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Year 3 News of the Week

Building a roundhouse

Year 3 are thoroughly enjoying studying the Iron Age Celts in Britain. In class, we have researched their homes, food, farming and defence. Before we move onto the Romans, we have delved deeper into Iron Age life by learning to build model Roundhouses in Forest School. Firstly, we had to practise our weaving skills using wool. Then we applied this to weaving hazel to make wattle walls. The next stage was mixing clay and straw together to make daub. We were amazed to discover the Iron Age people would also have added mud and cow dung! When the walls were constructed, the next step was the roof. In order to build the roofs, we needed to know how to make two types of knot: reef (or square knot) and the clove hitch. We used these knots to tie bundles of bamboo to make thatch. The fiddly bit was attaching them to roof struts which we had to join to the walls using more knots. We hope to finish our Roundhouses in the coming weeks. Watch out for finished photos. As well as learning new craft skills, this term we have also focused on how to keep ourselves safe in different situations. All of our group work and discussions have consolidated our team building skills.