Amelia Earhart
KS1 topic hubSignificant people

Explore the life and legacy of Amelia Earhart

A study of Amelia helps pupils compare significant people linked by flight and explore the achievements of a pioneering woman working in a male-dominated world.

In this topic: Flight · Historical significance · Chronology

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Everything for this history topic in one place

Helpful tips: Focus on motivation, historical significance and chronology. Compare Amelia’s achievements with those of the Wright brothers or Amy Johnson.
KS1 Medium Term Planner: Amelia Earhart

The medium term planner has 6 key questions which offer contexts for deepening pupils’ historical understanding though it is anticipated that the broader topic will draw on lots of cross-curricular…

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amelia earhart
Amelia Earhart knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about Amelia because she was a very famous American woman who learned how to fly and then broke lots of records for how fast high and long…

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amelia earhart by plane
Amelia Earhart – KQ1 – Why do we think that Amelia was famous?

This introductory session starts with firing pupils’ curiosity via a slow reveal in which pupils build a picture of her by means of a series of clues introduced in a…

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amelia earhart cartoon
Amelia Earhart – KQ2 – What were the main events in Amelia’s life that shaped her ?

Having listened to an illustrated description of Amelia’s early life, pupils have to select suitable adjectives to describe her character using the odd-one-out options on the PowerPoint presentation to check…

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amelia in flight gear
Amelia Earhart – KQ3 – Why was Amelia so keen to fly when so few women at the time were interested?

A relatively short session exploring Amelia’s motivation starts with pupils drawing on their prior knowledge to consider why she took such risks, followed by an analysis of a few simply…

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amelia earhart cartoon
Amelia Earhart – KQ4 – What were the main ups and downs in Amelia’s life?

Using the living graph technique pupils sequence the events of Amelia’s flying career and then physically create points on a graph by deciding which events were good ones for Amelia…

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amelia earhart by plane
Amelia Earhart – KQ5 – How do we know so much about Amelia’s life when she lived so long ago?

In this session pupils get to work as history detectives matching clues within sources to statements historians have made about Amelia. Using the active ‘prove it’ strategy, pupils in pairs…

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amelia earhart plaque
Amelia Earhart – KQ6 – What was Amelia’s greatest achievement and how should it be remembered?

Working towards the end goal of producing a book cover to encapsulate the key details of Amelia’s achievements, pupils learn, through a few short preparatory tasks, to discriminate between what…

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amelia earhart by plane
Amelia Earhart – assessment task

Disciplinary concept target: Significance Pupils draw on the 4 clues to underline why Amelia Earhart is seen as an important figure in history. They go beyond her as a daring…

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amelia earhart cartoon
Amelia Earhart end of unit quiz – KS1

You’ve learned all about the amazing Amelia Earhart — the brave pilot who loved to explore the skies and follow her dreams. Now it’s time to see what you remember!…

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