Top 10 things your KS2 pupils need to know, and remember, about Early Islamic civilization
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Top 10 things your KS2 pupils need to know – Early Islamic civilization
Key stage 2 history
Welcome to the Key Stage 2 section of Keystage history where you will find masses of advice on how to make history both fun and satisfyingly challenging. You will be helped to design and plan an exciting primary history curriculum and taking into account the difficult areas of assessment and progression and mindful of the new focus on curriculum within OFSTED’s framework.
This is a tricky process at Key Stage 2. It is easy to lose continuity if you are not careful. You will be shown which skills and concepts are best developed in which contexts along with examples of key questions that have proved most effective in deepening learning. You also will be helped to make the most of history’s contribution to the whole curriculum by being shown cutting edge practice in the areas of cross-curricular history planning, literacy, thinking skills and creativity.
The site also offers a unique set of detailed lesson plans and resources for about 150 lessons which have been judged as outstanding by OFSTED. These cover all the major topics linked to an outstanding medium-term planner which expertly hows how to combine the most significant content with the development of conceptual understanding.
You will see below that these resources are constantly being added to , thereby ensuring that you have not only the latest and best advise but also the highest quality learning materials for your pupils.
Top 10 things your pupils need to know – Roman Britain
Top 10 things your pupils need to know about Roman Britain
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1. Roman Britain was part of a huge empire ruled from Rome
Roman Britain was part of a huge empire ruled from Rome which lasted hundreds...I’m a new subject leader. How do I know if pupils are making the progress they should in history?
Getting a handle on progression is complicated. There are lots of superficially appealing lists of competencies that link to each age group each produced by commercial companies who have not understanding of the nuances of...
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7 searching questions for you to ask about your KS2 history curriculum
Every now and then it is worth just ensuring that your KS2 history curriculum is as robust as it should be. There is no more important task for the history subject leader. Always remember, leading...
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What should my Y6 pupils be able to do in history? The Big 5
By the end of Year 6, it is important that pupils not only build up good chronological knowledge, they also need to be able to make comparisons across time between the various topics they have...
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KS2 Example Planner – Vikings Medium Term Planner
Here is a typical example of a medium term plan which exist for all main KS2 topics, in line with the most recent history National Curriculum. You will notice that all topics have their own...
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Ancient Egypt : a new Pompeii?
A few weeks ago, Egyptian archaeologists the discovery of a “lost city” of the pharaohs dating back some 3,400 years that they described as the biggest ancient settlement yet uncovered in the Nile valley and...
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Beyond Face Value – KQ1 – Henry VIII a question of interpretations. Could you spot Henry VIII in a police line-up?
This is a really fun lesson which shows children what is meant by historical interpretations in an engaging and accessible way. It appeals to both visual and kinaesthetic learners by using the police line-up approach. ...
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Beyond Face Value – KQ2 – Elizabeth I portraits – Why do Elizabeth I portraits mysteriously start showing her looking younger towards the end of her reign?
This powerful lesson on Tudor portraits as propaganda gives pupils the chance to appreciate that things aren’t always what they seem. Elizabeth wanted to be shown in a particular light as she grew older. Can...
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Beyond Face Value – KQ3 – So what were Victorian factory conditions really like? A Y6 study in provenance
In this lesson, pupils are shown 3 images of factory conditions from early/mid Victorian times. Using their knowledge of factory reform they feel confident that they can date the factories. They are asked which factory...
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10 Things to do to make your history teaching better at KS2
1. Teach through historical enquiries.
Enquiries are the most effective subject pedagogy in history, not least because when well drafted, they make pupils think. You will notice that all the lessons on the site deliberately have...Outstanding medium term planner for Ancient Civilizations: Egypt Y3
At one point in recent years, there were real fears that Ancient Egypt would be axed from the KS2 curriculum. Mercifully it was reprieved so we now need to make sure that we do full...
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Outstanding Scheme of Work for Stone Age to Iron Age
This scheme of work, judged outstanding by an OFSTED history inspector now links to all the fully-resourced outstanding lessons and activities making the teaching of this topic completely self-contained. Not only does it ensure that...
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Planner for Britain at War: The Home Front 1939-45
The new detailed downloadable planner below has key questions, suggested activities, resources and assessments for teaching The Home Front in World War Two at KS2 and links with the lessons on the site.
It...
