Teaching the Wright Brothers at KS1

This ‘famous people’ duo have become increasingly popular as part of a broader topic on flight. A boy-friendly choice, it offers excellent opportunities for sequencing and for looking at long-term consequences. The lesson where the children have to write a plaque to commemorate the brothers’ achievement so that it can be read by young children encourages creativity as well as linguistic ability and word processing skills. The lesson featuring story telling relay, using props, provides an excellent vehicle for developing speaking and listening skills as well as sequencing.

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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