Teaching Famous People at KS1

KS1 Medium Term Planner for Spreading the Word: Caxton to Bell

The ‘significant people’ element of the KS1 history curriculum now requires pupils to compare achievements of individuals within a linked theme - in this case communication in a topic called ‘spreading the word’. We have chosen Caxton and Bell, rather than Berners-Lee who, although mentioned...

Caxton and Bell – KQ1 – Caxton

Following a mysterious PowerPoint slow reveal in which pupils look for clues to Caxton’s fame, pupils are given a brief illustrated summary of the key moments in his life which are consolidated with a sequencing activity. Pupils then make a series of more creative tableaux...

Caxton and Bell – KQ2 – Quick the King and Queen are coming! How Caxton changed the way books were made

Having shown pupils how books were made before Caxton’s time, the main focus of the lesson is on how the new system worked. To prevent this being a dull session on technology, pupils are placed in the role of apprentices to Caxton who have to...

Caxton and Bell – KQ3 – How and why should Caxton be remembered?

Having discussed the possible options for ways of commemorating his achievement, pupils have to create a new plaque on his statue, because the old words have worn and faded away. But what shall we write? Pupils offer ideas and then select the 6 most relevant...

Mary Anning – KQ1 – Why do we remember Mary Anning?

This introductory session attempts to place Mary's life in a broader context of time and place and to whet pupils' appetite, without telling much of the story of her life. This follows in the next session. key to the introduction is the use of sources...

Mary Anning – KQ2 – What did Mary do in her life that was so special?

Pupils move from the sequencing of the major events of Mary’s life to a more sophisticated understanding of which of these events were the most significant. By creating a fortunes or living human graph, pupils are able to see the ups and downs of her...

Mary Seacole – KQ1 – How can we work out why Mary Seacole is famous? NEW

This session focuses on working out WHY Mary Seacole is commemorated today 200 years after she was born, and looks at the different ways in which she is remembered. The debate about whether she, or Florence Nightingale , better deserves a statue outside St.Thomas’ hospital...

KS1 Medium Term Planner: Louis Braille

The current history curriculum at KS1 asks schools to provide a little more coherence in their choice of significant people to study, suggesting that they might be linked by theme. I agree with this improvement. Here we have a possible theme of ‘our senses’ or...

Mary Seacole – KQ2 – What were the most important events in Mary’s life? NEW

Pupils watch a short film to establish the outlines of the story and then have to sequence a differentiated set of images of the key events of her life. They finish by discussing which events were the most significant in Mary’s life and identifying turning...

Louis Braille – KQ1 – Why do you think Louis Braille is remembered today: Smart task

Step 1

Start by showing the image of Louis Braille on slide 1 of the PowerPoint. Explain that he is a very famous man who lived 200 years ago and that what he invented is still used today, even though he was only 15 years old...

Mary Seacole – KQ3 – What was Mary’s greatest achievement and how do we know? NEW

The focus here is mainly on the evidence for Mary’s achievement. This is important as she was a more-or-less forgotten figure for 200 years. So how do we know that claims about Mary’s life are true? The skill of finding evidence to back up statements...

Mary Seacole – KQ4 – How did life change for Mary after the Crimean war? NEW

Pupils create a fortunes graph showing the highs and lows of Mary’s life after the Crimea, identify a key turning point in her fortunes, and then consider ways in which Mary was helped when she fell on hard times.

Objectives

- Pupils are able to sequence events...

Louis Braille – KQ4 – What changes to people’s lives did Louis make?

Step 1

This is a short activity in which pupils are asked to think of any uses of Braille they know of in everyday life, perhaps by showing the start of Magic Grandad video which introduces the idea of a Braille menu.

Step 2

They are...

Louis Braille – KQ5 – What makes Braille so special? Smart task

This very short task is preliminary to the major task that follows in KQ6 which explores how we should commemorate Louis’ achievement. It is important that they consider the crucial role his character played. His single-minded determination from one so young is simply extraordinary and...

