Mosaics session plan at Rockbourne Roman

• A 2 hour session for one class of KS1/2
• We request an adult/child ratio of 1 to7
• Supports QCA History unit 6A – ‘Romans’ and unit 18 ‘what was it like to live here in the past’. Also Art units 1b – ‘investigating materials’ and unit 2c – ‘can buildings speak?’

Organisation
During the session you will need to divide the class into smaller groups for looking around the museum and for led activities. The Interpreter demonstrator will oversee the session, with adult helpers stewarding  smaller groups through the museum.

Objectives

• To gain an over view of the history of Rockbourne Roman villa and how it fitted into the Roman history of Britain
• To gain an insight into everyday Roman life
• With a practical emphasis, to experience the ancient art used in the villa
• To look closer at Roman art and the life that influenced it.

Outline

Introduction
Welcome to the villa. Health and Safety intro. Outline of session events. Establish background to the evolution of the villa.

Activities
This session is a mixture of discussion and hands on.

Tour
The first part of the visit is a look around the indoors part of the museum, getting an over view of life on the site and in Roman England.

The class will be split into smaller groups and the Interpreter will lead the groups around, getting the children to think about and look closer at the exhibition

The whole class then regroups and the tour continues outside in the same manner, looking at the site including the hypocaust, mosaics and bath house.

Break

Hands on
Again the class is broken into smaller groups.

The Interpreter will then introduce the various activities in front of the whole class, before explaining how long will be spent on each and how the rotation will work.

• Observational drawing - Clipboard, paper and charcoal pencils provided. Use the charcoal for shading. Close observation of the Villa’s mosaics.
• Granite mosaic - Using a part of the Rockbourne mosaic design, groups are set the challenge of building a ‘dry’ mosaic within a short amount of time. How time consuming is it? Why are square tesserae better than rough stones?
• Mosaic tile production - Aprons and disposable gloves provided.Groups are shown step by step how to draw a simple design on paper, then choose the coloured tesserae for their design. Grout is then applied to squares of hard board provided and the design applied to the tile. Finish by grouting between tesserae and cleaning off excess grout. Finished mosaic tiles can then be taken back to school. Grout will dry within an hour.

Wash Hands

Conclusion
The whole class will be brought together and given the opportunity to discuss what they’ve seen and done and ask questions.

End

Please return the evaluation form you are presented with at the villa at your earliest convenience.