Outstanding History Lessons At KS2

ks2 classroom

This section comprises two parts: the main one is the series of outstanding, fully-resourced and described, lessons graded 1 by an OFSTED history inspector when they were grading individual lessons.

You are given the learning objectives and every activity in sequence all with accompanying PowerPoint presentations and PDF files. The other lesson activities, from parts of lessons, are called smart tasks, exemplifying features of outstanding lessons and, again, all fully resourced.

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…

Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ4 – Why did they build Stonehenge?

Pupils are shown a video tour of the site and discover when, where, and how it was built. They speculate as to why it was built. Then play Call my…

Stone Age to Iron Age – KQ4b – How should we remember the Bronze Age?

Pupils study finds from three separate Bronze sites, including them most recent excavations, to enable them to discover the main features of bronze age life before using this knowledge to…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

Anglo-Saxons – KQ3 – Coming of Christianity – How did people’s lives change when Christianity came to Britain and how can we be sure?

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….

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…

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…

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…

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…

Life in Tudor Times – KQ2 part 3 – History and literacy – Making sense of a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

14 ways of telling this is a love letter Pupils are given a copy of a letter from Henry to Anne Boleyn. It appears, at first glance to be impossibly…

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…

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…

Life in Tudor Times – KQ3 – How different was life for people at different levels of society living in Tudor times?

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…

Anglo Saxons – KQ4 – Anglo-Saxons struggle against the Vikings – How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get?

This task encapsulates the struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in an engaging way that really makes pupils think about the dynamics of the conflict – rather than ‘one…

Anglo Saxons – KQ4b – Alfred and Guthrum: 878 the year things changed

Following a lively, interactive and illustrated story-telling session, reinforced by a sequencing activity, pupils consider the reasons for Alfred’s success in 878, against the odds, before considering the significance of…

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…

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…

Crime and Punishment – KQ6 – Enquiry – Has the way we catch and punish criminals improved in the last 100 years?

Having analysed a graph showing the way the prison population has risen so dramatically over the last 75 years, pupils speculate as to why that might be before ranking some…

Keeping up to date with your teaching of Alfred the Great

The outstanding lesson on Alfred addresses the key question as to his greatness. Has it been exaggerated? You might like to know what the most recent scholarship is saying. Marc…

Anglo-Saxons – KQ6 – How effective was Anglo-Saxon justice?

Pupils work in groups to create a series of short dramatic enactments, each of which illustrates a way of keeping law and order / punishments meted out in Saxon times….

Elizabeth I portrait. Why was it rejected?

Life in Tudor Times – KQ4 – Elizabeth I portraits – why aren’t things what they seem?

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…

WW2 – KQ5 – Britain at war. The Home Front – Why is it so difficult to be sure what life was really like on the Home Front?

Why is it so difficult to be sure what life was really like on the Home Front? Two great tasks which together make up Key Question 5 of the Britain…

Anglo-Saxons – KQ7 – Were Saxon times really ‘Dark’ Ages?

Pupils design a two-sided paper plate on which they record the arguments used in the debate about the ‘Darkness’ of Saxon Britain. On one side they show the enlightened side…

Life in Tudor Times – KQ4 part 2 – 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….

How well do you and your pupils understand the Anglo-Saxons? Diagnostic Smart Task

This short activity contains a number of statements about the Anglo-Saxons (RS1) which can be used diagnostically. Some are correct: some partially accurate; others downright wrong. But what will your…

WW2 – KQ6 – What was VE day really like? Advising the film producer

In this really varied lesson pupils are asked to offer first-rate historical advice to a film producer who is about to make a new movie in which scenes from VE…

Life in Tudor Times – KQ5 – 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…

Life in Tudor Times – KQ6 – How did people enjoy themselves in Elizabethan England?

This KS2 enquiry comprises three outstanding activities: 6a. Advising the film director To imaginatively reconstruct the scene using a variety of evidence 6b. Prove it! Using a gallery of images…

10 things your pupils MUST know about the Anglo-Saxons

For many of you teaching the Anglo-Saxons will be something you are doing forte very first time. It is easy to get bogged down in a series of dates and…

WW2 – KQ6 Background information – What was VE Day really like?

8 May 1945 – VE (Victory in Europe) Day – was one that remained long in the memory of all those who witnessed it. It meant an end to nearly…

Roman Britain – KQ1 part 1 – From Caesar’s invasions to Claudius’ conquest

This first part of the first enquiry links to earlier work on the Iron Age and takes pupils from Julius Caesar’s two short-lived invasions through to anticipating Claudius’ invasion and…

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

What can we quickly add to what we already know about Ancient Egypt? This way of starting should build on what some pupils already know without slowing down the start….

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

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…

Beyond Face Value – KQ4 – Why did Ford Madox Brown paint this detailed picture of a scene that never existed?

This lesson revolves around a single painting entitled Work, painted by Ford Madox Brown between 1852 and 1865. Using Fastest Finger First pupils are encouraged to explore the full detail…

Ancient Egypt – KQ3 part 1 – The opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb

The opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb: a brilliant reconstruction relay The activity that forms the basis of this lesson is called reconstruction relay. It is GUARANTEED to enthuse even the most…

Roman Britain – KQ1 part 2 – Why did the Romans invade Britain?

This lesson uses a variety of approaches including role play, decision-making, card sorts, hot seating and completing speech bubbles. The focus is clearly on causation. It follows on from lessons…

Ancient Egypt – KQ3 Part 2 – So who did build the pyramids? Did the Prince of Egypt film get it right?

This active lesson for Year 4 has been adapted from the one featured in the QCA Teacher Assessment Activities for history at Key Stage 2. It involves pupils seeking out…

Ancient Egypt – KQ4 Part 1 – What can an old clay model and a pair of old sandals tell us about life in Ancient Egypt 5,000 years ago?

What does the evidence tell us about the everyday life for men women and children? Here the focus is on two pieces of evidence which reveal a picture of the…

Outstanding History Lessons and smart tasks at KS2

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Written by Neil Thompson