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Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ1 – Outstanding Lesson on the Old Stone Age
Is it true to say that Stone Age man was just a simple hunter gatherer only interested in food and shelter? Key Question 1
This KS2 outstanding history lesson on the Stone Age revolves around the...Ideas for teaching the post-1066 thematic unit at Key Stage 2
Whatever you choose to study for your post-1066 thematic unit here are some pointers to help.
1. Try to make as much use as you can of your existing Tudor, Victorian and...
WW2 – KQ1 – Why did Britain have to go to war in 1939?
Pupils learn the sequence of events leading to the Second World war before a lively role-play debate in which they exchange well-rehearsed arguments verbally in the House of Commons and then write tight summaries of...
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Planning for teaching 1000 years of Crime and Punishment (KS2 Thematic Unit)
This post-1066 thematic unit has been produced to meet demand from KS2 teachers for a topic that is genuinely relevant and up-to-date for top juniors: something for them to get their teeth into and to...
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Planning for teaching Life in Tudor times at KS2
As you know, the requirement to study Life in Tudor Britain was mysteriously and inexplicably removed from the Key Stage 2 curriculum in 2014. As one of the best-taught and popular of all the history...
Outstanding Scheme of Work for teaching the Anglo Saxons
You’ll probably be thinking that there is an awful lot of pre-1066 British history in the KS2 curriculum with the Anglo-Saxons being particularly prominent. The way round this, I think, is to skilfully link your...
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Anglo-Saxons – KQ1a – Why did the Saxons invade? Push or pull?
A fun thinking skills activity in which pupils infer from visual clues before moving on to analyse a range of influence cards and evaluate a video before coming up with their own explanation for the...
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Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ2 – How much did life change when man learned how to farm?
This session focuses on the concept of change and continuity. Pupils learn of the major changes that came in the Neolithic period with the arrival of farming from the Near East. After a brief introduction,...
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Crime and punishment – KQ1 – How do we know what punishment was like 800 years ago.
How were criminals punished 800 years ago, and how do we know? The story of the fox and the goose
Before you launch into the first key question you might like an introductory lesson in which...WW2 – KQ2 – Why was it necessary for children to be evacuated? Introductory task
Why was it necessary for children to be evacuated throughout the war, and what was the experience of evacuation really like?
This question has two significant outstanding lessons to cover most of the content and to...Teaching Life in Tudor Times for KS2
The world has gone mad! Gove has axed the Tudors from Key Stage 2 history. My advice. Carry on regardless. It is too good a learning experience for pupils for them to miss out on....
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Crime and punishment – KQ2 – What does the legend of Robin Hood tell us about medieval justice?
In the following activities, KS2 pupils learn:
a. that medieval justice was loaded in favour of the rich and powerful;
b. that if you ran away from justice you would be declared an outlaw and could be...
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Life in Tudor Times – KQ1 – Henry VIII a question of interpretations. Could you spot Henry VIII in a police line-up?
This is a really fun lesson which shows children what is meant by historical interpretations in an engaging and accessible way. It appeals to both visual and kinaesthetic learners by using the police line-up approach. ...
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Anglo-Saxons – KQ1b – Where did the early Anglo-Saxons live and how do we know? Bells and whistles
This ambitious but engaging lesson asks children to test some simple hypotheses about where the early Anglo-Saxons settled. They start with some very straightforward statements to make sure they know how to use a map...
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WW2 – KQ3 – How was Britain able to stand firm against the German threat?
This enquiry revolves around a central contemporary cartoon which encapsulates life on the Home Front and how it was geared towards dealing with the Nazi threat of invasion. Pupils have to identify and then annotate...
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Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ3 – What can we learn about life in the Stone Age from a study of Skara Brae?
Start the sessions on Skara Brae with a story and then move onto where it was and when the event occurred. (If you want a little more background yourself then we have added some answers...
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Life in Tudor Times – KQ1 part 2 – Great starter on interpretations of Henry VIII
Working closely with academic authors, in this case Catherine Fletcher, always gives a fascinating insight into what historians want to write and publishers want to sell. This is fertile ground for exploring the question of...
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Crime and punishment – KQ3 – More of the same. How did crimes and punishments change between 1500 and 1750?
All you need for this lesson on Crime and Punishment 1500-1750 is to turn your classroom into an art gallery and to provide a highwayman’s mask while pupils consider the advantages and disadvantages of being...
