Teaching Key stage 2 History - KS2

KS2 Islam -Today is anniversary of start of Building of Baghdad

If you are teaching Islamic civilization at KS2 you might like to watch a short podcast which looks at the start of the building of Baghdad on 31 July 762....

Brief 10 question diagnostic assessment task for KS2 Ancient Egypt

Pupils have to answer 10 fairly open ended questions for which answers are provided reflecting the knowledge and understanding outlined in the medium term planner. Q1 How can we know so much about a civilization such as Ancient Egypt that lived so long ago? [private] A We have...

Planning for teaching Ancient Greece KS2

Outstanding new medium term planning for Ancient Greece, matched to 2016 history national curriculum The main foci throughout this planner are: Ideas, Beliefs, Attitudes (especially the role of women); Way of life (contrasting Athens with Sparta and grasping that ideas flourished in a society where there...

Starting the enquiry into Ancient Greece KQ1 part 1

How can we possibly know so much about the Ancient Greeks who lived over 2,500 years ago? Any study of ancient Greek society must begin with an appreciation of the physical features of Greece. Landform and climate do not explain the vast and varied achievements of...

Theseus and the Minotaur: Is there any evidence for the legend? KQ1 part 2

This KS2 smart task places pupils in the role of detectives trying to prove that the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur may actually have been been a fact. First they have to think carefully about what sort of evidence MIGHT have survived. Showing...

What can we work out about everyday life in Ancient Athens? KQ2 part 1

There are three distinct parts to Key Question 2 but each centrally based around the need for pupils to use evidence of different forms. The introductory PowerPoint shows 4 contrasting types of evidence: buildings, coins, statues and monuments, and archaeological remains. Activities and resources for...

Ancient Greek vases: the answer lies on the pot: KQ2 Part 2

Sample of animated slide showing how to decipher an Ancient Athenian pot

This KS2 history lesson, in which the decoration of a Greek pot is slowly revealed, features two cracking activities designed to set pupils thinking deeply, laterally and creatively. It is based on the principle that pupils need to work out the meaning of an image...

What was life like for women in Ancient Greece? KQ2 part 3

This simple lesson on life for women in Ancient Greece, based around a PowerPoint presentation, makes an excellent contribution to literacy and also makes pupils aware of the nature of evidence and the need to be careful when making generalisations. The children draw conclusions from...

Why was Athens able to be so strong in the 5th and 6th century BC? KQ3

Part 1 looks at characteristic features of Classical Athens. This is a simple teacher-led explanation using a few PowerPoint clues. Part 2 Looks at the causes of the unlikely victory of Athens over Persia and is a separate full outstanding lesson - The Battle of Marathon:...

The Battle of Marathon. A history mystery KQ3 part 2

Sample page from the PowerPoint presentation showing Hoplite armour

This lesson on the Battle of Marathon makes a major contribution to pupils' thinking skills. They are presented with a paradox. How could the David of Athens beat the Goliath of Persia?

Instead of being given a textbook account or a video explanation, pupils...

Ancient Greece: KQ4 part 1 role play on building the Parthenon

This full lesson is a role-play activity looking at Greek democracy in the context of the rebuilding of the Parthenon. It starts with a link to the building of the Millennium Dome. In Ancient Greece, anyone who did not fulfil their democratic duties was called an...

New KS2 assessment task: Stone Age to Iron Age

As you know we have been working hard to create a complete set of simple, easy-to-run and easy-to-mark assessment tasks that can be used formatively as well as summatively. Our aim is to ensure that each topic has at least 2 of these tasks, covering...

Final activities for KQ2 on Tudors now ready

The final element for the Tudor medium-planning is now ready for subscribers to request, prior to uploading. It deals with the real reasons for Henry VIII 's divorce and the Break with Rome. It comprises 5...

Making Greek democracy come to life – a ‘smashing’ lesson KQ4 part 2

This is a really fun, practical lesson involving smashed pottery, writing in Ancient Greek through black wax and deciphering each other's writing . Pupils actually decipher the names of people who were ostracised over 2,500 years ago. Not bad for Year 5!

Learning objectives

pupils grasp the...

