Corpus Christi

Year 2 had a wonderful day exploring Beamish Museum. In the pit village, we visited some of the cottages. A lady was kneading some dough to make bread. She told us all about it and other things in the cottage such as the tin bath and the tongs used for toasting bread. There was a roaring fire in the cottage and the lady told us how the coal was used to keep the fire burning. We saw the drift mine where coal was mined.

When we visited the Victorian school we met Miss Campbell and had to call her Ma’am. We played a game on the schoolyard called ‘Grandma’s Footsteps’, where we had to creep up on a pair of children without being seen or heard. We had to line up in two very straight lines: one for girls and one for boys. Inside the classroom, boys and girls had to sit on separate sides. Girls were allowed to keep their hats on but boys had to take them off. Every time they spoke they had to stand up. We had a go at writing on slates and told Miss Campbell what we knew about coal – Miss Campbell was very impressed! Next, we did some arithmetic using an abacus. We also practised some reading in the way that Victorian children used to. Finally, we recited a poem by Kenneth Grahame. It was about ducks and drakes.

On our visit, we also enjoyed visits to the farm and the 1900s town.