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Planning a Victorian School Day
Primary History article
Learning is more engaging and better retained when it is contextualised and when it appeals to a variety of learning styles. How better to bring history alive, than by having it invade children's school environment and transform their everyday experience? Getting away from predominantly auditory learning, the printed word and...
Planning a Victorian School Day
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Primary History at Key Stage 1
Primary Expert Podcasts
In this series of podcasts Dr Penelope Harnett, UWE and Sarah Whitehouse Senior Primary Lecturer at University of the West of England examine good history at Key Stage 1. 1. Chronology 2. What should history at Key Stage 1 do? Local History3. Family Histories4. The Importance of Play5. Stories 6. Using sources: artefacts,...
Primary History at Key Stage 1
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Progression & Assessment without Levels - Guide
Progression & Assessment
In the 2014 national curriculum for primary and secondary history one of the key differences is that, for the first time since 1991, there are no level descriptions against which you can assess pupils' progress. The new attainment target says simply that:
‘By the end of each key stage, pupils...
Progression & Assessment without Levels - Guide
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Story, myth and legend: The Story of Atalanta
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Time and change in stories
Everyone loves a story and stories have always been at the heart of early years education. Children can relate their own experiences of time to stories in picture books about other...
Story, myth and legend: The Story of Atalanta
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Primary History 58: The Olympics
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
THE OLYMPICS: TEACHING HISTORY TODAY
04 Editorial: Nelson Mandela, Apartheid and the Olympics
05 Think Bubble: What ever happened to the Standing Long Jump? - Peter Vass
06 Public celebration of the 1864 Olympian Festival - Dominic Wallis
PLANNING FOR THE OLYMPICS
08 Primary History and planning for teaching the...
Primary History 58: The Olympics
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Why stories?
Primary History article
Please note: this article was written before the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and references may no longer be relevant.
During the Early Years and Foundation Stage children should listen to stories, ask how and why and talk about the past (DfE 2012). Young children are comfortable with stories. Through...
Why stories?
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Florence Nightingale
Primary History resource
Born: May 1820; Died: August 1910
Background and early life
Florence Nightingale was born to a wealthy evangelical family in Florence, Italy in 1820. She was named after her place of birth. It was normal at the time for girls from wealthy families to be educated at home by a governess,...
Florence Nightingale
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A local history toolkit
Toolkit
Produced by the Historical Association for the National Literacy Trust's "The Olden Times" newspaper resource, May 2011. For more recent resources on local history enquiries see:
Local significant individuals
Local history scheme of work: your local high street
Local history scheme of work: transport
Incorporating local history into a scheme...
A local history toolkit
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Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London (KS1)
Lesson Plan
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
Please note: this resource was created prior to the 2014 National...
Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London (KS1)
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What makes good primary history?
Transition Training Session 5
This is the 5th in a series of 5 sessions arising from the 2005 KS2-KS3 History Transitions Project:
Transition training session 1: Historical Enquiries & Interpretations
Transition training session 2: Using ICT in the teaching of history
Transition training session 3: Extended writing in history
Transition training session 4: Joan of Arc -...
What makes good primary history?
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Joan of Arc - Saint, Witch or Warrior?
Transition Training Session 4
This is the 4th of 5 sessions arising from the 2005 KS2-KS3 History Transitions Project:
Transition training session 1: Historical Enquiries & Interpretations
Transition training session 2: Using ICT in the teaching of history
Transition training session 3: Extended writing in history
Transition training session 4: Joan of Arc - Saint,...
Joan of Arc - Saint, Witch or Warrior?
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Teaching the Romans and stuck for inspiration?
Links and Visits
Theme of the monthA trip to Roman site can bring the subject alive like nothing else. English Heritage cares for a number of key Roman properties throughout the country and offers FREE ENTRY to all 400 of its sites for self-led learning groups. Roman teaching resources from English HeritageSite specific...