Mary Seacole – KQ5 – What made Mary so special? NEW

A short session aimed at generating adjectives to capture the special qualities that Mary had and to provide examples of where she exhibited those characteristics.

Learning objectives

- Pupils can list at least 3 adjectives to describe her distinctive character - Pupils understand that Mary was exceptionally kind...

Mary Seacole – KQ6 – Why doesn’t everyone agree that Mary deserves her statue at St.Thomas’ hospital? NEW

This lesson places pupils in the role of Mantle of the Expert. A new monument to Mary Seacole was erected outside St Thomas Hospital in 2016 . But there have been complaints. Surely it was Florence who was associated with St Thomas’ hospital , not...

Guidance for teaching Amy Johnson as a Famous Person in Key Stage 1

This study of a significant individual has been designed to form part of a broader topic on a similar theme which is one of the key new requirements of the current National Curriculum for history. It can also be covered as discrete topic in its...

Teaching the Wright Brothers as a Famous Person in Key Stage 1

The Wright brothers offers an exciting opportunity for pupils to explore a topic that should engage their interest, provide plenty of opportunities for drama and creative thinking and should fit well into a cross-curricular topic plan. Pupils live in a highly technologically-driven world, so this...

Wright Brothers – KQ1 – What do you think the Wright brothers did to make them famous?

At the very start of the topic, on the assumption that you haven’t told them what the topic is about!! pupils are shown slide 2 in the form of a slow reveal. 4 coloured boxes obscure a picture of the Wright Brothers’ Flyer. But can...

Wright Brothers – KQ2 – How did the Wright brothers manage to be the first to launch a man powered flight?

This enquiry comprises a series of three smart tasks: the first is a sequencing task based on storytelling; the second a ‘living graph the third an optional ‘reconstruction relay drawing task’ . All contribute to helping pupils gain a firm grasp of the key events...

Wright Brothers – KQ3 activity 1 – Why did the Wright brothers succeed where others had failed?

Sarah Duck describes how her class tackled this key question. The task involves children reading small diamond-shaped text cards, to decide which statements are true or false. They then put aside the false ones and work only with the true ones. The next task is to...

Wright Brothers – KQ3 activity 2 – Spying on the Wright Brothers.

This reconstruction relay - part of KQ3, Why did the Wright Brothers succeed where others had failed - is fantastic fun as well as helping pupils to look carefully at the features of The Flyer, the Wright Brothers 1903 plane. Basically pupils are cast in the...

Wright Brothers – KQ4 – The Wright Brothers first flight. KS1 Prove it!

How can we possibly know about the Wright Brothers first flight when there’s nobody alive now who saw it?

This is a question about evidence, one which makes pupils consider how we know for sure about the past. Their thinking needs to be developed beyond ‘it...

Wright Brothers – KQ4 – one teacher’s alternative approach – Wright brothers: prove to me that it really happened

This lesson was taught by Sarah Duck, Leading Teacher for History, Hampshire LA. She kindly describes for us how the lesson went. "Work had already begun on the Wright Brothers' topic and the children were familiar with the sequence of events leading up to, including...

Wright Brothers – KQ5 – How did flight change as a result of the Wright Brothers’ work?

This activity goes beyond simple sequencing of images, which pupils first attempted at the start of the topic, to explaining the nature of the changes that have taken places in aviation since the Wright brothers. They finish by attaching significance to each change. Which do...

Wright Brothers – KQ6 – How should the Wright brothers be remembered?

Commemorating the Wright brother's achievements with words young children can understand

Pupils have to create a plaque to commemorate the Wright brothers’ achievements to replace the incomprehensible one on the monument at Kitty Hawk. But they can use only 50 words so they need to be...

Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach

Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach:

1. Mary was not a nurse as pupils would understand the term

She learned about holistic medicine from her mother who was a ‘doctress’ who understood the healing properties...

