National Maritime Museum

In KS1 we have thoroughly enjoyed our Pirate topic

 

We have learnt a lot about historical characters such as Anne Bonny and Blackbeard, we now know the difference between the flags the pirates flew and what they meant, we have designed and made pirate hats, learnt about the oceans of the world and have answered many of the questions we had before we started.

 

As a drawing together of our knowledge and a real hands on practical day we decided to visit the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

 

We set off on our galleon coaches and arrived in a state of great excitement. Our first sight was the amazing outside of the building and then as we walked to our base for the day we had to pass a female pirate who appeared to be lazing around on a wooden bench. She was quite scary and growled and scowled at us as we passed.

 

There were 3 parts to our day and the children would like to tell you about them...



Pirate School

 1) Pirate school - "This was the best part of the day. The pirate made us take the pirate oath. She was very scary and shouted a lot. She told us about guns and flags. She had a hard tack biscuit that was really hard. She taught us about pirates. We made up pirate names. I loved pirate school!"

 

Hard Tack Biscuit

All the adults on the trip agreed with the children that Pirate school was scary but great fun.

 

Ready to fill their treasure chests.

2) Looking for Treasure - During the session the children were able to investigate the general galleries and sketch what they saw in their own treasure chests. "I loved seeing the spices an the map. We made music with the shells. The golden ship was amazing! I saw lots and lots of lamps. We found the oceans on a giant map. There were lots of gold coins. I saw a ship in a bottle".

 

Giant map

Musical shells

Sketching the treasure

3) The interactive gallery - This was a special gallery for children and after a short introduction and recap on their learning so far, the children were free to explore. "I sank a ship with a cannon. I found the coffee in the kitchen. We drew maps. I found Anne Bonny and Blackbeard! We talked to each other down the tubes. We used the crane to load the boat. We steered the ship."

 

I am a Pirate

Steering the ship

Loading the cargo

Sharing out the rations

All the children agreed that this was a fantastic ship and when we got back to the classroom this week, they had all learnt lots of new facts about Pirates and the world.  Thank you to the adults who accompanied us, we hope you enjoyed it as well.