Cluster Museums

Each year the Beaminster Cluster focuses on a different area of the curriculum and this year it has chosen History.  During January Linda Poulson for Dorchester County Museum came to spend half a day with each KS2 class for a workshop called, 'How to create a class museum'.

She told us that they found the objects and would restore them and carefully clean them. Linda told us that it was important not to clean things too hard for example coins. This is because you might rub off the pictures or dates. She said that coins should not be put into coca cola to make them shiny. At Dorchester Museum they use special forms to record what the object is and who brought it in. They note down whether they lent it to the museum and wanted it back or if it was a gift to the museum.

She then talked about displaying objects in cases. It was important that the objects should be labelled and pictures should go with them of what they once looked like. Linda showed us and talked about a giant squid that had been found and she had a picture of the eye ball which was about half a metre in length. That was exciting and frightening at the same time.

by Thomas, Class 3
St Mary's Beaminster

Later on in the term the children spent the day at Dorchester Museum. As part of the day the children had an archaeology workshop where they found out what an archaeologist does and how it is done. This picture is of years 3 and 4 from Sticklands and St. Mary's Studying the Mosaics and learning how they were made and how they are moved

 The children were given some fragments of pots made from pottery and they had to try to reconstruct them. It was a bit like a complicated jigsaw.

 The children learnt how an archaeologist starts to dig for objects and the tools that they would use. They then had the opportunity to dig for themselves.

Here are some of the objects that the children uncovered on their dig. Among other things they found part of a jaw bone, fossils and coins. Click here to read Kirsty from St Mary's account of her day.

Now click on the links below to see how each school created their own museums.

On Tuesday 16^th March 2004 class 3 went to Dorchester Museum .

We left school at 9.05am .

St. Mary’s class 3 went with Sticklands 3 and 4 in Evershot. We arrived at Evershot at 9.30am .

We arrived at Dorchester museum at 10.00am.we on the way to the museum Me, Hannah, Bethany, Maisy and Mrs Critchell were playing a game which you go in the alphabet up to z now chose a subject like food, shops, animals and stories. The person who welcomed us was Linda.

The first activity was the archaeology room with the person who was teaching us about it was Margaret.

The activity I did first in the archaeology room was putting pottery together that was fun. The next activity we did in the archaeology room was digging.  Me and Bethany found lots of things like a sheep’s jaw, a Victorian coin and some pottery. Then we went out of the archaeology room. 

The next place was upstairs. We looked around in 4 rooms. One room was about the Whitcombe warrior. Linda talked all about the Whitcombe Warrior. It was fun. Then we had lunch. Hannah and me were talking all about what we had done. Then we done the last activity with Miss Greenwood. We got a piece of paper, got a crayon and chose a piece of the mosaic on the floor. Then using the side of the crayon go over the piece of paper we got a piece of a mosaic.  Then we looked at how archaeologists move a mosaic from one place to another without it falling apart.  The last thing did was to try to find where a missing piece of mosaic fitted on the floor.  

 Then we went back to the bus and back to school. I loved are school trip. It was a great day. 

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