Changes Within Living Memory - How toys have changed

This half term we have been looking at toys from the 19th century to the 21st century. We have looked at how these have changed over time. We began by looking at toys from the 21st century we found out that these toys were modern, most of them were made out of plastic, needed batteries or electricity. We loved comparing our favourite modern 21st century toys. We then moved onto looking at the 20th century. We found out that our Mums, Dads, Grannies and Grandads were alive in the 20th century! Popular toys were: Mechano, teddy bears and barbie dolls. We still have some of these toys but they have been modernised. Our favourite century to look at was the 19th century as we played and looked at toys that we hadn't seen before. We loved playing cup and ball, looking at rag dolls, playing with the marbles, the jack in a box and many more! These toys were mainly made out of wood and metal. We also found out that in the 19th century rich and poor children have very different toys. Rich children had toys that were bought from the shop like a rocking horse or a dolls house whereas children from poorer families made their own toys, such as peg dolls. The children LOVED this project and enjoyed finishing off by creating their very own timeline adding all the toys on. 

The Great Fire of London - Samuel Pepys

In Our History project we have been learning all about the Great Fire of London. The children have loved this project and have fully immersed themselves within it! We began by looking at key events of the GFOL and plotting them on a timeline. We were introduced to the significant individual ‘Samuel Pepys’ – we wrote our own diary in the style of Samuel Pepys thinking about our 5 senses. We learnt that the Great Fire was a terrible experience, however we found out that there were some positives to it. We wrote our own letter to King Charles II to let him know the benefits.

The Wright Brothers

We have loved learning all about Wilbur and Orville Wright who were inventors of the First Flight. The First Flight happened 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The two brothers had made gliders before the first aeroplane with an engine. They created over 100 designs to get it right! We started our project by looking at all the significant individuals we have looked at so far and putting them in order from the oldest to the most recent as well as including the Wright Brothers.We made our very own fact files about The Wright Brothers, we looked at their first flight and compared it to planes now. We noticed lots of similarities and differences. We also looked how planes had changed through time noticing again, that some things are similar but planes are now very different. We finished off by creating our very own planes - we loved using the lego and making planes out of paper!

Queen Victoria

We loved learning all about Queen Victoria. We found out that Queen Victoria was the Queen of England in the 1800's. We found out that another word for Queen is 'Monarch'. She was significant because she made lots of changes in the country to make it a better place. We looked at her life and found out that she was married to Prince Albert, she had 9 children and 40 grand children! We thought about different questions that we would ask her if we were to meet her. We also created a timeline of her life from when she was born to when she died. 

Remembrance

For Remembrance Day we thought about different ways we remember all the soldiers who went to war, we found out that people wear poppies to show their respects for those who died. We read the story 'Stubby' all about a Dog at war. He was super brave! We created our own poppies and also made Remembrance poems. 

The Great Fire of London

Children in Year 1 loved researching and finding out all about the Great Fire of London. We located where the fire started, on Pudding Lane and explored why the fire started. We learnt about or first significant person, Samuel Pepys and how he was famous for writing a diary all about the Great Fire. We also had a very special visitor, a Fire man came into school to see us to tell us all about how fire safety has changed since 1666. The children created some amazing art work representing the Great Fire of London too!

Changes Within Living Memory

The children in Year 2 started their history off by looking at how things have changed over the years. They compared toys looking at how they have changed over time. We noticed that toys used to be made out of wood and now they tend to be made out of plastic. We went on a fantastic trip to Bolton Museum where we played old schools games and asked lots of questions about what it was like for people 100 years ago and 50 years ago.