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Drama and story telling
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Everyone loves a story - especially a story well told. To encourage learning all primary teachers should consider the creative art of telling a story, as well as developing a variety of ways of interacting through...
Drama and story telling
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Using Horrible History to develop primary literacy and history
Primary History article
When I started planning for my Key Stage 2 literacy lessons last year, I wanted to link them to my history topic, the Tudors, and I also needed them to cover a significant amount of non-fiction English objectives, having focused on fiction and poetry texts in the previous term. One...
Using Horrible History to develop primary literacy and history
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Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
Primary History article
From a visit to a local museum or heritage site, to using bushcraft skills to give pupils first-hand experience of what it might have been like to live in ancient times, teaching prehistory outside the classroom can really give this area of the curriculum the wow factor. The inclusion of...
Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
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Place-names and the National Curriculum for History
Primary History article
Place-names, such as house or school names, are infinite in number and all around us. Every place-name may convey a message about the place. Often place-names record and celebrate local and national people, events and incidents, define what a place looked like in the past and how we used to...
Place-names and the National Curriculum for History
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Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What has a small Shropshire town got to do with the modern Olympic Games? Why is a country doctor a key figure in the development of the modern games? Why is one of the 2012 mascots...
Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
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Pull-out Posters: Primary History 69
Britain and World timeline 4000-2000BC, and key primary historical terms
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 69
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Primary History at Key Stage 2
Primary Expert Podcasts
In this series of podcasts Karin Doull, Principal Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator (Primary History Education) at the University of Roehampton examines good history at Key Stage 2. 1. What makes a good primary history curriculum? 2. What makes a good history curriculum at Key Stage 2?3. Personalisation and local links4. The...
Primary History at Key Stage 2
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Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times
Primary History article
Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated.
Classic fiction provides useful sources of information for investigating the lives, beliefs and values of people in the past. In this article Ann Cowling describes activities undertaken with student teachers which may also serve as models...
Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times
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How diverse is your history curriculum?
Article
The past was full of diverse people and our students are entitled to learn about this diverse past. History lessons should enable students to see their connection to the past and to understand the world today. Here are a list of questions for history teachers to use to support a...
How diverse is your history curriculum?
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Film: What's the wisdom on... Enquiry questions Part 2 (Primary)
Article
Please note: the 'What's the Wisdom On' film series has been produced principally for secondary school history teachers, however some of the content is transferrable to a primary setting. Secondary members can view the film here
We know how difficult life is for teachers in the current circumstances. We also understand your need...
Film: What's the wisdom on... Enquiry questions Part 2 (Primary)
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How can we teach about medieval Britain in primary schools?
Primary History article
There is no question that the medieval period (no matter what timespan it claims) offers plenty of fascination for the primary pupil. It also allows some continuity with the period up to 1066 which forms the bedrock of the Key Stage 2 history curriculum. With opportunities to cover the medieval...
How can we teach about medieval Britain in primary schools?
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Film: What's the wisdom on... Enquiry questions Part 1 (Primary)
Article
Please note: the 'What's the Wisdom On' film series has been produced principally for secondary school history teachers, however some of the content is transferrable to a primary setting. Secondary members can view the film here
We know how difficult life is for teachers in the current circumstances. We also understand your need...
Film: What's the wisdom on... Enquiry questions Part 1 (Primary)
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Churches as a local historical source
Primary History Article
At Key Stage 1 children should learn about significant events, (e.g. the Great Fire of London) and about people and places in their locality. At Key Stage 2 they should learn about British settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots (e.g. Anglo-Saxon art and culture) and do a local history study (e.g....
Churches as a local historical source
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A creative Egyptian project
Primary History article
Ideally when teaching history, teachers will look to deliver projects that will engage and motivate, hopefully making the hard work of being creative stimulating and rewarding, based upon questioning, enquiry, investigation of sources and reaching conclusions grounded in the evidence.Ancient Egypt is one of those history topics which, because it...
A creative Egyptian project
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Is teaching about the Holocaust suitable for primary aged children?
Primary History case study
Editorial note: While this is a valuable paper, we must point out that the normal ethical procedures concerning such a sensitive, emotional subject must be followed in relation to pupils, their parents/carers and the wider community, i.e. the protocols for permission and clearance to teach such topics must be followed....
Is teaching about the Holocaust suitable for primary aged children?
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Enhancing temporal cognition: Practical activities for the primary classroom
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Research during the last ninety years has suggested that ‘time' concepts, such as chronology, duration and the usage of dating systems are difficult for children to assimilate. However, my research suggests that temporal concepts can be...
Enhancing temporal cognition: Practical activities for the primary classroom
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Hearts, Hamsters and Historic Education
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
This is a reflection on a project, set up with a variety of different thoughts about education in its widest sense. Or, to put it another way, a primary school teacher's record of a unique...
Hearts, Hamsters and Historic Education
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Resourcing primary history: How to avoid going for any old thing
Primary History article
The recent survey of history teaching in primary schools conducted by the Historical Association revealed that the majority of respondents felt that they were short of resources to teach the revised National Curriculum. Not surprisingly most schools look to find resources that do the job cheaply. It is a truism...
Resourcing primary history: How to avoid going for any old thing
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Means and Ends: History, Drama and Education for Life
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
John Fines, Raymond Verrier and I frequently taught as a team trying to discover where drama work and history meet. We were interested in helping children get a grasp of past events which have influenced their...
Means and Ends: History, Drama and Education for Life
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Learning to engage with documents through role play
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
First let me say that I did not research the materials used or plan this lesson. For this I must acknowledge, with thanks, that this is the work of my colleague, Mike Huggins, and the senior...
Learning to engage with documents through role play
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Oral history - a source of evidence for the primary classroom
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
To help children develop a more rounded awareness of historical understanding, they should have the opportunity to examine different types of evidence. The National Curriculum states that, "children should recognise that the past is represented and interpreted...
Oral history - a source of evidence for the primary classroom
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History, artefacts and storytelling in the 2011 primary curriculum
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
This article will argue that although history can seem a ‘hard' discipline for young children, it can be made accessible and exciting through telling stories about objects. The article does not contain advice about obtaining objects:...
History, artefacts and storytelling in the 2011 primary curriculum
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History through Drama, A Teachers' Guide - Revisited
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
It is now some seventeen years since the publication of our original pamphlet by the Historical Association [HA] as part of the Teaching of History Series (Wilson and Woodhouse, 1990). This article offers a personal review...
History through Drama, A Teachers' Guide - Revisited
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Drama and history: a theory for learning
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
When I visit primary schools these days it heartens me to see how often drama is used in classroom teaching. Looking back over my own career, drama and role play have always been...
Drama and history: a theory for learning
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Progression in history and adapting work to the needs of different children
Article
This section deals with some of the general issues of progression and differentiation in the subject. The level descriptions provide the characteristics of progression in history and teachers should consider progress against these. However, progression is no simple issue and it can be looked at in different ways.
Progression in history and adapting work to the needs of different children
