Outstanding History Lessons at KS1 | Keystage History

ks1 lessons in practice Outstanding history Lessons at KS1. If you have ever searched the internet for inspiration for your history sessions you will know how frustrating it can be. Luckily the answer is at hand. Built up from twenty years’ experience of working with infant schools, the site brings into one place some of the best history lessons you can expect to find. Not only are they logically developed with clear learning objectives, thoughtful structure and fit-for-purpose, fully-resourced activities, they are all in some ways creative or imaginative. They are not run of the mill. They will almost certainly fire your imagination and stimulate an even better idea.

titanic lifeboat

Sinking of the Titanic – assessment task – looking at consequences and change

This task asks pupils to consider consequences of the disaster and changes over time arising from it Assessment task and…

Florence Nightingale – assessment task

Focus: Change and significance This task offers pupils 3 carefully chose images to support their understanding of the achievements of…

toy train

Toys; old and new – assessment task

Focus concept: Making deductions/ similarity and difference This task is designed to be non-threatening and to be carried out in…

scott of the antarctic

Scott of the Antractic – assessment task Y2

Focus concept: Causation The first task serves as a more gentle introduction to the idea of cause by looking at…

mary seacole

Mary Seacole – Assessment task – Assessing pupils’ understanding of the work of Mary Seacole

Target concepts: characteristic features of the period and significance This task is designed to elicit pupils’ understanding of the contribution…

amy johnson ko

Amy Johnson knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about Amy Johnson because she was a very famous British pilot who flew her plane, called Jason,…

toys KO

Toys old and new knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about old toys to help you to understand the difference between toys people played with in the…

amelia earhart

Amelia Earhart knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about Amelia because she was a very famous American woman who learned how to fly and then…

amelia earhart by plane

Amelia Earhart – KQ1 – Why do we think that Amelia was famous?

This introductory session starts with firing pupils’ curiosity via a slow reveal in which pupils build a picture of her…

amelia earhart cartoon

Amelia Earhart – KQ2 – What were the main events in Amelia’s life that shaped her ?

Having listened to an illustrated description of Amelia’s early life, pupils have to select suitable adjectives to describe her character…

amelia in flight gear

Amelia Earhart – KQ3 – Why was Amelia so keen to fly when so few women at the time were interested?

A relatively short session exploring Amelia’s motivation starts with pupils drawing on their prior knowledge to consider why she took…

amelia earhart cartoon

Amelia Earhart – KQ4 – What were the main ups and downs in Amelia’s life?

Using the living graph technique pupils sequence the events of Amelia’s flying career and then physically create points on a…

amelia earhart by plane

Amelia Earhart – KQ5 – How do we know so much about Amelia’s life when she lived so long ago?

In this session pupils get to work as history detectives matching clues within sources to statements historians have made about…

amelia earhart plaque

Amelia Earhart – KQ6 – What was Amelia’s greatest achievement and how should it be remembered?

Working towards the end goal of producing a book cover to encapsulate the key details of Amelia’s achievements, pupils learn,…

3 queens knowledge organiser

When three queens ruled knowledge organiser – KS1

In this topic you are going to find out about three of the most famous queens that each ruled this…

3 queens

When three queens ruled – KQ1 – Which three queens of England are most remembered in history and why?

This active and entertaining first session aims to provide pupils with a clear chronological overview of the last 500 years…

cartoon of queen victoria looking out window

When three queens ruled – KQ2 – How different was life in England when the 3 queens were ruling?

Out of the window Children are shown three images of scenes from the different periods as seen through a window….

When three queens ruled – KQ3 – How do we know about the queens who lived so long ago?

Handling sources of evidence Having explored the range of visual sources available to historians studying the three queens, pupils actively…

elizabeth I

When three queens ruled – KQ4 – What important changes happened when each of the queens ruled?

Change / Significance Starting with 3 short video presentations, pupils go on to research the key changes from each of…

3 queens

When three queens ruled – KQ5 – How should we remember these famous queens?

Pupils explore a range of ways in which monarchs are commemorated, focusing on Queen Elizabeth II, before going onto design…

poppy field

Poppy Day: what are memories?

This is the first session on Remembrance Day. It uses the excellent story of Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge as a…

What do we remember on Poppy Day / Remembrance Day?

