Last week we started the main part of the education side of BTTQ. We are doing workshops in two local schools, and from these workshops will be creating a resource for teachers to use to enable them to carry out the project themselves.
We started off in Wood Farm School, which is only a couple of minutes walk away from the cottage where Kimber was born! The children were fascinated to hear about his life, and especially so when they realised how close he lived to where they go to school.
We deliberately kept the workshops quite free-form, to enable the children to let us know what they found interesting - the group quickly split in to three, each with their own ideas about what they wanted to find out.
One group was very interested in researching facts about Kimber's life, particularly about all the different places he lived, and the houses he built. They made a poster with facts on, and also created a map of Headington with all the important places marked.
Another group made up a play to tell the story of the meeting between Kimber and Sharp, and the final group decided to focus on dance. They watched videos of the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers, and used what they saw to create their own dance. They even had a visit from a real live Morris Dancer on day 2, who taught them some steps!
And ALL of the children enjoyed learning the mini-melodeon!