This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
Happy Weekend, Teachers! Have a lesson plan for a suggested class novel to celebrate. If you'd like to read a bit about the novel, click here . "Children of Green Knowe" by Lucy Boston The Curriculum Experience and Outcome for this lesson is: I am developing an interest, confidence and enjoyment in using drawing and colour techniques, manually or electronically, to represent ideas in different learning situations. TCH 1-15a Having evaluated my work, I can adapt and improve, where appropriate, through trial and error or by using feedback. TCH 1-14b / TCH 2-14b This novel is all centred around the castle-like house Green Knowe. It is a very old house which has been added to at various times in history. Because the house and the garden are the setting for the entire story, there is a lot of description of the rooms, and the outside of the house itself. Test your class' design skills with this lesson. Learning Intention To understand how to u...