This week in project, we have been exploring the concept of time and the past. We defined 'event' and shared lots of examples of historical events that we could recall. We selected words from our word banks to describe when they happened: 'recently', 'a long time ago', 'before'. We learnt about the measure of time often used in history with the terms 'century' and 'decade'. 

Taking a look at some photo sources that showed two key events in history, we suggested when the events may have taken place, using clues from the photos such as technology, use of colour and clothes. We found out about how timelines work and looked at some, then began to sort and describe some historical events into chronological order and apply our new vocabulary!

To delve into the recent past, the Otters conducted some interviews over the holidays to find out more about the childhood of their parents and grandparents (or an elderly friend). To record their findings, some drew pictures, others used bullet points to organise their key words and sentences. They then had to gather either primary or secondary photo sources to show information about the different generations' childhoods.

Excitingly, our parents then came into join us and help us to organise our photos of the past into different time periods and categories. It was so much fun to reflect on the memories of our families and friends as we made our collages.

We learnt about the idea of comparing (noticing things that are similar) and contrasting (identifying things that are different). Using the different collections of images and out interview information, we worked in groups to compare and contrast schools, toys and holidays. We recorded our observations in tables and Venn diagrams. It was really interesting to see how some toys were still popular through all three generations!

After returned from our own holidays, it was the perfect time for us to find out more about holidays in the past and compare our experiences. We began by looking at a range of modern holiday images and recording what we could see before then thinking of our own experiences to suggest what was happening - the foundations of historical enquiry!

Next, we explored some photos and paintings from the Victorian era where seaside holidays became an important part of daily life. We made observations of the things we could see and asked questions about what some of this might tell us. Then we learnt some more about seaside holidays in the UK. We loved seeing photos of seaside towns that we had been to ourselves, such as Margate, Brighton, Hastings and Bournemouth. It was interesting to see that many seaside towns had their piers constructed over 100 years ago or more. We built our vocabulary as we defined some new words such as 'pier, 'promenade' and 'bathing machine'.

Finally, we watched some short videos with interviews with historians, who shared further information from their research about the seaside holiday experience in the past. Train journeys were part of the holiday fun and we were amazed to see all the different activities and entertainment that took place at seaside resorts. We wrote our own recount of a day at the seaside in the past, using time words alongside our new vocabulary. It was great to imagine the excitement of the trip and how children would look forward to many of the things we still enjoy at the beach today!