Today we had a wonerful visit to Summerlee Heritage Museum as part of our Victorian topic. When we arrived we put on our hard hats and went down the mine. It was very dark and damp and the two guides told us about the terrible working conditions the miners had to work in. If we lived in those times, we would have started work when we were only 6. After our trip down the mine we’re glad we go to school. We then had a chance to tour the cottages. It was hard to believe that poor victorian families of up to 10 people lived in one cramped room. Liam was shocked to see the tin bath, especially when he learned that the wholw family shared the same bath water! Indie spotted the chamber pot and said he’d rather use the outside toilet we saw. After a picnic lunch and a play on the amazing play area, we met Sandra who lead our Victorian workshop. Sandra was impressed with our knowledge about Queen Victoria when she showed us an interesting powerpoint. We woorked in groups to find out what real victorian objects were used for then we reported back to the class. Mrs O’Neill’s favourite part of the day was dressing in the teacher’s gown and brandishing ‘the belt’. Finally it was our turn to dress as victorian school children and we had a chance to play some victorian games and do copperplate writing with real pens and ink. We had a fantastic time and our visit really brought all we have been learning to life.