Education in Lancaster Museums

[Download in PDF format]

YOUR VISIT

Three parts

Most school museum visits have three elements:

Handling a collection of real museum objects.
Meeting with a person in historical role.
A chance for the children to use our excellent galleries.

We will discuss how your visit is to be arranged when you make your booking

A Character From The Past

Many groups start their visit by meeting a person in role. This character will either be in the City Museum classroom or in the Cottage.

The character will talk to your group for between 20 minutes and half an hour. When they have finished the children can ask questions.

Before meeting a character Let the children know - if they are booked to do so - they will be meeting a Victorian, Roman, etc. Remember - our characters are 'ghosts' (don't tell the children that) therefore, they have some understanding of modern life but don't understand everything. The Roman, thankfully, has learned English, but he struggles with it from time to time.

Asking questions
The characters tell the children a story about their own life. When the story is over your children will be given an opportunity to ask questions - make sure they think about the kinds of questions they might ask.

Museum Objects
We like to make sure that all children spend part of their visit working with real museum objects.
The object handling session
The children are taught how to handle the objects. The children spend 10 minutes examining the objects. The Education Officer tells stories and gives information about the objects. The children make drawings of the objects .

	Before using objects
	Apart from the food, the objects that we put before the children are all genuine and of very high quality. The oldest man-made object in the handling collection is around 850,000 years old. This, therefore, is an opportunity that the children should make the most of Prepare the children for handling objects - by talking about how precious they are (not in terms of money) and how they will have to be careful with them.
	Drawing objects
	Most children will get a chance to draw the objects. It pays enormous dividends at this point of the visit if the children have had some practice at drawing objects. We find it works best if the children make a strong outline drawing, however, they often ruin their sketches if they use any shading.

Working in the gallery

Many groups of year three and above will use worksheets in the galleries. They are designed to slow the children down and help them to look at parts of the displays relevant to their topic.

You will need to supervise your group as they work in the galleries for two reasons; firstly, to help them if they get stuck with their worksheets, and secondly, to keep them in relevant parts of the gallery.

There are only two rules for children who are working in the gallery; don't run and don't shout.

You should find the gallery staff friendly and helpful.

In the cottage

It is small, with low ceilings and steep narrow stairs. For this reason we only allow a maximum of 15 people inside the Cottage at a time.

Enjoy the cottage, it is a real chance to feel that you have moved back to the 1850s. Your groups should spend between 40 minutes and an hour in the Cottage.

Preparing for your visit
The best time to come
Most of our visit programmes work best if the children have some knowledge of their subject before they arrive. It is, therefore, best to make your visit at least part of the way through your project.
During your visit
Adults
If you are taking part in a supervised activity at one of the museums generally you will only need 1-2 adults to each group. If you are bringing special needs children with their own helpers, the helpers are, of course, welcome.
Toilets
Before they come, warn the children that our toilet facilities are limited and that if desperate they should quietly ask an adult. There are certain parts of each programme where it is convenient for children to use the toilets: During a worksheet session. While they are using a handling collection. At the end of the visit. Note: There are no toilet facilities at the Cottage Museum, although we have made emergency arrangements with the nearby TIC.
The shop
If you want your children to visit the museum shops, please say so before your visit. It will take at least 10 minutes for a class of 30 to use the shop.
Money
Please pay for the visit while you are at the museum. It is best to do this while you are in the gallery where you can easily be given a receipt from the office. Cheques should be made payable to Lancaster City Council.

Finding the museums
	Knocking on the right door
	Around the back of the City Museum - nearly opposite the Halifax estate agency - is a door marked 'Museum Service to Schools', this allows you straight into the classroom.
	Arriving
	Most coaches drop the children just below the Castle - please see the map. From here it is an easy walk to the Cottage and the City Museums. If you are going to the Maritime Museum the coach can drop you in a lay-by just outside the main entrance. Warning: double decker buses cannot get under the bridge on St. George's Quay.
	If you are early
	If you arrive before the time you have booked, send an adult to warn us that you have arrived early, and to make sure we are ready for you.
	Or late
	Parties travelling in from south of Lancaster in the morning should allow extra time for their journey. Classes that are booked into a combination of museums will experience most difficulty through being late. We understand how easy it is to be late and we will try to accommodate you if you are. We may, however, have to squeeze each part of your visit - education staff who are in role or guiding often have to move to other duties, you will probably need to catch your return coach, and other classes may be following you.

Roman things to do in school
The Romans invented books with pages. They also used wax tablets, thin slices of wood, papyrus scrolls and vellum - thin animal skin - to write on. Legal documents were written on scrolls and books on vellum.
ROMAN INK
The Romans made ink by mixing fine soot or lamp black - the soot from burnt oil in lamps - with water and plant gum. They wrote using a cut and split reed or a bronze pen with a nib like an old fashioned dip and scratch pen.
I made some Roman ink in an egg cup. I scraped two dessert spoonfuls of soot from the back of my fireplace and mixed it with two spoonfuls of water and one of gum Arabic. (You can get Gum Arabic from art shops as it is used in water-colour painting). I found that it was best to mix the ink with my finger - wear plastic gloves if you don't want a black finger.
RECIPE: Roman Wine Cakes
This will make the children think. This is a RECIPE FOR CAKES FROM THE TIME BEFORE SUGAR. I have given you the original recipe and suggested some alternatives.
450g self raising flour. If you want to use an original flour, Doves Farm make a Spelt flour. You can buy this in wholefood shops. sweet white wine, - the alcohol will evaporate during cooking. Alternatively you can add apple or white grape juice. 1/4 teaspoon of aniseed and pinch of cumin. 50g lard - I used vegetable fat. 25g of grated cheese. 1 egg. 12 bay leaves.
Mix the flour aniseed and cumin. Rub the fat and cheese into the flour and then mix in the egg. Add the wine gradually, you want to make the mixture into a soft kneedable dough. Form the dough into about 20 cakes and put each one on half a bay leaf. Bake in the oven at 200 C. for 25-30 minutes.
The Romans used an oven made from tiles and stone. They made a fire inside and as soon as the oven was hot enough the ashes were raked out, the cakes put inside and the opening sealed. The heat left in the stones cooked the cakes.
Eat these cakes while they are warm, they go stale very quickly. They are not very sweet and you have to chew them carefully to understand the kind of subtle sweetness that our Roman forebears would have been used to. You can cheat slightly by cutting them and spreading honey in the middle.