Room 1 Term 2 Inquiry

Welcome to the Room 1 Ancient Civilisation Inquiry blog. Or big question this term was " How have technologies changed the lives of people over time?"
Our key understandings were - Ancient Civilisations developed tecnologies we still use today and technologies have changed over time and created the world we have today. We had to find technologies created by Ancient civilisations, upload the image and then put it on the timeline. We then had some wonderings about these technologies and researched information about these. As well as present our finding we had to record some information on the blog and link a relevant website.
We completed activities on the Multiple Intelligence sheet. We had to find similarities and differences between a technology in Ancient Civilisations and now. We shared our learning with other classes and learnt alot from the younger children!!
In the last week of term we had to use the BAR key ( bigger, add, replace) to improve a technology. Ruby and Jasmine made a new drinking straw - it worked!!

New Invention From Old

For technology we had to design a new invention from an old one. We used the BAR Thinkers key and had to make it bigger, add some thing and remove some part of it. Ruby and Jasmine designed a new straw.They found out the first straws were used in the 1888. They invented a new straw that is nine straws long. The purpose for it is so that they don't have to walk to get a drink. It is bigger as in large, they added more straws and removed the bendy bits.Guess what it works!!

Click on the title to find out more about the invention of straws.

Archaeologist Professor Charles Higham Talks To Us

Today Professor Charles Higham (Alis Grandad) who is an archaeologist came to talk to us about Ancient China. We learned about one subject in particular Lady Dai. She was a royal person in Ancient China.When she died people who respected her wanted her to go to heaven, not the land of the yellow springs. The land of the yellow springs is hell, and no royal person wanted to go there. Lady Dai (also known as Shin Chwa) was wrapped in 20 layers of silk, placed in 4 coffins and her last meal included melon. She loved to eat rich foods and she was very fat!Her tomb was covered in charcoal and clay to prevent air and water from destroying her worldly possessions. She was buried in 168 BC and her tomb was in perfect condition. Her blood was still red and it looked as though she had died an hour ago. Everyone enjoyed Professor Charles's talk and we all learned something new!! We hope you like the photo of her - some of us did not!
By Ali.

Our Presented Information

Multiple Intelligence Activities

We Celebrated Our Learning With A Feast.

On the last day of term we celebrated our learning with a feast. We dressed as people from Ancient times and ate bread, olives, grapes, figs, dried apricots, apples and dates. We had blackcurrant juice to drink but in ancient times they had wine.

We Had an Engineer Talk to Us

Scott showed us some experiments. This one was putting mentos in a bottle of coke. He punctured a hole in the top of the cap and shook the bottle. It fizzed out like a fountain. He also gave Noah some coke and a mentos. We couldn't wait to see if he let off gases but no such luck.

He also showed us an egg experiment where we put a hard boiled on top of a glass flask and tried to put it in. It didn't fit but when Scott lit a match and put it in the flask the boiled egg was sucked in. This showed the force of air pressure because the warm air cooled down and the egg was sucked in.
In this photo he is showing us bio fuel from vegetable oil.
Scott told us that engineers are inventors. He is a mechanical engineer and makes valve and pipes work. He also works with sewage treatment.

He showed us funny video clips and engineering jobs gone wrong. Click on the title of this post and watch the you tube link of the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsing!

We Shared Our learning With Room 6

We shared our learning with room 6 ( year 0-1) and we found out quite a lot of information from! We found out that the Greeks and Romans wrote with wax, only boys fromwealthy families went to school ( no girls),and the Greeks and Romans wrote on animals skins. We were able to share our knowledge about technologies from Ancient Civilisations. They were very impressed!! We look forward to sharing with other classes and presenting in our parent assembly.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a country between Turkey and Italy.The first Greek civilization began on Crete in about 2000 BC. The Ancient Greeks discovered bronze. Greece is very famous for starting the Olympic games.The first Olympic games were in 776 BC in honour of the god Zeus.The games lasted for five days in summer.
By Izzy


The Greeks liked parties,singing,dancing,telling stories laughing at jokes and playing games.Professional story tellers called song stitchers perforemed in streets and markets at festivals.
By Jasmine

Ancient Egypt

In 2,300 BC, the Ancient Egyptians invented paper. They also invented the development of writing in 3,100 BC. In Egypt, writing is known as hieroglyphics.by Ruby

Ancient Rome

Rome had many inns and taverns that provided food, drink, beds and entertainment.
Taverns often had a room at the back for gambling.By Philip

Ancient China

The first people came to China in about 50,000BC, about the same time as the first people in Europe. They lived in caves, made fires, used stone and bone tools and wore fur and leather clothes. They were hunters and gatherers.
By Fergus

Lady Dai died by blocked arteries. She had melon seeds in her tummy when she died. by Owen

Ancient America