-
Investigating Henry VIII
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The lesson required the children to consider carefully their own opinions about Henry and anything that they knew about him. This was followed up by a literacy lesson in which they used the evidence to express a point of view regarding...
Investigating Henry VIII
-
Children in the Second World War
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
These lessons with Year 6 children at a voluntary-aided primary...
Children in the Second World War
-
The Great Plague of London (KS1)
Article
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
This was originally part of a 7-week unit looking at...
The Great Plague of London (KS1)
-
Remembrance Day at KS1
Lesson Plan
Famous event in the past
This lesson introduces a famous event in the past through personal family history.
(These resources are attached below)
The photograph of Angela's grandfather, and the surrounding illustrations, provided a direct route into discussions about remembrance and war, then ranged wider still.
The children's literacy was...
Remembrance Day at KS1
-
Queen Elizabeth I
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
What might Queen Elizabeth have been like? Pupils study two documentary sources giving descriptions of Queen Elizabeth I.
You need to download two Resources documents (attached below)
Then pupils studied the Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I and considered factors involved...
Queen Elizabeth I
-
World War II medals at KS2 and Remembrance Day
Lesson Plan
Where World War 2 took placeI wanted the year 5 children to understand World War II in a wider context than just the Home Front in Britain. After reading the lesson on
World War II medals at KS2 and Remembrance Day
-
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can be used in assessing childrens historical skills, as this example shows.The children were all in Year 4, and were withdrawn from their mixed Year 3/4 class for this lesson.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
-
Visual image: boxing boys fresco from Ancient Greece
Lesson Plan
John Fines was working with a class of 28 Year 6 pupils, studying Ancient Greece.
John wrote: Challenge is what the Nuffield Primary History project is all about, and I wanted the class to think hard about the Greeks and to question sources. My learning objectives were for the children...
Visual image: boxing boys fresco from Ancient Greece
-
Reformation
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The planning of an English church building in 1530, and what happened to it in the period of the Reformation in the 1540s, provides an excellent focus for the children to learn about what the Reformation meant to Tudor men and...
Reformation
-
Victorian Britain - Lessons
Lessons
Please note: these free resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum.
You could start the Victorians with a story.
See the Victorian chimney sweep short lesson exemplar and the Upstairs Downstairs story in the History section of the Urban Spaces material.
Lessons and short lesson exemplars available on this site:
Victorian Britain: short...
Victorian Britain - Lessons
-
Teaching and learning about Grace O'Malley as a significant woman at Key Stage 1
Article
"Why are you so angry Grace?" Teaching and learning about Grace O'Malley as a significant woman at Key Stage 1
Grace O'Malley was an Irish queen in the Tudor period and her story provides insights about life in Ireland at the time of the Elizabethan conquests. Grace, also known as...
Teaching and learning about Grace O'Malley as a significant woman at Key Stage 1
-
Tudor Portraits: Who am I?
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
‘Who am I?' - what can we tell about this person from the clothes he/she is wearing?
Pupils use pictures and portraits as evidence for social diversity of Tudor life.
Pupils write pen portraits of characters, extending their vocabulary with the...
Tudor Portraits: Who am I?
-
Drama: Ancient Egypt - Akhenaten
Exemplar
This exemplar outlines a lesson John Fines taught to a class of Year 3 children. He was visiting them for the first time to do some drama work. The children already knew a great deal about the Ancient Egyptians and were also used to learning through drama. John writes:After a...
Drama: Ancient Egypt - Akhenaten
-
Discussion and debate exemplar: Columbus: was he a hero?
Short Lesson Exemplar
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Lynn Cowell's Year 2 class had been doing a topic on a famous person from the past: Christopher Columbus. It began with a story and picture sequencing, followed by some research into the life of Columbus.
Lynn had invited Ray Verrier...
Discussion and debate exemplar: Columbus: was he a hero?
-
Gordon & Woburn Squares
Lesson Resources
This material is to help primary schools to use Gordon and Woburn Squares in central London. On the right is a link to material for urban schools everywhere.
Download Gordon & Woburn Squares materialWe've put here those documents for which we have permission for website use.
(These resources are attached...
Gordon & Woburn Squares
-
Jarrow Crusade
Lesson Plan
1930s Depression: a case study
Bringing this decade of economic depression and hardship to life for the children, using the story of the 1936 Jarrow march.
(These resources are attached below)
As an introduction to the 1930s the class had already watched the How We Used to Live video. The...
Jarrow Crusade
-
Investigating Victorian mining disasters
Lesson Plan
Please note: these free resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum.
In this series of lessons about two mining disasters, I integrated learning in history, literacy and ICT. As the children are an able group, I intended to challenge them to explore primary written sources, to identify differences between them, to...
Investigating Victorian mining disasters
-
Sumerian history through story-telling and expressive movement
Lesson Plan
The Sumerian mystery lesson is based on a story about what people found in one of the royal tombs of Ur dating from about 4000 years ago. (This was in ancient Mesopotamia, near what we now call the Persian Gulf.)
(These resources are attached below)
The story is full of...
Sumerian history through story-telling and expressive movement
-
Houses: Artefacts from the past (KS1)
Lesson Plans
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
In these lessons we investigated real objects from late Victorian times. The aim was to enable the children to become more independent in their learning and to extend their literacy.
The two lessons described formed part of a Year 1 topic...
Houses: Artefacts from the past (KS1)
-
Story-telling and discussion: KS1 exemplar: Columbus the explorer
Short Lesson Exemplar
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Setting the scene: what is an explorer?
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...
Story-telling and discussion: KS1 exemplar: Columbus the explorer
-
Objects and visual image exemplar: toys and games
Exemplar
This was a half-term cross-curricular topic with a mixed Year 1/2 class. It focused on forces in science, storytelling in English, and objects and pictures in history. The children in the class had a wide range of abilities, with a large number having very poor expressive language. Therefore many of...
Objects and visual image exemplar: toys and games
-
Reading documents exemplar: Victorian school advertisement
Exemplar
Reading documents exemplar: Victorian school advertisement
-
Olympic Games
Lesson Plan
This was the fourth lesson in a ten-week unit about the ancient Greeks. We had already looked at Homer's Iliad, examining Greek ideas about heroes and roles; investigated the evidence for the Trojan War; and used topic books to identify and classify the main features of ancient Greek life. Throughout...
Olympic Games
-
Castles: homes in the past
Lesson Plan
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The key stage 1 classes were looking at castles in terms of homes in the distant past. This was the second lesson- in the first we debated and decided the best place to build a castle....
Castles: homes in the past
-
Gunpowder plot at key stage 1
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot is a cracking tale for any age group, although the complex political and religious elements are difficult for young children to understand. However, we can help them to gain insights into past people's motivations and...
Gunpowder plot at key stage 1
