‘Can a society from the past shape the future?

The Stone Age Museum 

As part of their history learning on The Stone Age, Year 3 examined the essential question, ‘Can a society from the past shape the future?' and considered how they could work as historians to understand and respond to this question.  

We launched the project working with experts at Butser Farm. The children worked as a community to think about how people lived throughout the different periods within the Stone Age. They explored the changing in housing from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic and spent time in some re-constructed houses. The children used tools to carve into chalk and thought about how the pre-historic people may have communicated before writing. The children learnt about the role of archaeologists and the impact they have today on uncovering untold secrets from the past. We thought about our society and the community we live in at Long Ditton St Mary’s and considered how Stone Age societies worked together to support each other.    

As our final outcome, parents, carers, neighbours and friends from our community were invited to visit our Stone Age Museum. Year 3 acted as the curators and put what they had learnt about being historians into practice -  it was a fantastic experience.

What seeds of positive change can I sow for the world I live in?

When learning about plants, Year 3 have been exploring the question: ‘What seeds of positive change can I sow for the world I live in?’ We were lucky enough to launch our project with the support of experts at RHS Wisley who shared their knowledge of plants, the conditions in which they will grow, the different types of plants we can find in the UK and around the world and why plants are important.

Taking this expertise back to school, the children planted sweet peas, runner beans and tomatoes in preparation for their community plant sale at the Long Ditton Village Hall. In doing so, Year 3 were able to reflect upon how sowing seeds can have an impact upon others. For example, sweet peas bringing joy and tomatoes creating food and helping towards a more sustainable way of using produce.

The children also learnt about the importance of bees in pollination and therefore also food production. They explored the conditions needed for plants to grow in the UK as well as in countries that have a different climate to us. This work involved looking into the lives of people who grow crops such as the coco bean, making comparisons to their experience of growing plants. As well as this, children in Year 3 learnt about seasonality and designed and baked carrot cake to be shared with the Long Ditton community.

As their final outcome, the children held a plant sale at Long Ditton Village Hall where members of the community were invited along to learn from the children about how they have sown their seeds, what they needed to do to nurture their growth, plants around the world and to sample some of their carrot cake. It was fantastic to see the children talking passionately about the importance of plants in our world and for the future of our planet.