What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from a study of their Olympics? KQ5 part 1

We thought we would offer you a range of different cameos showing how the history of the Olympics could be imaginatively integrated into your current teaching.

The teaching activities below have all be tried and tested in schools and have been judged outstanding by...

What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from their interest in the theatre? KQ5 part 2

This key question is divided into two distinct parts, starting with Part 1 - the Olympics. This has its own outstanding fully-resourced series of tasks which can be found on the site. Part 2 below looks at Ancient Greek theatre: To start, pupils are shown a...

Under the Cloth: sorting the muddled collection. Is it all Greek to you? Smart Task KQ6a

To introduce the notion of the Greeks having a major influence on our lives today use the activity called Under the cloth. Simply place copies of the pictures 2 –23 (printed as A4 so large enough to be seen by whole class) from Key Question...

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 you cover all the significant content, and develop key historical...

KS2 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 reveal of an object found at Star Carr in Yorkshire...

How much did life change when man learned how to farm? SMART TASK Key Question 2

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, pupils are asked to look at 9 features of life...

Keeping up-to-date with your teaching of Victorian Britain at KS2

We often talk to children about the benefits that brought so many people into industrial towns in the first half of the nineteenth century. But we probably need to stress more, as a recent study has shown, that the rural peasants often had a better...

Push or Pull? What were the real reasons why the Saxons invaded? SMART TAKS KS2

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.

Step 1

As the pupils enter the room they are told that...

Outstanding medium term planner for Ancient Civilizations: Egypt Y3

At one point, in 2013, 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 justice to it. Full planning is available to subscribers below. We need...

Launching the Enquiry. So you think you know about Ancient Egypt. KQ1

What can we quickly add to what we already know about Ancient Egypt? Step 1 Start the topic with a bang. Pupils are going to plan an expedition to Ancient Egypt to continue recent excavations which have unearthed some even more sensational finds. Pupils need to know...

How can we discover what Ancient Egypt was like over 5,000 years ago? KQ2

Pupils are invited to join an archaeological excavation, using slide 2-5 to set the scene. Before they can begin their preparations, they need to know where they are going (both the country and the location within the country) and what conditions to expect. They also...

Expert advice on local history at KS1 and KS2 by OFSTED lead inspector

Ex-subject lead for history at OFSTED has recently written this very helpful booklet for English Heritage. A great place to start if you are looking for inspiration for your local history work, or just want to see what an OFSTED history inspector would be...

New written source for KQ3 on Baghdad

Our planning and lessons on Islam have gone down a storm. We are constantly trying to improve all our lessons as new resources and ideas are tried by our subscribers. A great new written source describing Baghdad in detail is a great help to pupils...

Guidance Non Western Civilisations: Teaching Islam/Maya/Benin for September 2014

Please understand that this element of the new history curriculum only came into force a short time ago. We are busy working on the lessons which will be uploaded shortly, so watch this space - NO LESSONS ON THIS TOPIC AVAILABLE YET. In the meantime,...

Short KS2 task on the Ancient Greek legacy: language. KQ6b

This is a fun activity looking at the contribution the Ancient Greeks have made to our language. Great for literacy. Pupils are given two different stories of 10 year-old children today, buried in which are 20-odd words that derive from Ancient Greece. Working in pairs,...

How Great is your Greek? KQ6c

Pupils have to select a team of 11 Great Greeks. They do this by preparing and then evaluating 14 different presentations about 14 Ancient Greeks as explained on slide 2 of the PowerPoint presentation. As they prepare focus their thinking on what makes someone ‘great’. ...

If life was so hard for families in the towns why did so many leave the countryside and move to the towns in Victorian times? – a history mystery

Pupils work on the history mystery cards

Starting a lesson with an apparent contradiction is a good way of engaging pupils interest. This 'history mystery' makes excellent use of pupils' thinking skills, enabling them to make their own meaning using information cards which they use to create different patterns of thought....

What the Dickens was life like in the Victorian cities?

Is this what Dickens' London looked like?

This lesson makes extremely good use of a technique called creative tension. Pupils listen, with their eyes closed, to a spoken description which they then have to visualise in their heads. When they open their eyes they discuss what they saw in their mind's...

