On 13th March, our Year 3 children visited Heritage Farm Park, Kent Life in Maidstone with their teacher Mrs Mayo. The children have woven together the fabric of their day. Join them as they recount the sights, sounds, and the activities of their day below. Thank you very much to Mrs Mayo and everyone at Kent Life for such a memorable day.
Life under the Romans
We met a Roman slave, we learned that some slaves were captured by Roman enemies and some were born slaves because their families were slaves. The Romans brought many fruits and vegetables to England such as grapes and wine, dates, cucumbers, carrots, and olives.
Meet a Centurion
Roman soldiers were in groups called a century where there were 80 soldiers. We learned that if you were a Roman soldier and you didn’t listen or do as you were told, you would die. We used shields and swords and learned how to defend ourselves from a sword attack and we made the tortoise formation to protect ourselves from an attack by the teachers.
Building a Better Britain
We met a Roman who designed and built the Roman roads. He taught us how to build a straight Roman road. We built a road but we couldn’t leave gaps or the horse’s hooves would get stuck. We had a competition to build the best Roman road.
We had a break where we had a snack and played on the playground. There was a giant round swing made of a net that could hold three people. It was great fun. There was also a long rope dragon swing, which could fit eight children at once. It swung backwards and forwards and very high. There was a tall tower with two slides coming off of it. It was made of wood with metal slides. One of the slides was very bumpy.
Celts and Druids
We met a Celt, he told us that the Celts went into battle completely naked to scare the enemy. The Celts chopped off their enemies’ heads. The Celts built their homes and communities on top of hills to be able to see the enemy from miles away and to wear them out before the battle started. The Celts were happy to die in battle because they believed in reincarnation. The Celts didn’t write anything down on paper so all we know about them was written down by the Romans and we know that this might not be true.
Boudicca
She taught us that she invaded Colchester and burned it down, some of the soldiers hid in the temple thinking that they would be saved, they weren’t. She taught us how to be fierce and taught us a war chant. She asked us to meet her in Londinium in three days time to attack the Romans to get revenge and try to make them leave.
We ate our packed lunches.
Make a Leather Amulet
We met a tanner’s wife. She described how she made leather. She got animal skin from the butcher, she washed the skin in pit 1. In pit 2 there was a mix of water and urine to to remove the hair from the skin. Pit 3 had crushed cherries and water to remove the bones and flesh from the skin. When it came out of pit 3 it had become rawhide. The skin then went into pit 4 for a year, this contained crushed acorns and water, the acorns released tannin which make the skin flexible and ready to make bags and shoes. We then made an amulet from a scrap of leather. An amulet goes around your neck to protect your loved ones.
Roman Graffiti
We learned how to write Roman graffiti and how to write in Latin and using Roman numerals. At the end of the day, we went on a tractor and trailer ride around the Kent Life grounds.
In the words of our curious Year 3 children:
Monty: “It was the best day ever.”
Louie: “It was a very good learning day, everything was brilliant.”
Tinks: “I really loved when we met Boudicca, at that time women weren’t respected and she was strong and independent.”
Rae: “It was very interesting and a very good experience about learning about the Romans and meeting some Roman people.”
Pippa: “It was a very exciting day it was fun to experience what the Romans did.”
Monty: “I loved meeting the Roman centurion.”
