Mary Anning comes to visit and Barn Owls make fossils: October 12th

Today Mary Anning came to visit Barn Owl class! We heard all about how and why Mary collected fossils. She lived in Lyme Regis in Victorian times and, after developing an interest in fossils, she became extremely skilful in finding them and started to sell them to make money. She was uneducated and from a very poor family but became an expert.

The process of fossilisation was explained in simple terms; in prehistoric times, when animals died in areas where there was mud or sand, their bodies were buried and the sediment around them was compressed to form rock. This explains why fossils are found in sedimentary rock. 

Over time the skeletons in the rock disintegrated and disappeared because water was flowing through them dissolving them. The space left by the skeleton acted like a mould and became filled with water and mineral crystals which, in turn, turned into rock.with an exact imprint of the original animal.

Over many years the rock became exposed to the air and then eroded so that the fossils could be discovered. 

All the children in the class made their own fossils using shells and plaster of paris. We are going to be sharing them with parents and carers next Thursday October 19th - look out for your invitation!

Thank you to Jack and Maisie for taking photographs.

Barn Owls make Stone Age Jomon pots: Monday October 8th

Today we were very lucky to have Liz Mellen with us; she is a teacher, artist and potter. She showed us how to make thumb pots which have a coil of clay around the top - this type of pot was made around 14,000 years ago and is known as a Jomon pot. 

Jomen pots are one of the world's earliest pots made during the ancient Japanese Jomon period, around 14,500 - 300 BCE. They are very distinctive due to their impressed decoration which resembles rope and is the origin of the word jomon, meaning 'cord pattern.'

Mrs Mellen brought some special clay with her and will be firing the finished pots in her kiln.

First she explained that it was important not to touch the clay too much or it would dry out. We started with a piece that looked a bit like a big chunk of chocolate:

The first task was to roll the clay into a ball shape...

Then, using thumbs, we made a depression in the middle and opened this out to make the bowl of the pot. It was important not to make the edges too thin.

Then Mrs Mellen explained how to make the coil to fit around the top of the pot. She gave us a smaller slice of clay and we stretched and then rolled this into a sausage shape.

We then attached this circle of clay to the top of our pots using a smoothing stroke of our thumbs which helped to join the two pieces of clay together and make them into one.

Once the lip of the pot was complete we decorated the pots using rope impressions and marks with a clay tool.

Here are some of the finished articles...

Show and share - rocks and teeth! October 3rd 2017

We thought you might like to see some of the items that children brought in this week to share with the class. Charlie brought in some boar's teeth and there were some more interesting stones...

Thanks everyone!