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How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader
Primary History article
As a subject leader you often have a lot on your plate and not always the time provided to do so. I have always been fortunate in that I have had support but I appreciate that in certain schools it can be difficult to fit everything in. Hopefully with this...
How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader
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Pupils as apprentice historians (3)
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Spring 2008 issue of this magazine, Visual Literacy, highlighted the excellent practice in using visual historical sources that exists in many primary schoolsWe should strive to preserve and extend this critical use of visuals, whatever...
Pupils as apprentice historians (3)
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Oral history, a powerful tool or a double edged sword?
Primary History article
We all agree that oral history is a particularly powerful and attractive method for children to gather evidence and appreciate the real life relevance of history. From the Early Years to Year 6, many of us look deliberately for the opportunities to bring a visitor into the classroom, who will...
Oral history, a powerful tool or a double edged sword?
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What your local Archive Service can offer to schools
Primary History article
Imagine a place where your pupils become detectives working on mysteries from the past such as the tale of Thomas Sargeant, a 15-year-old factory worker who died in a chemical works in 1898. Your local archive is bursting with stories about real people like this which can give children an...
What your local Archive Service can offer to schools
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The Olympics and ICT in the Foundation Stage
Case Study
Introduction
This year has been an incredibly rich time for young children to gain an understanding of their place in history and also that history is something they are part of and can influence. The use of technology to support this learning has been invaluable.
ICT has had a huge impact...
The Olympics and ICT in the Foundation Stage
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Processes, Chronological Understanding & Planning
Primary Expert Podcasts
In this podcast Dr Hilary Cooper, Professor of History and Pedagogy at the University of Cumbria, looks at why teachers and students seem to enjoy primary history and discusses processes of enquiry, chronological understanding and planning a topic. 1. Ofsted Report History for All published in 2011 said that: "history taught in schools...
Processes, Chronological Understanding & Planning
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Extending Primary Children's thinking through artefacts
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
A research project was carried out with Maltese primary school children at San Andrea Infant and Middle school to see if learning strategies could accelerate pupils' cognitive development. The research involved a range of historical sources:...
Extending Primary Children's thinking through artefacts
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Teaching history through nursery rhymes in the foundation stage
Article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum and some content is now outdated.
All teachers working within the foundation stage will, at some time, be using nursery rhymes in their classrooms. Their importance to early language development has long been acknowledged, particularly the way in which they contribute to...
Teaching history through nursery rhymes in the foundation stage
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Creating a curriculum to help children in the early years understand the world in which the live: history and children in the early years
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In a recent article in Primary History Denis Hayes suggests that despite many lively ways of learning about the past, ‘history concepts will always be beyond both the experiential and conceptual reach of the youngest pupils’. Consequently...
Creating a curriculum to help children in the early years understand the world in which the live: history and children in the early years
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Primary pedagogy: Lessons from Early Years and Primary ITT Students
Primary History article
The last decade has witnessed a massive increase in the use of ICT as a teaching and learning tool within the Primary classroom. Schools are indeed perceived as outmoded without the tools of the trade: the Interactive White Boards, ICT suites, websites and Virtual Learning Environments.
Within this climate the...
Primary pedagogy: Lessons from Early Years and Primary ITT Students
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Any place for a database in the teaching and learning of history at KS1?
Article
Early in July of this year I was involved in a meeting at BECTA in which a lively discussion took place about whether ICT should be a requirement, or not, in the teaching of history at KS1. As those participating included representatives from QCA, DfEE, HABET ( the H.A.’s computers...
Any place for a database in the teaching and learning of history at KS1?
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Ideas for Assemblies: Lest we forget
Primary History feature
Over the next three editions of Primary History our assemblies pages will be linked to the theme of commemorating the First World War. We have found that while many teachers wish to remember these events in school, they are unsure how to approach the subject with primary aged children. It...
Ideas for Assemblies: Lest we forget
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English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
Primary History article
Diogenes - Waving not drowning: English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
[THINK BUBBLE, has burst, r.i.p... Diogenes, a curmudgeonly Ancient Greek cynic, has taken its place. The original Grumpy Old Man Diogenes typically looks back to a mythical golden age]
Introduction
Unfortunately I'm old enough to remember a time when primary school...
English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
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A view from the classroom
Article
The end of one school year and the beginning of a new one is always a time for reflection. If it coincides with moving classrooms and changing key stage too, as I am from KS1 to KS2, there is a good opportunity to sort out resources, and plan a fresh...
A view from the classroom
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Sutton Hoo - Classroom archaeology in the digital age
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
The class had composed its Anglo-Saxon funeral poem for Raedwald, an Anglo-Saxon king, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A6dwald_of_East_Anglia, the high king or Bretwalda of all seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the early seventh century as well as being King...
Sutton Hoo - Classroom archaeology in the digital age
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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
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Using artefacts to develop young children’s understanding of the past
Primary History article
In the children’s picture book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfrid is a small boy who meets Miss Nancy, an old lady who has lost her memory. Wilfrid wants to help, and so he carefully fills a basket with special objects and takes them to her. He places a medal in...
Using artefacts to develop young children’s understanding of the past
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Role play and the past
Primary History article
The role-play area is often the most popular feature of a foundation stage classroom. For children, it's a source of great fun; for Early Years teachers, it is a wonderful way to develop pupils' language, communication and social development skills. An effective role-play area can also be instrumental in helping...
Role play and the past
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Bring on the iPad revolution
Primary History case study
The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic games celebrated change whilst demonstrating the challenges revolutions have on the world. From green pastures to belching chimneystacks, from post-war Britain to the World Wide Internet and text messaging, the way society interacts is changing at an incomprehensible rate.
The same could be...
Bring on the iPad revolution
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Issues relating to the youngest children
Article
History plays an important role in the development of young children’s understanding of their world. It can broaden children’s experiences beyond the immediate present, to a time in the past, which might be only a few years ago or which might extend much further back in time. ‘Tell me about...
Issues relating to the youngest children
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Artefacts and art facts: images of Sir Francis Drake
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
Editorial note: This article reveals the power of the Internet in helping us all, adults and children, to bring portraits like Drake's to life. So, as you read, follow the links.
Artefacts and art facts: images of Sir Francis Drake
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Tackling the Key Stage 1 Curriculum Interview
HA Interview
Here, in this series of films, the Year 2 teacher, Paula Granger, discusses the challenges they faced, what decisions they made, what worked well and what didn't quite work the way they intended, and how they coped. She also discusses the changes they decided to make for this year in...
Tackling the Key Stage 1 Curriculum Interview
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Case Study: Classroom archaeology. Sutton Hoo, or the mystery of the empty grave
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
‘Would you like to go for a walk in the woods on the other side of the river? I asked my wife on a spring day in 1982. Happily she assented, and we drove off...
Case Study: Classroom archaeology. Sutton Hoo, or the mystery of the empty grave
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A view from the KS1 classroom
Article
Introduction
"So what did you do at school, today?"
As a child, I remember being asked this question often by my good humoured, paternal grandfather, when he met me at the end of the day. On returning from the trenches in 1919, he had trained to become a teacher and...
A view from the KS1 classroom
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EYFS Medium Term Plan - Toys and Games
Article
This EYFS Medium Term Plan is based around the theme of Toys and Games. It is designed to give teachers and early years practitioners different starting points for learning about the past, across all areas of learning. The activities could be led with a whole class or as small group...
EYFS Medium Term Plan - Toys and Games
