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Think Bubble - Jumping stories: selective chronology
Primary History feature
I recently finished a most interesting commission with the educational publishers, Schofield and Sims. They asked me to help put together a comprehensive timeline of British History to cover as broad a chronological perspective as possible. They wanted this to be the complete Cavemen to Cybermen story all on one...
Think Bubble - Jumping stories: selective chronology
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Teaching possibilities: From Plato to Nato
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Olympics historical dimension opens up a plethora of possibilities for history, projects and integrated approaches that draw upon the themes and approaches that underpin the primary school curriculum. Our top ten are:
1. Home and...
Teaching possibilities: From Plato to Nato
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Think Bubble 54 - Arte facts - Get my Meaning?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
It is difficult to think of an area of primary history that has had a more transforming effect on the subject than that of artefacts. The idea of giving children a ‘real' experience of the past...
Think Bubble 54 - Arte facts - Get my Meaning?
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How to teach chronology
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see:
Chronology: Developing a coherent knowledge (2014)
Scheme of work (KS2): Chronology: Books through time
Scheme of work (KS2): Chronology: Numbers through time
Britain and World timeline 4000-2000BC
Britain and World timeline 2000BC to 0BC
Britain and World timeline, 0BC...
How to teach chronology
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Researching History - Time travellers and Role Players
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
‘Ok children, time for history.'
Distant moans from the back of the class. Would I be surprised by this reaction? No, not if the teacher was diligently following the QCA guidelines for teaching history. Yes, if...
Researching History - Time travellers and Role Players
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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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Teaching diversity through drama
Article
Teaching diversity through drama at the Museum of London: Stories of London people
From Roman times to the present, London has been shaped by the diversity of its people. London is home to500 different nationalities, 300 different languages,14 major faiths and a host of other religions. The Museum of London...
Teaching diversity through drama
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Monitoring, assessment, recording and reporting
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Much of the recent guidance related to assessment, monitoring and recording in primary history has focused more on what does NOT have to be done rather than on practical advice on what might be done. Given...
Monitoring, assessment, recording and reporting
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Drama and role play
Primary History article
Drama and Role Play are powerful teaching approaches for language development. The themed edition of Primary History 48, Spring 2008 History, Drama and the Classroom provides a comprehensive introduction and detailed guidance to language development through roleplay and drama. PH 48 contains numerous case-studies illuminating a full range of approaches.
Case-Study...
Drama and role play
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Case Study: Engaging history with National Trust tracker packs
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
White Horse Hill in Oxfordshire is home to the famous chalk White Horse, and it has been for the last 3000 years. The history surrounding this hill, high up on the Berkshire Downs, goes back...
Case Study: Engaging history with National Trust tracker packs
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Writing Family Story, Writing History
Primary History article
Why did I research my family history and write a memoir based on my ancestors’ and my own life? And why is all this relevant to readers of the Primary History Journal and not just self indulgent musing? Because it is an insider’s story of trying to write honest history...
Writing Family Story, Writing History
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Thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning
Primary History article
Creative curricular planning With the National Curriculum under review, it seems that more schools are taking a creative approach to planning by delivering the curriculum through a focused theme or topic. This has allowed schools to take more ownership of the curriculum and has helped teachers become more innovative in their...
Thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning
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Urban spaces near you
Primary History article
The public spaces in built up areas contain a rich collection of historical clues about our identity - the way in which the past has framed the present. Such spaces are available for all pupils to study in all areas. Jacqui introduces this fascinating and valuable aspect of our historical...
Urban spaces near you
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Women and space: reaching for the stars
Primary History article
The exploration of the heavens has drawn mankind since the dawn of time. Vast monuments reached to the stars marked with astrological key points. Astronomers sought to understand the movement of the universe. Since the twentieth century however this investigation has moved into space itself, pioneered by restless and inquisitive souls...
Women and space: reaching for the stars
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Storytelling the past
Primary History article
This article will demonstrate how to engage children through storytelling and how it can be used to develop their critical understanding of the past.
Why story?
Despite their common derivation, the words ‘history’ and ‘story’ suggest very different kinds of knowledge, the former carrying overtones of detached understanding of the...
Storytelling the past
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Constructivist chronology and Horrible Histories
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
I chose Horrible Histories for this exploration of children's understanding of chronology because I thought it would be fun - and I approve of the Horrible Histories. They use sources, question sources, provide alternative interpretations and...
Constructivist chronology and Horrible Histories
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Searching for the Shang in Shropshire
Primary History article
The introduction of the new primary curriculum in September 2014 presented a range of challenges for primary schools. Within the history orders for Key Stage 2 were new areas of study including prehistoric Britain as a compulsory study, and new optional study areas of early Islamic civilisation and Shang China....
Searching for the Shang in Shropshire
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Dealing with the dead: Identity and community - Monuments, memorials and local history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Death is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues that teachers encounter, linked inextricably as it is to identity. I think it sometimes escapes our attention that, as teachers of history, we constantly deal...
Dealing with the dead: Identity and community - Monuments, memorials and local history
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History Coordinators' Dilemmas: Catering for the Gifted and Talented
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Gifted and talented in history? I can understand it in music and physical education, maybe in numeracy but surely not history? All curriculum areas have now been told that they have to identify such children...
History Coordinators' Dilemmas: Catering for the Gifted and Talented
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ICT and Students with Special Educational Needs
Primary History article
Turner writing in 1998 acknowledged that there was insufficient research into teaching history to pupils with SEN. He believed that this was one reason why there was little to challenge Wilson's declaration that ‘history as the term is generally understood, cannot be taught to these [ESN-S] children' (1998, p.4). This...
ICT and Students with Special Educational Needs
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My favourite monument: The Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Primary History feature
About 3,200 years old, the Acropolis of Athens supports the most stunning and complete collection of ancient Greek structures that still exist. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, it remains a mostly intact classical collection that fascinates those who study and visit it. I have always been intrigued...
My favourite monument: The Acropolis, Athens, Greece
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Poetic writing
Primary History article
Poetry is a major area for pupils creative and imaginative historical writing. Pupils writing historical poetry can draw upon a wide range of poetic modes, for example haikus, sonnets, blank verse. Poetry is an excellent vehicle for public presentation, with pupils reading their composition to their class members. To use...
Poetic writing
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Creating Stories For Teaching Primary History
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references are outdated.
With primary history contributing to writing, some research by Sandra Dunsmuir and Peter Blatchford into pupils aged 4-7 has relevance to history teaching. The findings were published in the "British Journal of Educational Psychology", edition...
Creating Stories For Teaching Primary History
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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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Identity Crisis: History through Science, strange bedfellows or obvious partners?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Science Museum in South Kensington, London is accessible through its website as well as through visiting the building itself and this article considers how history teachers can gain from using the collection and resources...
Identity Crisis: History through Science, strange bedfellows or obvious partners?
