Year 1's Castle Day!

We celebrated the end of our ‘Castles’ topic by having a day of castle-related learning and fun in Year 1.

The children arrived in school dressed beautifully as kings, queens, knights and princesses… and even as a castle! The children proudly processed around the Early Years department, explaining what they were dressed as, and showing their costumes to the younger children.

Next, the children put on VR headsets and took a virtual tour of Edinburgh Castle, Conway Castle, Warwick Castle and Chateau Beynac. They expertly spotted many of the features that we have been learning about.

We talked about the beautiful stained glass that can be found in castle chapels. The children used black card, coloured tissue paper and cellophane to make their own stained glass windows.

Before lunch, the children learned about the sort of food that would have been served at a castle banquet. They then had their own ‘banquet-style’ lunch, eating similar food, while medieval music played in the background.

In the afternoon, the children had a go at constructing their own trebuchets from wooden spoons, lolly sticks and elastic bands. We took the mini siege engines outside into the sunshine to test them out and see how high they could launch pom-poms (some flew so high, they had to be retrieved from the Reception garden!).

We concluded our castle day with castle-themed stories in the Library; and Music in the Music Room.

Well done Year 1, for a super day!
Mrs Harris and Mrs Platt