HUMANITIES

YEAR 7 HISTORY EXCURSION – PHAROAH NGV

On Monday 24 June, the Year 7 History classes went on an excursion to the NGV to see the new Pharaoh Exhibition. To get there, we took a train, which was a great, new and different experience for everyone. We then went on a walk from Flinders Street station to the NGV, and on the way there we passed the stunning sight of the Yarra River. 

We started with a 45-minute lecture by Sarah, one of the tour guides, of the Pharaoh Exhibition. She explained the different parts of the exhibition, and what we should expect when walking into it. We were taught about some of the artefacts and their history, as well as what we should look out for. The classes then went through the exhibit. It consisted of eight rooms, each referring to a different time of day, with different lighting in each. 

We were lucky enough to look at many artefacts from ancient Egypt that had been brought over from the British Museum, in London. We learnt more about the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt and what they wore. We also learnt about how the ancient Egyptians built the statues and tombs and what they were made out of. It was a wonderful experience for us, and one that we will never forget. One of our favourite artefacts we looked at was the Sarcophagus lid of the dignitary Pakap. This was one of our favourite artefacts because it showed how Pakap was such a significant person in ancient Egypt and how they built such a special Sarcophagus to honour him. 

Another one of our favourite artefacts was the jewellery from ancient Egypt. We loved them so much, mainly because they were very different from modern day jewellery, and they were very colourful and bright. 

Finally, we would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Lee, Mr Rood, Mr Evans and Ms Arneil for accompanying us on the excursion and making sure we had a good time. We loved having them there, even though we were a bit annoyed when Mr Lee bought donuts and didn’t give us any! We would especially like to thank the Head of Humanities, Mr Cukierman, for organising this fascinating excursion! 

Audrey Kambouris, Scarlett Sifris and Phoebe Guidera

Year 7 Students

YEAR 7 HISTORY ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS MUSEUM TASK

On Friday 14 June, Year 7 students showcased their historical knowledge in a fascinating Museum Exhibit in A Block. The exhibit showcased a variety of civilizations, including Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the Indus Valley. Students worked in groups to research different aspects of these ancient civilisations including weapons, trade, government, food, death and art. 

Here are some stories from that reflect their learning about the different civilisations:

ANCIENT CHINA

Our class looked at the civilization of Ancient China. Each group was assigned to a specific topic to study and we were given “Architecture and Buildings”, so we chose to create an ancient Chinese pagoda, known as the Longhua Temple, used for Buddhist practices. Not only did this task help us learn about ancient Chinese culture, but it also helped us understand about other civilisations. While walking around to different classrooms, we learned many things about Greece, Rome, and the Indus valley. There was so much hard work and dedication that was showcased in the outstanding pieces that the students had been working on, so that people observing could learn about the civilization and their culture.

Lucy Ford, Luna Dunlop and Zara Buzza

Year 7 Students

ANCIENT GREECE

Our class had been studying the civilisation Ancient Greece, for our museum task. Our group was assigned the topic of ‘architecture and buildings’ in Ancient Greece so we decided to create a model of the Temple of Hera. We used materials like cardboard and hot glue to make the temple and to add more of a design to the cardboard temple we added fake green vines to the roof to give it more of an Ancient Greece feel and to symbolise that it was old. We learnt so many facts about how Ancient Greeks built temples and what they made it out of. On the day, we sorted into our classrooms and set up our projects. 

When looking around the room we saw so many fantastic creations in Ancient Greece. One at a time we walked around the room and gazed at the amazing creations our peers made. Then we took a questionnaire and went round the other rooms and looked at their exhibits filling out the questionnaire. Ultimately this day was unforgettable, for everyone involved we thoroughly enjoyed the creating aspect and building point of this task. Not only did we learn about ancient Greece, but we learnt about Ancient China, Rome and Indus. This task was amazing to complete, and we had so much fun competing it.

Mia Cooper and Tilly Butterworth

Year 7 Students

ANCIENT GREECE

In the past three weeks our form has been studying Ancient Greece. Our group chose to study Ancient Greek entertainment. In the first week of this project, we became more knowledgeable about our subject. Our artefact that we displayed on the day was an Ancient Greek amphitheatre. On the day of the Museum exhibit task students created intricately detailed artefacts on their ancient civilisations, presenting their innovation and knowledge gained during the past three weeks. 

As well as learning about artefacts in Ancient Greece, we learnt about many other artefacts from other civilisations, not to mention that students had done a spectacular job with their creations. Overall, the day was incredible, and I think that everyone had really enjoyed themselves when it came to exchanging knowledge with other students. A special thank you to all the Year 7 history teachers for giving us the opportunity to do this wonderful task.  

Chamath Dharmadasa, Skysir Arolla and Rudr Sahoo

Year 7 Students 

ANCIENT ROME

In history we got to create an artefact and display it to the rest of the semester 1 history classes and it was like a little museum. We could work in groups of 2 -3. You were allowed to pick your own groups. The artefact had to be from the ancient civilization that your class was assigned. There were four different types of ancient civilisations, there was The Indus Valley, Ancient Greece, Ancient China and Ancient Rome. Our class did Ancient Rome. We had to make and research a place or object from Ancient Rome and recreate it. Some people did miniature buildings from Rome, Greece, Indus Valley and Ancient Greece, and every single one of these were beautiful and we got more and more impressed as we continued through the upstairs A block which is where it was held. It was an amazing start to the day and end to our history classes in Year 7. 

Each artefact was needed to have an information card next to or above the artefact with enough information so that the other people coming through from other classes would have enough information to fill out the booklet that they were given to write about the artefacts from the other ancient civilizations. We all enjoyed working on this task. Finally, we would like to say thank you to all of the history teachers for organising this event, it was amazing and we’re sure that the next year, Year 7 students will love it as much as we did, if not more.

Gabby Benc and Taylor Adams

Year 7 Students 

INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION

Recently Year 7 has been researching the mysterious Ancient Indus Valley Civilisation. Ancient Indus was only discovered recently, making it very interesting to learn about. Both of us have been specifically studying the art of the Indus Valley which mainly involved sculptures made out of terracotta. Our display was a clay sculpture of a bull because lots were made in the Indus Valley. They thought bulls symbolise strength and these sculptures were often substitutes for the real bull because it is believed that many bulls were sacrificed. 

Lots of other amazing artefacts were shown at the Exhibit, such as clay models, cardboard diagrams and so much more that really indicated that their knowledge had grown greatly since beginning the learning task. We both were constantly amazed by everyone’s display and learnt so much about trade, leadership and famous landmarks from China, Greece and Rome. We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and loved making our display.    

Sophia Rusin and Eleanor Ho

Year 7 Students