Kings and Queens

Project Overview

Our summer term project, Kings and Queens, incorporates the children's interests as well as giving curriculum coverage for history aligned with the wider school community.
The Bumblebees love to include kings, queens, princesses, knights and dragons into the narrative of their play, so this project brings opportunities to extend their interest and encourage story telling and story writing.
The children are interested in talking about what is real and not real in terms of texts. We will delve deeper in to the literary world of fiction, non fiction and biography through learning about historical kings and queens of interest such as, Henry VIII and Queen Victoria.
We will learn about the times in which historical kings and queens lived improving our understanding of the past and how people used to live.
We will ask philosophical questions such as, how do you become a king or a queen? Is it fair? Do we need rules and who should the rules be set by?
Liberty Woodland School turns 5 years old in September and so of course we would like to celebrate as a whole school community. The Bumblebees will contribute by organising and preparing a banquet style party fit for kings and queens.

Steps to Success

Step 1 : What is the job of kings and queens?
Step 2: What was it like to live as a king or queen in the past?
Step 3: I can create a story about kings and queens
Step 4: I can create a birthday banquet

Project Goal

We can prepare a birthday banquet

Links to curriculum
Listening, Attention and Understanding

listen attentivley and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions
Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding
Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers

Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary
Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate
Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present, and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

explain the reason for rules

Physical Development

Hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing
Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing

Literacy

Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary
Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words
Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others

Understanding the World

Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society
Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class
Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling

Expressive Arts and Design

Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories
Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher

10th May 2024

We have embraced castle play and are already using newly learnt vocabulary in context, such as "It's my coronation day!" We have decorated the castle with bunting and stained glass windows. We have also made important warning signs, for example, "Beware of the dragons!'

We have spoken about the types of jobs the monarch needs to do and also commented on what we would do if we were a monarch. We addressed the belief that a king is 'king of the world' and learnt that some countries don't have a king or queen. The children have begun to make their own crowns and written words describing the qualities they think are important for a king or queen to have, such as, "kind", "brave", "fair."

Please discuss the following questions with your child.

How do you get to be a king or queen?

Do you think we need a king or queen?

What qualities do you need to be a good leader?

What is the role of a king or queen?

What do the following words, 'monarch' and 'coronation' mean?

7th June 2024

We have learnt about how people used to live hundreds of years ago and made comparisons to then and now. We have made a display showing the clothes kings and queens would wear and we designed and made our own castles.

We learnt about the life and times of Queen Victoria.

All our learning came to life during our visit to Hampton Court. We were captivated by the apartments and kitchens of Henry VIII. We met and chatted with courtiers to the king. We also met the wife of The Arch Bishop of Canterbury and one of the earliest female portrait artists who showed us her miniature portrait.

We have just begun to put our learning so far into writing and illustrating a fictional story of our own.

Please talk to your children about the following:

Who was Queen Victoria married to?

How many children did they have?

Why was she sad?

Was she a good queen or a bad queen?

Was Henry VIII liked?

How many wives did he have?

Why did he get cross with his wives?

28th June

We used everything we have learnt about Kings and Queens to write a story. We each wrote a sentence until the story was complete. Some of us set to work on the illustrations. The story is displayed in our class den. Please have a look when you come for the banquet.

We have been busy thinking about celebrating Liberty Woodland School turning 5 with a birthday banquet. We designed outfits for kings, queens, knights, guards and a frog! We then each made our own outfit to be displayed or worn at the banquet.

We wrote out our invitations, decorated them and in the style of a monarch, gave the envelope a wax seal. We placed the stamp carefully, noticing the queen and discussed why a stamp is needed. We hope the invitations have arrived on your doormat today!

Please talk to your child about the journey their invitation went on from the post box to your doorstep.

We have been enjoying making paper chains and we printed a tablecloth with crowns and diamonds using potato stamps.

We decided to use the chamomile and mint from our allotment to make herbal teas and we will design a menu and do some cooking next week.

We had the most amazing afternoon with Mark from Polka devising our play. We really hope you enjoyed the performance!

Please talk to your child about their experience of devising and performing the Kings and Queens play.

8th July

The Bumblebees have loved learning about Kings and Queens. Their capacity for remembering facts has been impressive and their love of story telling has been enriched by this project. Friday was a wonderful way to celebrate the learning and the 5th birthday of our school!

Thank you all for being part of this joyous occasion. Happy holidays!

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