Amazing Artefacts Quiz

Here are some photos of the incredible Roman artefacts that 3V investigated in their history lesson this afternoon. 

Can you guess what each one was used for?  (Answers at the foot of the page)

Item 1

Item 2

Item 3

Item 4

Item 5

Item 6

Item 7

Item 8

Item 9

Item 10

Item 11

Item 12

Answers: 

Item 1 - a funerary urn (it would have contained the ashes of a cremated person).  Historians are not sure why these urns have faces.  It may be to commemorate the deceased person, or it may represent a Roman God.

Item 2 - A terracotta roof tile.

Item 3 - This is the handle from a large Roman pot, called an amphora.  

Item 4 - This is a metal strigil, which Romans used when they were keeping themselves clean in the bath.  They used this instrument to scrape away the sweat and dirt from their skin.

Item 5 - These are sherds (pieces) of Samian ware pottery - they would have been very expensive pots in Roman times.  One of the pieces has been repaired using a metal staple.

Item 6 - These are Roman oil lamps.

Item 7 - This is the centre of a Roman spindle wheel.

Item 8 - This is a musical instrument called a sistrum.  It jangles when you shake it!

Item 9 - This is a terracotta ridge time from a rooftop.

Item 10 - These are mosaic tiles.  They would have been part of a larger decorative picture.

Item 11 - These are wax tablets with a stylus.  Romans used them to write messages and letters to each other.

Item 12 - Various Roman coins.  You can see the names of some of the Roman Emperors on them.

A Roman History Mystery

We had an exciting afternoon in 3V following in the footsteps of Archaeologists from the University of Wales and the Gloucester Life Museum as we investigated a real life 'History Mystery.'

A few years ago, Archaeologists discovered the remains of an ancient building in a farmer's field in one of the most westerly points of Wales.  Geophysical surveys revealed the outline of a number of rooms, and preliminary digging showed the remnants of ancient stones.  The remains looked very much like those of a Roman villa - but, at that time, historians did not believe that the Romans had ventured so far to the west of Wales.  It was a bit of a mystery!

Digging deeper, the Archaeologists found a number of artefacts on the site.  Could these be Roman remains?  Or were they merely the remains of a Celtic village?  

The Geophysical Survey (which works a bit like an X-Ray for the ground) revealed the outline of an ancient building

The children knew that the Celts tended to build roundhouses with wooden frames, which were usually clustered together in small groups - so these rectangular remains did not fit the description.  Could it really be a Roman villa instead?

We watched a short video showing a reconstruction of a Roman villa to find out what a Roman villa might have looked like (you can watch it here: Roman Villa Reconstruction).

As we watched, we were careful to think about the kinds of things that might have survived for nearly 2000 years under the ground.  This led to some interesting discussions!

Mrs Vaqueiro then explained that artefacts that had been retrieved from the site were now on display in a museum, but that the museum had been kind enough to lend some of these precious items to us, so that we could examine them closely, and try to find out more about the people who lived or worked in the ancient building.

Each table group had a selection of artefacts to look at.  Some of them were quite mysterious, and the children handled them very sensibly as they tried to work out what they were, and how they might have been used.

What could this mysterious fragment be?

The children were able to handle real Roman artefacts and try to work out how they had been used. This piece of Roman pottery had a curious metal staple through it - why?

This metal item jingled and rattled when shaken: could it have been a child's toy? Or could it have been used in a Roman temple?

There were many theories about this big slab of terracotta.  It had an interesting pattern on one side.

The children thought this artefact smelt strongly of crayons.  They had some interesting theories about why there was a small piece of string inside it too.

This artefact had a decorative motif that looked a lot like some of the Roman coins. The children wondered if it was what the Romans had used to make their coins.

The sandals were quite obvious, but with feet that size, who might they have belonged to?  Why did they need the metal studs in the soles?

These wooden blocks had wax tablets inside, and they were accompanied by a metal stylus.  The children surmised that the Romans used them for jotting messages - but why didn't they just use paper and pen?

These tiny tiles fitted together to make a pattern.  How might they have been used in the Roman house?

The coins had plenty of clues: we looked for the names and portraits of Roman Emperors, and also tried to see if we could find any dates to help us decide how old they might be.