Children working in Victorian factories: was it as bad as they tell us?

This lesson is designed for Y5/6 pupils who already have a little knowledge of industrial change but have not yet studied cotton mills. Although the main part of the lesson is devoted to a playlet in which pupils act out real testimony about children’s...

Victorian railways: winners and losers. A thinking skills activity leading to a role play

How did people feel about the coming of the railway?

This active, thinking skills lesson asks pupils to consider the likely effect of the coming of the railways on different groups in society before going on to take part in a role play in which villagers have to debate whether they should support or...

Life in Tudor Times: 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 through his portraits. They had noticed, using the 'Police line-up'...

How was the Spanish Armada defeated by the smaller English fleet? Using a technique called Waiting room

This lesson works really well because the tension you build into the waiting room activity gets all the class involved and focused. The more able pupils have a specific, more challenging role to play, working out an explanation that assuages the rage of an...

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. The use of an interactive timeline always succeeds in...

What did the Greeks do for us? Evaluating the video. KQ6d

This task puts pupils in the position as evaluators of a BBC film: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/z9kmhv4 Instead of taking everything the video says as gospel, pupils have to predict which aspects of Greek legacy they think the film should cover and then the depth to which they should...

What can we discover about Victorian workhouses from clips of the film Oliver?

This lesson was originally taught by Kathryn Price at Crescent Primary in Eastleigh, Hampshire. The Year 4 children had just started their topic of the Victorians and this activity was carried out within the first two weeks of term. As this lesson fell so early...

Going to school in Victorian times: can pupils write a paragraph for a KS1 textbook using photographs alone? SMART TASK Y3-5

This activity puts pupils in the role as researchers for a new book on Victorian schools. They have been commissioned to write a book for key Stage 1 pupils. Therefore, it needs to be short and interesting but also accurate. They must show evidence...

Using a Victorian census to discover what life was like 100 years ago SMART TASK

There are 4 separate ways of approaching this topic, each becoming increasingly more ambitious. Stage 1 onky is featured below. Stages 2 and 4 are suggestions using your own local resources. There are no resources for these.

Stage 1: Featured here, for younger children needing...

Long-term planning at Key Stage 2

The advent of the new curriculum for history in September 2014 marked the most significant change in your school’s history planning for over a dozen years. Not only are there now more areas to study and new topics to master but there is also the...

Climbing boys enquiry SMART TASK

Mystery picture. Can pupils work out what is being shown?

This enquiry falls into five parts:

A selection of four related enquiry tasks which encourage pupils to explore and then evaluate evidence about the life of a climbing boy. The evaluative task is particularly suitable for the gifted and talented working at level 5...

Views of learners in history at Key Stage 2

There has been very little published research on the views of KS2 pupils on their history work, other than lots of ranking activities which place history at, or near, the top of the list of most popular subjects. That is both a blessing and...

The learning process in history at KS2

Given that this site specialises in giving practical support to busy teachers and subject leaders, you may be surprised to find a section on the theory of learning. Well, don't worry it is very short! With so much theory and so many research findings...

Elizabeth I portraits – things aren’t what they seem

Elizabeth I portrait. Why was it rejected?

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 the children explain why? There’s more to it than vanity...

Get ready – the queen is coming!

This enquiry focuses on helping children to learn about the power and authority of Queen Elizabeth and to appreciate the contrasting lifestyles of rich and poor in late Tudor England. The vehicle for doing this is to cast pupils in role as the household...

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 each person had, pupils can start to draw conclusions about...

Are we fair to the Vikings? A question of interpretation. SMART TASK KS2

Pupils are shown a range of stereotypical images of Vikings, using slides 2 and 3. This should be used to build up a set of adjectives that are normally associated with the Vikings. But is this fair? If they were 8 years old and living...

Testing a simple hypothesis about where the early Anglo-Saxons lived and how we know

This ambitious but engaging lesson asks children to test some simple hypotheses about where the early Saxons settled. They start with some very straightforward statements to make sure they know how to use a map key. To make this fun they have to make...

Key stage 2 history

Learning objectives

Is it true to say that Stone Age man was just a simple hunter gatherer only interested in food and shelter? Key Question 1

Step 1