-
A history of the world - 100 objects that tell a story
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial comment: A History of the World is the most creative, imaginative and dynamic development in primary History Education for thirty years. It ties in perfectly with and supports the government's re-vitalisation of primary education that...
A history of the world - 100 objects that tell a story
-
Drama - Choosing an approach
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
There is a range of drama strategies that we use all the time. The important point is to select a strategy with which you feel confident. For example, the collective making of a map by the...
Drama - Choosing an approach
-
Case Study 6: Bristol Blitz - Writing in an interactive environment
Primary History case study
Introduction - Educational Visits
Educational visits are often the most memorable parts of primary schooling, and those that as teachers of primary history we hope provide rich, thought provoking experiences of educational worth. Often, it is these trips that are capable of providing a sphere for the immersive, explorative teaching...
Case Study 6: Bristol Blitz - Writing in an interactive environment
-
'Be bloody, bold and resolute': Two possible interpretations of 'local history'
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
As a pre-Plowden primary teacher who queued to get my copy of that report in 1967 and as a contributory author to the Cambridge Primary Review (Alexander, 2009) forty-two years later I can claim, not an...
'Be bloody, bold and resolute': Two possible interpretations of 'local history'
-
Resources for courses: ideas for your history curriculum
Primary History article
In times of tight budgets and with the new financial year on the horizon in April, now might be a good time to look at different ways to resource your history curriculum effectively. Alongside all the resources for teachers available from Primary History and the HA website, the following list...
Resources for courses: ideas for your history curriculum
-
Why are there so many ‘mummies’ in Western museums?
Primary History article
Richard Harris invites us to consider how the teaching of ancient Egypt can be decolonised by considering non-Western perspectives. The article provides a fascinating viewpoint on this popular period of history and shares examples of how this can be explored with children.
One of the joys of working in history...
Why are there so many ‘mummies’ in Western museums?
-
The potty timeline: an effective way of using timelines
Primary History article
Timelines are a constant source of fascination. Rows of events and time periods all jostling for position on an eternal line, cramming together or strung out with wide gaps between them. In our primary classrooms, however, the vastness of timelines can be diminished as we crop them on computers and...
The potty timeline: an effective way of using timelines
-
Tracking pupil progress
Primary History article
Assessment issues crop up with regularity in the pages of this journal. They have also been mentioned frequently in inspections and in the schools assessed for the Quality Mark.
The problem with some of the recommendations is that they anticipate massive amounts of time and energy being devoted to it...
Tracking pupil progress
-
Elizabethan times: Just banquets and fun?
Primary History article
Although much of the Key Stage 2 history curriculum relates to the period before 1066, we are expected to include 'a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066' (DfE, 2013,p.5)
This raises two questions:a) How can a post-1066 topic be related...
Elizabethan times: Just banquets and fun?
-
Bringing an information text to life: Pets in the Blitz
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial comment: The in-service course had focused on how to read information texts in a stimulating, engaging and intellectually rewarding way, and how to take Bruner's concept of transforming information from one mode to another...
Bringing an information text to life: Pets in the Blitz
-
Using role-play to develop young children’s understanding of the past
Primary History article
Unknown, interesting artefacts can really capture a child’s enthusiasm for learning. In the Foundation Stage, children want to use all their senses to explore and play with objects, and so the planning of practical, hands-on activities is important.
The activities in this article were completed by Reception children in a...
Using role-play to develop young children’s understanding of the past
-
Teaching about the Kindertransport without the Kinder
Primary History article
The Kindertransport, literally ‘children’s transport’, was the rescue operation of almost 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish child refugees to Britain between December 1938 and the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939.
Many of the Kinder (children) regularly share their experiences in primary schools, where their visit is regarded as...
Teaching about the Kindertransport without the Kinder
-
Implementing the 2014 curriculum in Year 2
Primary History article
The chance to pilot the new National Curriculum presented me with the opportunity I was looking for to revamp a tired Year 2 curriculum. I began teaching in Year 2 two years ago, having previously spent five years working in Key Stage 2. As in many other schools across the...
Implementing the 2014 curriculum in Year 2
-
What can you do with an old postcard?
Primary History article
Whether looking at ‘events in living memory’ at Key Stage 1, or a local history study at Key Stage 2, old postcards are extremely useful. They are also relatively cheap and easy to get hold of.
One aspect that can easily be explored using old postcards is evidence - they are an...
What can you do with an old postcard?
-
Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
Primary History article
The most recent HA survey suggests that crime and punishment is a popular theme as a Key Stage 2 development study covering the period after 1066.
It is easy to see why. Crime, criminals and punishment have a fascination for many and herein lies its appeal as well as a...
Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
-
Timelines in teaching history
Primary History article
‘History is about time, it subsists in time, time is the medium by which it happens’ (John Fines, Primary History 59, 2011). Yet the fact that time is fundamental to the study of history does not make it any easier to teach (Hoodless, 2008). The abstract nature of time as a concept is...
Timelines in teaching history
-
Using museums, libraries and art galleries
Primary History article
Lessons for Sustainablility: From the Experiences of Early Primary Student Teachers
Student teachers, local museums, libraries and art galleries. This article is based on the experiences of student teachers on a BA (Hons) Early Primary Education Programme, during their placements in local Museums, Libraries and Art Galleries.
We asked students...
Using museums, libraries and art galleries
-
How local history can bridge the gap...
Primary History article
A year on from the 2021 Development Matters and it is now much clearer how the changes in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, with its emphasis on the role of communities, place, space and histories, has provided greater support for teachers and children to make the transition from the Understanding the...
How local history can bridge the gap...
-
Bringing an archaeologist into the classroom
Primary History article
The past as represented in school history textbooks and websites is adapted to meet the needs of primary-aged children, but the knowledge on which this depends derives from detailed academic research. Engaging children with historians and archaeologists can show them how we learn about and construct our understanding of history...
Bringing an archaeologist into the classroom
-
The importance of history vocabulary
Primary History article
Teachers and schools should surely be forgiven for quickly turning to the pages containing the ‘subject content' - within the new 2014 history curriculum - and finding out ‘what' they should be teaching. This is especially true for Key Stage 2 where children must now learn British history from the...
The importance of history vocabulary
-
The Elizabeth cake
Primary History article
Hidden away on top of a dusty, battered cupboard in a local primary school were two equally dusty and battered log books. Each has seen better days and each could provide a range of links to local and national history. The log book was one of two found in one...
The Elizabeth cake
-
The Phoney War: teaching WWII
Primary History article
The term ‘phoney war’ refers to the period at the beginning of WWII between September 1939 and April 1940 when there was little fighting. It was brought to an abrupt end by the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. The term is thought to have been coined by an...
The Phoney War: teaching WWII
-
Teaching history through the use of story: Working with early years' practitioners
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. For more current and recent articles see Using stories to support history in the EYFS and Time for a story.
In this article we argue that children in the Foundation Stage should be introduced to history as historical...
Teaching history through the use of story: Working with early years' practitioners
-
A History of the World: 100 objects that tell a story
Primary History article
‘A History of the World in 100 Objects' was the most creative, imaginative and dynamic development in primary History Education for thirty years. It ties in perfectly with and supports the government's draft NC for History...
A History of the World: 100 objects that tell a story
-
The Maya: a 4,000-year-old civilisation in the Americas
Primary History article
Obscured by the fame of the Aztec empire or shrouded by a veil of mystery, the cultural history of the Maya has generally been misunderstood by the British public. Maya civilisation developed in a territory the size of Germany and Denmark together (nearly 400,000 km2). This vast territory shows three...
The Maya: a 4,000-year-old civilisation in the Americas
