The history topic in Year 4 this term is ‘Olympians’ and to kick start it, we had a full day of activities courtesy of the team from Durham University – all about the Ancient Greeks.
First, the children explored where the Ancient Greek empire grew and learned 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, which resulted in 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 explored how much of the English language is actually from different languages around the world – including Ancient Greek.
To understand about history, the children learned about archaeologists and how the use of primary sources – pots, clothing, housing and original armour and weaponry – could help us piece together their lives. The children got to (carefully) hold, feel and learn about original artefacts from 2,500 years ago, along with some exact replicas.
We enjoyed making clay offerings for the Gods and then joined together in the hall to participate in a piece of theatre. The typical Greek tragedy was full of cheers and booing and of course, original Greek elements such as masks and ‘death’s door’.