This session revolves around a PowerPoint presentation which poses 6 significant questions, each designed to encourage pupils to think and…

seaside knowledge organiser

Seaside knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about this topic to help you to understand how different life was over the last 100 years….

columbus

Columbus knowledge organiser – KS1

Columbus is a world-famous navigator and explorer whose daring voyages in search of the Indies led to the opening of…

scott knowledge organiser

Scott of the Antarctic knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about Scott as he was one of Britain’s most famous explorers. Perhaps you are studying other explorers…

grace darling knowledge organiser

Grace Darling knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about Grace Darling because at a young age she carried out a brave rescue and saved 9…

mary seacole knowledge organiser

Mary Seacole knowledge organiser – KS1

Mary was a remarkable lady best remembered for her work during the Crimean war (1853-1856) where she helped injured soldiers,…

wright brothers knowledge organiser

Wright brothers knowledge organiser – KS1

For centuries, man had dreamed of flying like birds. By the end of the 19th century, men could rise into…

moon landing

Moon landing knowledge organiser – KS1

This event captured the attention of the whole world with hundreds of millions, perhaps 1 in every 5 people, watching…

titanic knowledge organiser

Sinking of the Titainic knowledge organiser – KS1

In this topic you are going to find out about the most famous ship, at the time the biggest ever…

great fire knowledge organiser

Great Fire of London knowledge organiser – KS1

The Great Fire of 1666 is an event that most people know about today not least because it changed the…

rosa parks

Rosa Parks – KQ1 – Can we work as history detectives to work out why Rosa Parks did that made her famous?

Pupils are pitched straight into the role as history detectives using mainly visual clues to piece together the possible reasons…

Rosa Parks – KQ2 -What can we learn about what sort of person Rosa was from stories of her early life?

Based on 3 key episodes from Rosa’s life, drawn from a lively story book, pupils act out 3 key episodes…

drinking fountain 1950s

Rosa Parks – KQ3 – What was life like for black people living in southern USA in the 1950s?

This session looks at what life was like for Black people living in the southern parts of the United States…

rosa parks bus

Rosa Parks – KQ4 – Why do you think Rosa acted as she did on that day that made her famous?

In this session pupils explore what drove Rosa to take her stand in December 1955, going beyond oversimplification of a…

rosa parks dancing

Rosa Parks – KQ5 – How did Rosa’s action lead to life for black people getting better?

Learning objectives Children can see how Rosa’s action led to other changes, both directly e.g. bus boycott or more indirectly…

rosa on bus

Rosa Parks – KQ6 – How should we remember Rosa Parks today?

Learning objectives Children are able to consider the most appropriate ways of celebrating Rosa’s achievements They can pick out the…

Columbus – KQ1 – Why do you think we still remember Christopher Columbus, even though he’s been dead for 500 years!

Pupils are in the role of history detectives. They are given 8 progressively revealing, mainly visual, clues in a controlled…

columbus first voyage

Columbus – KQ2 – How did Columbus become famous?

Pupils listen to an illustrated description of main episodes Columbus life which they then sequence from the jumbled images provided…

columbus

Columbus – KQ3 – What was Christopher Columbus’s motivation?

Driving at the heart of Columbus ‘ motivation, allows pupils to build on what they have already deduced about his…

Columbus – KQ4 – What was life like on board during such a long journey?

This question shifts the focus away from the actions of just one man and adds a colourful dimension to the…

columbus-stamp

Columbus – KQ5 – How have opinions of Columbus changed in the light of new evidence?

In this session the focus is squarely on helping pupils to grasp that people’s opinions of Columbus have changed in…

columbus 6

Columbus – KQ6 – How and why should we remember him?

Having seen the different ways in which Columbus achievements are still commemorated today, 500 years after his death, pupils have…

top 10 history teaching

10 key messages about teaching significant people in KS1 history

The most important changes in the way we teach this aspect of the KS1 curriculum are: a. the need to link…

planner

KS1 Medium Term Planner for Spreading the Word: Caxton to Bell

The ‘significant people’ element of the KS1 history curriculum now requires pupils to compare achievements of individuals within a linked…

william caxton

Caxton and Bell – KQ1 – What did Caxton do that was so important to us today?

Following a mysterious PowerPoint slow reveal in which pupils look for clues to Caxton’s fame, pupils are given a brief…

caxton press

Caxton and Bell – KQ2 – Quick the King and Queen are coming! How Caxton changed the way books were made

Having shown pupils how books were made before Caxton’s time, the main focus of the lesson is on how the…

Caxton

Caxton and Bell – KQ3 – How and why should Caxton be remembered?

Having discussed the possible options for ways of commemorating his achievement, pupils have to create a new plaque on his…

bell

Caxton and Bell – KQ4 – How did Alexander Graham Bell manage to make a telephone work so long ago? and why did he want to?

The focus here is on sequencing of events, looking for turning points in his life and for his personal motivation….

Caxton and Bell – KQ5 – Why was Bell’s invention so important, then and now? Bells and whistles!

Pupils write a plaque to go on the side of a new statue that has been built to commemorate Bell’s…