When the inspector entered, the pupils were sitting on the carpet around the teacher. She was gently exploring whether they understood the concepts ‘old’ and ‘new’ and the differences between the present and the past. The pupils responded very well to this. Virtually all were...
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Outstanding Lessons at KS1
If you have ever searched the internet for inspiration for your history sessions you will know how frustrating it can be. Luckily the answer is at hand. Built up from twenty years’ experience of working with infant schools, the site brings into one place some of the best history lessons you can expect to find. Not only are they logically developed with clear learning objectives, thoughtful structure and fit-for-purpose, fully-resourced activities, they are all in some ways creative or imaginative. They are not run of the mill. They will almost certainly fire your imagination and stimulate an even better idea.
Brand new outstanding planner and fully-resourced lessons on Y1 topic TOYS
Coinciding with children returning to school after Christmas , hopefully with a few presents to their name, this brand new planner and full set of fully-resourced lessons will be launched. As already explained on the site there will be 6 enquiry questions each having its...
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How should Scott be remembered today? KQ6
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...
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How will your school commemorate the end of World War One in 2018?
This short advice sheet invites schools to consider how they will commemorate the centenary of armistice day and provides an illustrated PowerPoint presentation offering 8 attractive ideas to set you thinking.
This supports two outstanding lessons that feature on the website:
What do we...
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Excellent resource on Great Fire of London for KS1
The Museum of London has a wonderful selection of teaching resources on its website including an infographic poster, an interactive story and perhaps best of all a Minecraft version of 1666’s tragic tale.
Find all of these here, at museumoflondon.org....
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Do we go on seaside holidays for the same reason people went 100 years ago? KQ4
Children discuss the reasons they might have for going on a seaside holiday NOW and then think of the different reasons why people might have gone 100 years ago. Slides 2 and 3 of the PowerPoint provide some clues. Slide 4 reinforces the key ideas,...
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How should we remember Grace Darling? KQ6
This last key question of 6 on the medium-term planning, focuses on her legacy and why we should commemorate her. It introduces pupils to a number of ways in which people are remembered before inviting them to use their creative imaginations to come up...
Great new activity on Florence Nightingale- Dear Producer
One of the great challenges of teaching KS1 history is to avoid the pitfall of turning history into just stories from the past. Of course we want our youngest children to enjoy and remember the stories,... KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed
You have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles, suggestions, actual tasks and mark schemes to assessing actual pieces of work. You may already have... How have seaside holidays changed? KQ5b what our grandparents tell us
This lesson finds children producing a questionnaire, collecting data from grandparents, feeding data into a database and then drawing conclusions. When they then compare their findings with those of another parallel class they become aware that not all people's experiences were the same. How...
Going to the Seaside KS1 Assessing your children’s understanding
Just to let you know that we're piloting a new short diagnostic assessment task on going to the seaside 100 years ago, using the picture here as a stimulus. We've worked out a detailed mark scheme which links to national expectations. Subscribers can request a...
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KS1 Medium term planner: The sinking of the Titanic Y2
This topic provides an exciting addition to the usual famous events taught at KS1. Not only is there a clear, compelling narrative that pupils can relate to, it also offers opportunities to develop worthwhile historical concepts such as diversity, causation, consequences, interpretations and source analysis....
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What are the best ways of stopping disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic ever happening again? KQ6
Pupils are employed as safety advisers to the UK and US governments in the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic? Their job is to come up with the best, and most cost-effective measures to make sure no disaster such as this ever happens again? ...
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Why weren’t more people saved from the Titanic? KQ5
In this problem-solving activity, pupils have to speculate, using a stimulus image and then evaluate a range of given reasons based on their plausibility, placing them on a spectrum. To demonstrate their understanding pupils complete 3 speech bubbles giving the most important reasons coming from...
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What was so special about life on the Titanic? KS1 enquiry
What was so special about life on board the Titanic? and was it the same for everyone? KQ2
In this enquiry pupils play Prove it! using a gallery of images to test the evidence and who said that? to explore diversity on board ship. Creatively, they...Final Moon Landing lesson (KQ3) available now on request
Pleased to announce that final Moon Landing lesson resources for KQ3 are available on request as we find the last missing piece of the copyright jigsaw! Subscribers simply email us and we'll send all the lesson resources, by return, prior to full upload....
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What happened during the Great Fire and how do we know?
This lesson focuses on the idea of evidence and proof. Can pupils find evidence to back up statements made in books? Can they tell which is the strongest piece of evidence to support a statement. By learning how to select the sources which they think...
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Remembering the sinking of the Titanic – a famous event for KS1
All the lessons for this topic have now been uploaded along with the Medium-term planner....
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Launching the Titanic enquiry, drawing on pupils’ prior knowledge
What do we already know about the Titanic and what can we work out from a picture? KQ1
This lesson's activities are designed to release any prior knowledge pupils might have about this well known story. By focusing on clear and detailed illustrations pupils quickly develop...KQ4 Florence Nightingale’s days are numbered. Brilliant cross-curricular History and Mathematics
Every so often you see an inspiring example of history and numeracy working together seamlessly. Such a lesson was taught by Ros Boulton of South Farnborough Infants. She wanted her children to do far more than draw a simple timeline of Florence Nightingale’s life. She...
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Did Grace Darling really carry out the brave rescue on her own? KQ3
This Year 1 lesson on historical interpretations starts with a stark comparison of 2 images of the rescue showing very different detail. Pairs of pupils are then given 1 of 5 other picture versions which they have to turn into a mime to highlight...
What did people do at the seaside 100 years ago? KQ2
From mime to movie. SMART TASK
This fun activity is carried out by children working on tables of six. Half the class work on one image, the other half on another interesting image. Each table is given an A4 colour picture either A or B. For...Planning for a cross-curricular topic on Going to the Seaside
This advice with associated downloadable resource below is for KS1 teachers planning a cross-curricular topic and focuses on how to integrate history, geography, literacy and ICT.