Teaching Scott of the Antarctic to Key Stage 1

Those of you who are thinking that this choice of famous person seems to presage a return to an Our Island Story approach to heroes and derring-do, couldn't be further from the reality in the classroom. The topic goes well beyond discussions of bravery and adventure,...

Grace Darling – KQ2 – Why did Grace Darling act in the way she did?

An active lesson in which pupils generate adjectives and then use a Diamond-4 ranking activity, followed by hot seating, to ascertain Grace’s motivation. A broader context is achieved by asking pupils to analyse the possible reasons why Grace was seen as particularly famous at the...

Grace Darling – KQ4 – How do we know about Grace Darling’s actions which happened so long ago?

There are two distinct elements to this session. Firstly, pupils develop a sense of period and of evidence by thinking about the sources historians would use to find out about Grace Darling. Secondly, pupils act as history detectives, hunting down the clues which support the...

Grace Darling – KQ5 – How did sea rescue improve as a result of Grace Darling’s story?

This session comprises 2 principal activities: matching descriptions of lifeboats to time periods to deepen pupils’ sense of change, continuity and chronology; sequencing and then selecting images for a Museum about most significant changes to sea rescue since Grace Darling's time.

Step 1

Ask children to think...

Moon Landing – KQ6 – Commemorating the Moon Landing

How do you think we should remember the first man on the moon on July 21st 1969? What symbol could we use?

Coming at the end of the topic this smart task encourages pupils to show their understanding of why this was such a significant event....

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ6 – How should Scott be remembered today?

Exciting finale to the topic sees pupils analysing different ways in which Scott has been commemorated in the past, coming up with their own 21st century ideas and then completing a diamond-4 prioritising activity before acting as historical advisers to a stone mason renovating a...

Amy Johnson – KQ1 – Why do you think Amy Johnson was famous?

In this session on Amy Johnson (KQ1 on the planner) children learn to: predict from small clues link together disparate pieces of evidence and draw conclusions based on the clues they are given. With the help of the slow reveal of the clues in carefully arranged order, pupils build...

Amy Johnson – KQ2 – How did Amy the secretary end up being the first woman to fly to Australia?

This short, fun activity using mime and props, tells the story of Amy Johnson's first flight to Australia in a way that children will never forget. Each of the 8 steps of the story has its own mime and props (we provide the ideas, you...

Amy Johnson – KQ3 – Why was flying to Australia so difficult for Amy Johnson?

Having heard the story of Amy Johnson's life, pupils are now asked to focus their attention on explaining why it was such a difficult feat for Amy to achieve at that time. Can they think of any ideas themselves before working out from clues on...

Amy Johnson – KQ4 – How did people react to Amy Johnson’s famous flight?

How did people react to Amy at the time, and how do we know?

Children generate adjectives to describe Amy’s arrival in Australia using a photograph and short newspaper extracts and then are given 10 statements which they have to prove using a gallery of evidence. First...

Amy Johnson – KQ5 – How did things change for Amy Johnson after her famous flight?

Was Amy really successful for the rest of her life? A Living graph Smart Task KQ5

The focus here is on the ups and downs of Amy’s life, in the ten years after her famous flight to Australia.

Step 1

Give pupils an envelope containing a set of...

Amy Johnson – KQ6 – How can we solve the mystery of what happened to Amy Johnson?

This enduring mystery has puzzled historians for over 75 years. New evidence has just come to light which makes this an ideal opportunity for pupils to explore reasons for themselves. Clearly pupils will not be capable of adding fresh ideas: all we want here is...

Louis Braille – evaluating the video

This lesson comes at the end of the sequence of lessons which explore Louis Braille's life and achievements. Rather than using a video for information and atmosphere, this lesson uses it to help pupils to evaluate what they have seen. They first consider what they...

Fighting Fit. What did Florence do to improve the lives of the soldiers when she arrived in the Crimea?

In this lesson children compare the appalling conditions in the hospitals on Florence’s arrival at Scutari. With the help of animated rats!! They list the most significant problems and then compare with a hospital which had been transformed by Florence. They annotate a famous painting...