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Anglo-Saxons – KQ2 – The mystery of the empty Saxon grave.
This highly engaging lesson places pupils in the role of detectives. After a short briefing they have to work out the significance of the various clues found in the bodiless ship burial. They then use...
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Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ4 – Why did they build Stonehenge?
Starter
Reveal slide 2 which is of the standing stones at Stonehenge. Can pupils recognise it as clues are revealed?Step 1
Discuss the fact that it is Stonehenge and explain where it fits in time, showing slide...Crime and punishment – KQ4 – Why did punishments become so bloody in the 18th century?
Pupils label their own copy of a motivating Hogarth print showing popular attitudes to public executions before explaining the puzzling conundrum: when the number of death penalties was increased why did the number of executions...
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Life in Tudor Times – KQ2 – Why did Henry Break with Rome? Love or religion?
This KS2 history enquiry revolves around Henry VIII’s divorce and the break with Rome, one of the best-known stories in English history. At first, Henry, this larger than life figure, seems almost to...
WW2 – KQ4 – Curator’s dilemma. Which 8 objects should we show to explain how Britain coped with the effect of war on the Home Front?
In this activity pupils are cast in the role of local museum curators specializing in the commemorating and interpreting of Life on the Home Front during World War Two. A new museum is being built...
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Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ5 – What was life like in the Iron Age and how do we know?
Pupils speculate as to what holes in the ground shown in an aerial photograph might be, before annotating an artist’s reconstruction of Danebury Hill Fort. Using the zones of inference technique, pupils work out what...
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Anglo-Saxons – KQ3 – Coming of Christianity
A series of smart tasks, rather than a full outstanding lesson.
The first part of this two part session looks at how it happened, the second at how we know. The early part asks pupils to...
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Crime and punishment – KQ5 – Why did so much change happen in crime and punishment the 19th century?
Great range of activities including:
generating enquiry questions about increase in crime from a line graph; explanation builder to work out why; looking at individual punishments on a harshness spectrum and drawing on a range of...
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Life in Tudor Times – KQ2 part 2 – the highs and lows of Catherine of Aragon
The context of this lesson was to explore the highs and lows of Catherine of Aragon as a lead up to the Break with Rome. Pupils had already looked at the personality of Henry...
WW2 – KQ4 – Britain during World War Two – Call My Bluff
This activity is designed to promote creative thinking as well as to deepen pupils’ understanding of the objects that are unfamiliar to us but everyday items on the Home Front during World War Two.
It comes...
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Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ5b – Dragons Den : Which technological development should our Iron Age settlement get next?
Set the scene. A group of the most important members of the Iron Age settlement have gathered to consider their future. They have heard of a lot of new technologies that other local tribes have...
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Life in Tudor Times – KQ2 part 3 – History and literacy – Making sense of a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
OR 14 ways of telling this is a love letter
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Pupils are given a copy of a letter from Henry to Anne Boleyn. It appears, at first glance to be impossibly hard to read -...
Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ6 – Iron Age Hill Fort at Maiden Castle
Iron Age Crimewatch AD 50. Who killed the 52 dead bodies at Maiden Castle? Key Question 6
KS2 pupils work as history detective Time Teams to solve the Iron Age murder mystery. They are given...WW2 – KQ4 – Christmas for children on the Home Front during World War Two
This is not an outstanding lesson as such, more a collection of good ideas and support material to stimulate even better ideas of your own.
Working as expert design consultants for a local museum pupils have...
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Life in Tudor Times – KQ3 – Through the Keyhole
This lesson features the lives of 4 different Tudor people as evidenced from a key document that they each have in common, namely an inventory. By studying the nature, value and amount of possessions...
Anglo Saxon KQ4 – Anglo-Saxons struggle against the Vikings
How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get? (Vikings KQ3 & Anglo-Saxons KQ4)
This task encapsulates the struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in an engaging way...Life in Tudor Times – KQ3 part 2 – Linking history with numeracy; a Tudor enquiry
More glass than wall? Is this a fair description of Hardwick Hall? And how do we find out?
This SMART task links history with numeracy asking pupils to apply numeracy techniques to a famous historical building. ...Anglo-Saxons – KQ5 – Alfred the Great. How great was he?
In this outstanding lesson, pupils are asked to critique and then improve the BBC children’s website entry for Alfred the Great. But first they need to see how history has commemorated Alfred and then carry...
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