Free History Lesson Plans and Free History Tasks

teaching and learnign ks2 All parts of this site have been written and quality assured by Neil Thompson, who has vast experience of history teaching from years in the classroom, leading a department, and being part of SLT.

For even longer he was an OFSTED history inspector, the county history adviser to Hampshire primary and secondary schools and consultant and author for the BBC, DFE, exam boards, publishers, and QCA. Neil continues to support teachers by running national courses and works with teachers in schools. He also runs school-based INSET and acts as ‘virtual adviser’ offering crucial support to new subject leaders.

Free KS1 Resources	Historical focus
The Great Fire – KQ1 – How can we work out why the Great Fire started?	Great Fire of London – causes and historical enquiry
Going to the seaside – KQ2 – What did people do at the seaside 100 years ago?	Seaside holidays – change and continuity
Smart Task: Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole – Who said it? Who am I?	Significant individuals – comparison and evidence
Moon Landing – KQ1 – Has man ever been to the moon and how can we know for sure?	Moon Landing – evidence and historical enquiry
Toys – KQ3 – How can we tell these toys are old?	Toys past and present – using evidence
The Gunpowder Plot: Prove it using a gallery of images	Gunpowder Plot – visual evidence and enquiry
Help Tom to fight the Great Fire – Smart Task	Great Fire of London – decision-making and enquiry
Expert Advice: Key Stage 1 – Mary Anning	Mary Anning – teaching and curriculum guidance
Expert Advice: Planning for a cross-curricular topic on Going to the Seaside	Seaside – cross-curricular planning
Florence Nightingale lesson and sample planner	Florence Nightingale – lesson and medium-term planning
Assessment for learning in Primary history	Assessment for learning and progression
Long term planning for history at Key Stage 1	KS1 curriculum and long-term planning
Thinking skills in history at Key Stage 1	Thinking skills and historical learning
Smart Task: KS1 – Assessment in history	Seaside topic – assessment and historical understanding

Free KS2 Resources	Historical focus
KS2 Example Planner – Vikings Medium Term Planner	Vikings – medium-term curriculum planning
Teaching Life in Tudor Times for KS2	Tudor Britain – teaching and enquiry
WW2 – KQ2c – Extending the BBC website on Eric the evacuee	World War Two – evacuation and historical evidence
Anglo-Saxons – KQ2 – The mystery of the empty Saxon grave	Anglo-Saxons – archaeology and historical enquiry
Life in Tudor Times – Linking history with numeracy: a Tudor enquiry	Tudor Britain – buildings, evidence and numeracy
Ancient Egypt – The opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb	Ancient Egypt – Tutankhamun and archaeological discovery
Roman Britain – Picture this: creating a Roman town	Roman Britain – towns, buildings and everyday life
Vikings – KQ1 – What image do we have of the Vikings?	Vikings – interpretations and historical evidence
How will your school commemorate the end of World War One?	World War One – remembrance and commemoration
Imaginative learning activities at Key Stage 2	KS2 history – teaching and learning strategies
If life was so hard in Victorian cities, why did Wilf move his family there?	Victorian Britain – migration and urbanisation
Primary History: Teaching Victorian Britain Key Stage 2	Victorian Britain – teaching and curriculum guidance
Using a Victorian census to discover what life was like 100 years ago	Victorian Britain – census evidence and enquiry
Victorian Cities	Victorian Britain – urban life and industrialisation
History and literacy – Making sense of a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn	Tudors – primary sources and historical literacy
Assessment of interpretations of Boudicca	Roman Britain – interpretations and assessment

Free KS3 Resources	Historical focus
Teaching KS3 History: Black Peoples of the Americas and slavery	Slavery and Black history – teaching and enquiry
Free at Last? How far had the Civil Rights Movement come by 1963?	Civil Rights Movement – change and historical judgement
How well do these cartoons cover the causes of World War One?	World War One – causation and cartoon evidence
Court of King Cholera: Where am I in the picture?	Industrial Britain – public health and source analysis
Puzzle Corner 3: The strange case of the missing slave	Slavery – visual evidence and interpretation
Puzzle Corner: The strange case of the steel helmet	World War One – evidence and historical deduction
Expert Advice: Key Stage 3 and 4 – Using the 4 Bs	Teaching strategy – improving historical learning
Fit for purpose teaching strategies at Key Stage 3	KS3 history – personalised learning and teaching strategies
Battalion 101: Why did they shoot? A history mystery	Holocaust – causation and historical enquiry
What can we learn about the Empire from a Christmas pudding?	British Empire – evidence and interpretation
What made runaway slaves successful?	Slavery – causation and historical enquiry
What can we learn about medieval churches from the outside and inside?	Medieval Britain – religion and material evidence
Puzzle Corner 2: Analysing Victorian photographs – the Tredegar patch girls	Victorian Britain – photographic evidence

Free KS4 Resources	Historical focus
Smart Task: Opening up of the Western frontier by the railroads – a history mystery	American West – railroads, causation and enquiry
Smart Task: Medieval medicine – What can we work out from the picture?	Medicine through time – medieval medicine and evidence
Smart Task: GCSE SHP Medicine – 18th century surgery	Medicine through time – surgery and change
Smart Task: How popular was the Vietnam War? What can we learn from just two photographs?	Vietnam War – interpretations and photographic evidence
Hoover’s rubbish: Roosevelt moves in	USA – Depression, Hoover and Roosevelt
Thoroughly Modern Millie: How do we know this song is about Flappers?	USA in the 1920s – Flappers and social change
GCSE SHP Crime and Punishment: The Metropolitan Police Force in 1830	Crime and Punishment – policing and cartoon evidence
How well do these cartoons cover the causes of World War One?	World War One – causation and cartoon analysis
Squeezing the sources dry: how to make the most of source work in GCSE history	GCSE source skills and historical evidence
Expert Advice: Key Stage 3 and 4 – Using the 4 Bs	Teaching strategy and historical thinking
Attitudes of the US government to Native Americans: milking an image for meaning	American West – Native Americans and visual evidence
Smart Task: What do election posters tell us about Who Voted Nazi?	Nazi Germany – elections, propaganda and source analysis
Smart Task: A Suffragette procession – comparing the evidence	Women’s suffrage – comparison of historical evidence
Smart Task: Deciphering a Cold War cartoon using the slow reveal technique	Cold War – cartoon analysis and source skills
Vesalius’ claim to fame – using the B.A.D. formula to prepare for a BBC interview	Medicine through time – Vesalius and Renaissance medicine
Prehistoric Medicine: Getting your GCSE course off to a great start	Medicine through time – prehistoric beliefs and treatments
Why was this World War One painting censored?	World War One – censorship and interpretations
How have cartoonists portrayed the Liberals’ Old Age Pensions reforms?	Liberal reforms – interpretations and cartoon evidence
GCSE Modern World History: Using football to teach inter-war relations 1919–39	Inter-war relations – international relations through football
Marking the anniversary of the Wall Street Crash	USA – Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression