went to Herculaneum and buried that city too. Over 300 dead bodies were found. This was a tragedy for the people of Herculaneum.
When it all stopped 2000 people were buried alive under tonnes of burning rock and ash. It took quite a few years for everything to cool and calm down. The volcano is still active now and could erupt any time. Do you think it will it erupt again?
I loved learning about this because it is a very fascinating subject and our teacher made it really fun so everybody loved learning about it.
Next week we are going to the Urban Studies Centre. We are going to learn all about Romans and how they lived their lives. I am really looking forward to this because it’s a good way to finish the term and it is really interesting to see the weapons and clothes that they had of their own. Also it would be good to see what they looked like and how they dressed. I really want to know how they killed the animals and how they captured them.

Sam learnt about Pompeii:
During this term we have been learning about the volcano Vesuvius which erupted on the 24th of August 79 AD and approximately 16,000 people were killed. I liked learning about this because I have never heard about it before or the facts.
The people of Pompeii already had warning signs that it was going to erupt such as the volcano smoking, tiles falling off roofs, and birds flying away from danger.
The wind changed direction and blew everything over to Herculaneum and they started running away to safety. The people of Pompeii were panicking because they didn’t know what was happening because it had never happened before. They had to put thick clothes on to protect themselves from the boiling rocks and larva that was falling down. They also had to wear a pillow over their head to stop the rocks falling down on them and killing them. There was also another danger that you definitely could not out run because it was much quicker than anybody could run and that was called the pyroclastic flow. (An extremely hot and fast moving cloud of hot gas and rock that flows down the side of a Volcano)
Pompeii was covered in ash and larva which buried the whole city. Over the years the larva cooled down and set. Archaeologists are only just discovering the buried city of Pompeii. The volcano is still active now which means it could erupt any time, and bury the modern city called Naples.
Next week we are going to the Urban Studies Centre at Chesterfield. We are going to learn about the Romans and what they did. I think it is a nice way to end the term. I am very excited about this because it will be interesting to look at the weapons and find out about the way Romans use to live.

Ruby reported:
Since Christmas we have been leaning about the Celts in 1000 BC and what their jobs were and where and what they lived in.
They lived in small round houses made from hazel, pine and other wood. Lime was painted on the walls and a mixture of straw, animal dung, soil and water was used to fill in gaps to keep the draught out. This was called daub.
Some of the very important jobs in Celtic times were: the hunter for meat; farmers for growing crops; the cook for preparing the meals; the blacksmith who made tools and weapons; the spinner and weaver for clothes and yarn (wool and thread).
Archaeologists have very little evidence of how the Celts lived because most of the things have either rotted away or been buried under soil.
We have also learnt about the people of Pompeii being covered up by ash and rock which was caused by the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupting in 79 AD. In our lessons we have gone back in time, with present day evidence to try and warn the people of Pompeii that Vesuvius is about to erupt. We have created posters to put in the bustling streets and leaflets to post through the doors of Roman houses. We may also write a speech to explain about the volcano to perform in the amphitheater or forum in Pompeii.
As part of our history topic we will visit the Urban Studies Centre in Chesterfield at the end of term to learn more about the Roman invasion of Britain.

Ellie wrote:
Since Christmas we have been learning about the Romans and Celtic people and their life style. This has been an interesting and fun topic because it’s not all writing. We have made warning posters, warning leaflets and leaflets about Celtic roundhouses.
In Italy there is… well used to be a city called Pompeii. This city was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August in 79 AD at midday. As well as burying Pompeii, Herculaneum (which was a city on the other side of the mountain) was buried. This was caused by the wind changing direction, but many people from Herculaneum escaped because they had enough time to realise what was happening and left with all the belongings they needed.
The citizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum were mostly Romans, they believed that the gods were angry with them. The god that they thought was the angry with them was Vulcan (the god of fire and volcanoes). They believed it was Vulcan because the day before the eruption they had a feast called the Vulcans feast. During the feast they saw the mountain smoking and kept offering gifts to Vulcan to make him happy. The citizens didn’t know that the mountain was a Volcano and about 16,000 people were killed.
By Ellie