Start the topic with a brief discussion with the children about where they are going on their summer...
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2 fun facts for pupils studying Florence Nightingale at KS1 and 2 key learning points
Just thought these two fun facts might interest your pupils, building on infants' interest in animals rather than death rates from dysentery!
So the two facts are:
1. As a child, Florence already showed an interest in nursing by mending broken dolls and fitting splints to injured...
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KQ3 Smart task What did people really think of Florence Nightingale?
This lesson was taught by Judith Holmes, of Awbridge Primary School, Hampshire. Judith has supplied QCA with a number of her high quality lessons and planning. They can be found in the 'History Matters/ It worked for me' part of the site. In this...
KS1 |Great Fire interactive resource
Just thought I'd bring to the attention of those who haven't yet seen it the interesting resource put together by the Museum of London and other agencies a year or so ago.
You can find it here
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Why did the Great Fire burn down so many houses?
This Great Fire lesson focuses on developing children's powers of explanations. They will already have looked at the sequence of events and will be able to offer a few simple reasons. This lesson aims to take them beyond a simple list towards deeper understanding of...
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The Gunpowder Plot: Prove it using a gallery of images
This skilfully differentiated lesson places pupils in the role of detectives that have to find evidence to back up statements that have been made about the Gunpowder plot. They are given responsibility for a range of statements carefully matched to their learning needs. They work...
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How shall we rebuild London after the Great Fire?
This lesson gives full rein to children's creative flair, disciplined by evidence. The City of London is offering a prize for the best design for a rebuilt London after the Great Fire. If the children know the causes well, and they should do after using...
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Grace Darling: setting up the enquiry KQ 1
This is the first lesson on an enquiry into Grace Darling: what she did, and why she was famous. The kernel of the lesson is a slow reveal activity which works really well on an Interactive White Board. The key image comes from the...
Teaching In Living Memory to Key Stage 1
Within living memory is one of the periods of time KS1 pupils need to study. At first sight it might seem obvious that this is the period best suited to Year 1, because it is more familiar. If you think a little longer you may...
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Polly put the kettle on. Learning about then and now, past and present
This is one of a series of 3 separate sessions on different nursery rhymes, building up children's understanding of the concept of past and present and giving them a vocabulary to describe the past. The focus is on developing the idea that there was a...
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How do we know what holidays were like 100 years ago? KQ3
Designing an authentic Edwardian Seaside Poster
This KS1 history lesson uses the Mantle of the Expert approach to place pupils in role as historical advisers to a film producer. Their job is to create an historically accurate poster which will trail the new film set...Can we help our American millionaire to make his castle come alive? SMART TASK
This activity uses the idea of the Mantle of the Expert to engage children in a serious, real-life task. A very wealthy American has just bought a ruined English castle. He wants to bring it back to how it was 700, yes 700 years ago! ...
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Spying on your rival lord’s latest new castle
This is a really fun way of helping children to look closely at the detail of a medieval castle. They are cast in the role of spies for their local lord ( Earl Fuddy Fuddy), who has an old-fashioned castle. He has heard that his...
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Bonfire Night when Granny was a girl: Smart Task
These activities have been designed for the new 2014 history curriculum, covering the past within living memory and commemorative events.
The three PowerPoint presentations, including copyrighted images of the 1950s and early 60s from Mary Evans picture library give children a flavour of a familiar event...
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Washday in the past; helping the hopeless Mr Lather
The children will be familiar with the range of processes involved in washing clothes in the past. They will have watched programmes such as Magic Grandad and will have explored a range of artefacts such as a mangle and a dolly-stick/posser. The aim of...
Help Tom to fight the Great Fire. Smart Task
This ICT based activity draws heavily on the superb new website created as a joint enterprise by the National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, Museum of London and London Fire Brigade Museum. It appears on the Learning Curve section of the National Archives site. The interactive...
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Are you teaching your KS1 the truth about Guy Fawkes?
In many schools I hear teachers tell the same story about Guido Fawkes. Guy Fawkes was angry at the King and the government for the way it treated Catholics. He then brought together a team of plotters intent on killing the king and his cronies...
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Scott of the Antarctic: From sequencing to Living graph Key question 2
This activity enabled children to see how certain events had a positive or a negative effect on Scott's expedition to the South Pole. The children in Year One also needed an activity that would enable the visual learners, and those that learn best by doing,...
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Has man ever been to the moon and how can we know for sure? KQ1
Varied introduction to the Moon Landing topic with pupils actively involved in sequencing, speculating and then the killer activity called Prove it in which they have to use a gallery of visual clues to find evidence to prove that man really did go to the...
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Why do you think Amy Johnson was famous? Smart Task KQ1
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...
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Amy Johnson story-telling relay KS1
How did Amy the secretary end up being the first woman to fly to Australia? Smart Task KQ2
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...Why was flying to Australia so difficult for Amy Johnson? Smart task KQ3
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...
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How did people react to Amy Johnson’s famous flight? KS1 activity KQ4
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...How did things change for Amy Johnson after her famous flight? Smart Task KQ5
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...KS1 History Mystery. Whatever happened to Amy?
How can we solve the mystery of what happened to Amy Johnson? Smart Task KQ6
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...What do you think the Wright brothers did to make them famous? KQ1
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...
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KS1 Star Lesson on The Great Fire
Why did the Great Fire of 1666 burn down so many more houses than other fires in London at that time?
In this exceptional lesson, pupils adopt the role of providers of a new plaque for a monument explaining why the Great Fire of 1666 burnt...How did the Wright brothers manage to be the first to launch a man powered flight? KQ 2
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...
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