Transcript Woolworths closes!

During an excavation of the construction site at Syon Park, archaeologists found
over 11 600 items from the Roman era, including jewellery, coins, pottery and
skeleton fragments.
I think it is wrong
to build a hotel on
an archaeological
site. It should be
preserved for
everyone to see.
I don’t think so.
Nobody knew it
was there so it
won’t be missed.
A hotel will be far
more use to
everyone.
Maybe they
went on the
train?
Don’t be daft,
they didn’t
have trains
then!
Which Roman city
are you closest to?
It’s in the News!
Teacher’s guide
In November 2010 a Roman settlement filled with ancient
artefacts and human remains was found on a west London
building site. Archaeologists excavating the listed site at Syon
Park, Hounslow, made the discovery of more than 11 000
Roman items just half a metre below the ground. They were
digging on the land ahead of the construction of a new hotel on
the outskirts of the historical Syon Park Estate. In these slides
there are links to geography and history. They give
opportunities for work on a variety of mathematical concepts
including time, number and measurement.
… continued on the next slide
… continued
You could use these slides alongside the article in A little bit of
history in this issue of the Primary Magazine which gives more
information about the Romans and the many mathematical
ideas to explore within this area of the curriculum.
Before you use the slides you might find it helpful to look at
the following websites for further information:
•Hounslow Chronicle
•BBC
•Daily Mail
1st spread: From a long, long time ago
● Ask the children to tell you all they know about the Romans. Draw a timeline and ask the
children to plot onto it these dates which relate to the Romans and Britain and use it to
ask questions relating to finding differences:
55 BC Julius Caesar heads first Roman Invasion but later withdraws
43 AD Romans invade and Britain becomes part of the Roman Empire
50 AD London founded
61 AD Boudicca leads the revolt against the Romans
70 AD Romans conquer Wales and the North
122 – 128 AD Emperor Hadrian builds a wall on the Scottish Border
140 AD Romans conquer Scotland
209 AD St Alban becomes the first Christian martyr. He is killed for being a
Christian
306 AD Constantine the Great declared Emperor at York
350 AD the Picts and Scots attack the border
401 – 410 AD the Romans withdraw from Britain: Anglo Saxon migrants begin to
settle
● Tell the children the news story that is described on the slide and from the news clips –
this was the site for a new hotel called the Waldorf Astoria, when they were clearing it to
begin building, just half a metre below the surface of the ground more than 11 000
Roman artefacts were found as well as part of a roman road and a settlement.
● Discuss the comments of the children on the slide, what do your children think? You
could make a Carroll diagram to show what they think: preserve the site/not preserve the
site, or build the hotel/don’t build the hotel.
● Why might a hotel be more useful? You could discuss tourism and employment. List the
jobs that could be created through the building and opening of a new hotel.
…continued on the next slide
1st spread: From a long, long time ago continued…
● If possible locate Syon Park, which is in Hounslow, on a map of London. Plan routes to
get there from different parts of the city. You could also find routes and distances from
your own school to this Roman site. You could work out how long it would take to travel
there if driving at an average of 60mph or look up train times and find out how long the
total journey would be. You will need to include time to get to the station and time to get
from a London station to Syon Park, maybe using the Underground. The children may
enjoy planning routes on Underground maps!
This would be a good opportunity to link to work on direction and coordinates.
● You could ask the children to explore Waldorf Astoria hotels and find out where in the
world they are located. They could find out how to make hotel reservations and look into
costs for staying at these rather classy and expensive hotels! They could then explore
the costs of staying at other hotels or guest houses and make comparisons.
● Explore the depth where the Roman artefacts were found. What is half a metre in
centimetres? Can the children show you what half a metre looks like, can they measure
it? Can they find items in the classroom that are more or less than half a metre,
estimating first and then measuring them?
● Help the children to be archaeologists. Bury some coins in the sand tray. Use string or
card to section off similar sized areas and challenge the children to check one area.
How many coins can each child find? Who found the most/least? If the children
understand the value of the coins, they could also find out who found the most/least
money. You might like to use the interactive whiteboard to help the children become
archaeologists. See the ICT article in Issue 23 of the Primary Magazine for some ideas
● Ask parents if anyone has a metal detector you could borrow. Perhaps the owner would
be happy to come in and show the children how it works and then work with groups of
children. Hide some cloth bags of coins in flowerbeds, or use the sand area if you have a
large one, for the children to find. Don’t forget to check that the metal detector reacts to
the coins you use. Invest in a play metal detector.
…continued on the next slide
1st spread: From a long, long time ago continued…
● Explore the number 11 600 – its factors, multiples, dividing/multiplying it by 10/100/1 000,
how many ways can they find to make it?
● Ask the children to estimate how many coins are on the slide. Together count them and as
you do, ask them to alter their estimate if they would like to. Use this as an opportunity to
practice number pairs to 10 and 20, one more/less etc.
● Explore Roman numerals. Write some of the key dates in Roman numerals. The history
article goes into this in more detail.
● You could also link the pictures of the coins to arrays and practice some multiplication.
● Talk about the other Roman artefacts that were found. Ask the children to research them
on the internet. They could make copies of the different pieces of jewellery, which could
involve measuring and also drawing circles from a given radius or diameter.
● Look at the picture of Syon House and explore its symmetrical properties.
2nd spread: Where did the Romans come from?
● Do the children know that the Romans came from Italy? Do they know where Italy is?
Have any of them visited the country? Once you have established where Italy is you
could spend some time thinking about Europe. Make a tally of the countries in Europe
that the children have visited on holiday and ask them to make a pictogram, bar graph or
pie chart to show the results.
● Do any of the children come from a European country? If so, ask them to show the class
which one and to tell them something about it.
● You could ask the children to make up a mathematical fact-file about a country in Europe
which includes rainfall, temperature, population, currency, and then ask them to make
tables and graphs to show the data. You could use information found on rainfall and
temperatures to work on mean, median, mode and range.
● You could explore the distances from various capital cities in these countries to where
your school is using the scale on the map and find equivalent imperial or metric
measurements.
● You could plan a holiday to one of these countries (see A little bit of history for more
ideas on this)
● Discuss how the Romans might have travelled from Rome to London when they
invaded, and ask the children to find out if they don’t already know. How would we travel
there today? This could include exploring flights, trains and crossing the channel.
● Use the scale on the map to find out the distance and work out how long it might have
taken travelling at different speeds per mile or kilometre.
3rd spread: Roman Britain
● Explore the Roman Britain map. Locate the nearest Roman army camp to where you live
and work out different routes to the different Roman army camps and cities from the
camp closest to you.
● Roman Centurions commanded 83 men, even though the name suggests 100. How
could 83 men be organised to march together? How many men in a row? How many in a
column? Explore the different possible arrangements. When the army was reformed,
each Centurion did indeed command 100 men. How could they march together? Some
units of men were double strength, others half strength. What might this mean?
● Design a symmetrical shield for a Roman Centurion. Use the internet to find what shape
shields usually were.
● Find out the names of other Roman towns and cities and plot these on a copy of this
Roman Britain map. Many Roman towns and cities are those which, today, end with
‘cester’ or ‘chester’.
Don’t forget to Link to the A little bit of history article in this issue of the magazine, and work
through some of the suggestions listed.