Teaching the Romans and stuck for inspiration?
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Stories and National Identity
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
If you were asked to select just one story which you thought all children should know about British history, what would it be? Would it be Guy Fawkes or Florence Nightingale? The battle of Hastings...
Stories and National Identity
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Outline plan using key questions: Vikings example
A Series of Lessons (KS2)
Overall key question: Who were the Vikings?
Lesson 1
Key question: What can a case study tell us about the Vikings?
Content Building on prior knowledge - what the children knew and what they wanted to know.Digging up a burial mound on the Isle of Man, and discovering many aspects...
Outline plan using key questions: Vikings example
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Flight
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Download the attached lessons below.
Cross-curricular lessons in History, Science, and Design & Technology:
the story of Icarus and his flight to the Sun (is this possible?),
the story of the Montgolfier brothers and their...
Flight
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Assessment exemplar: children questioning artefacts
Exemplar
Questioning can be used in assessing childrens historical skills, as this example shows.The children were all in Year 4, and were withdrawn from their mixed Year 3/4 class for this lesson. They had covered several aspects of National Curriculum history, including over the past year the Egyptians and a local...
Assessment exemplar: children questioning artefacts
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Story-telling and simulation exemplar: The Great Exeter Fish War of 1309
Exemplar
The lesson was taught to 44 Year 3 children in a first school in Exeter. It describes how a story was used to introduce a local history unit, and how we followed it up. To begin, we sat the children on the carpet and told them John Hooker's story about...
Story-telling and simulation exemplar: The Great Exeter Fish War of 1309
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Using sites and the environment exemplar: a visit to Petworth House, Sussex
Exemplar
A Year 5 class of 27 children were to visit the North Gallery at Petworth House in Sussex, where the 3rd Earl of Egremont kept his collection of sculptures and pictures. If the children were to learn I needed to give them a focus and a purpose.PreparationBeforehand, in the classroom,...
Using sites and the environment exemplar: a visit to Petworth House, Sussex
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Teaching the Ancient Greeks: an introduction
Reference guide
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
Please note: this guide was written before the new National Curriculum...
Teaching the Ancient Greeks: an introduction
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Reading documents and simulation exemplar: Victorian trade directories
Exemplar
The Year 5 class was soon to visit a local museum where a Victorian parade of shops is recreated. We decided to use the 1857 trade directory for our town, Crediton in Devon, to bring its main shopping street to life before the visit. Trade directories, together with census returns...
Reading documents and simulation exemplar: Victorian trade directories
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Storytelling: Socrates, Alcibiades, and Athenian democracy
Lesson Plan
Nigel Parker's Year 5 class had just made a start on the Ancient Greeks. In this lesson we began with Athenian democracy, where the free adult male citizens decided everything, even ostracizing generals they didn't like.The story of SocratesI told the children some of the story of Socrates, who taught...
Storytelling: Socrates, Alcibiades, and Athenian democracy
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Ancient Egypt
Reference guide for primary
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
Please note: this guide was written before the new National Curriculum...
Ancient Egypt
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Visual image and discussion exemplar: questioning a photograph
Exemplar
Almost more than any other source a photograph provides an incentive to dig, to burrow, to stretch, to tease out, to investigate and follow up leads.
A good starter activity. We used a photo in this way to begin our Britain since 1930 unit with a mixed Year 5/6 class....
Visual image and discussion exemplar: questioning a photograph
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Urban spaces: inner-city Leeds
Lesson Resources
Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This is an account of a series of six lessons focusing on a local urban square. Teachers can adapt this to suit their own circumstances. The teaching took place in an inner-city Leeds primary school, with pupils from 48 different...
Urban spaces: inner-city Leeds
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The Vikings in Britain: a brief history
Reference guide for primary
Viking Age | In Britain: background | Short history | King Alfred | Later raids & rulers | Key concepts
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This resource is free for everyone
For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of...
The Vikings in Britain: a brief history