Once they had had a good look at the items, the children reported back on their findings to the rest of the class, taking questions from the audience.  Their discussions were very thoughtful and mature, and there were some very carefully considered suggestions about some of the more mysterious items.

We finished the lesson by asking ourselves what we had learnt about the occupants of the building, just by looking at the things they had left behind.  We also considered the things that the artefacts can't tell us: we don't know what the people looked like, or how many of them lived there, or whether they were good or kind people. Artefacts can help us learn a lot about some aspects of history, but they will not always tell us everything.

Mrs Vaqueiro

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Question Time

Every few days (and more often if we remember!) we try to update our 'Big Question' in the classroom.  As always, there were lots of great suggestions, but today we chose Matty's question:

"Why can't we see the air?"

Why not do some research to see if you can find out the answer?


Mrs Vaqueiro

Class Assembly

3V's class assembly - "Rotten Romans" -  will take place on Wednesday 14th March.  

Children have been given copies of the script to take home, so please ask them to practise their lines as often as they can, so that we can all be word perfect as soon as possible!  

Everyone is very excited and looking forward to performing the play for parents and carers as well as the rest of the school.

Celts -vs- Romans

This afternoon in 3V we have been continuing our studies of the Roman Empire, looking particularly at the invasion of Britain in AD47.

We learnt that, before the Romans came - tempted by Britain's rich land and precious metals - Britain was populated by tribes of Celtic people.  Britons lived in England and Wales, while the Gaels lived in Scotland and Ireland.  The Celts were tribal people: each local area was governed by its own leader, and there were often fierce rivalries between neighbouring tribes.  Celtic warriors were fearsome in battle, but lacked the organisation and training of the Romans, whose ruthless efficiency helped them to victory.

Celtic people lived off the land, raising crops and keeping animals for food.  Their homes were called roundhouses, and they were simple, one-room buildings in which the whole family lived (sometimes with their animals too!).  The houses themselves had wooden frames covered in wattle and daub, and a straw-thatched roof with a hole in the centre to let out the smoke from the fireplace.  

Although their homes were simple, the Celts were very skilled in ironwork, and were able to design and create tools, weapons and jewellery with intricate motifs.  Some of these still survive today!

Once we had learnt a little about the Celtic settlements, we had a go at creating a Celtic village of our own.  We used a special template and followed the instructions to build our own 3D Celtic roundhouses from card.

Take One Picture: Take Two

In this week's Art lesson, the children looked again at Seurat's 'Bathers at Asnieres,' focusing on the areas where Seurat had started to use the pointillist technique.  

Pointillism is a technique whereby small, uniformly sized dots of paint are applied to the paper or canvas, building up to make a picture.  Seurat began to use the pointillist technique for part of his 'Bathers' picture, adding details towards the end of his work on the painting.  He later became well known for using the pointillist method in many of his great works.

To reflect their understanding of Seurat's technique, the children worked on the next part of their pictures for our new corridor display: the yachts themselves. Using cotton buds and varying brown shades, the children used the pointillist method to paint printed templates.  The results were really effective!  

Rhythm (but no Blues)

In music, 3V continued their work on rhythm this afternoon.  First, we practised clapping the four different rhythm patterns (using those popular drink names to help us remember how many claps each one should have).  Then, we tried putting them together, so that different groups were doing different rhythm patterns, but all were in time with each other.  It sounded really good!

Then, we had a go at writing our own rhythm pieces, and performed them for each other. We enjoyed trying to identify each rhythm that the performers had chosen.  

Finally, we had a sneak preview of next week's music lesson, as we will begin studying a piece of reggae music: Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds."  We practised clapping along in time with the music and seeing whether we could fit our rhythm patterns to the music.  Why not try it yourself?  It's great fun!

Loco for Logo!

As part of the Year 3 computing curriculum, children learn how to create and edit a program using the computer language Logo.

3V spent part of this afternoon learning how to create line drawings using Logo commands.  The children used an online resource to practise writing their instructions for the on-screen cursor (called Turtle) to draw different shapes.  It's not as simple as it sounds, and the children had to work really hard to identify and correct their own programming errors.

If you would like to try it out for yourself, the online resource can be found here:  Logo

More Rotten Romans!

Inspired by yesterday's Roman army training (and clearly determined to be accepted as new recruits!), some of the children went home and made their own Roman shields.

Brilliant effort, everyone!