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.

Edwardian Seaside Postcard

Going to the seaside – KQ3 – How do we know what holidays were like 100 years ago?

Designing an authentic Edwardian Seaside Poster This KS1 history lesson uses the Mantle of the Expert approach to place pupils…

Wright Brothers – KQ4 – The Wright Brothers first flight. KS1 Prove it!

How can we possibly know about the Wright Brothers first flight when there’s nobody alive now who saw it? This…

seaside scene

Going to the seaside – KQ4 – Do we go on seaside holidays for the same reason people went 100 years ago?

Children discuss the reasons they might have for going on a seaside holiday NOW and then think of the different…

Wright Brothers

Wright Brothers – KQ4 – one teacher’s alternative approach – Wright brothers: prove to me that it really happened

This lesson was taught by Sarah Duck, Leading Teacher for History, Hampshire LA. She kindly describes for us how the…

Going to the seaside – KQ5a – How have seaside holidays changed over time?

Can you help Grandma sort these seaside holiday photos? This smart task which forms the first half of this KQ5…

Wright Brothers – KQ5 – How did flight change as a result of the Wright Brothers’ work?

This activity goes beyond simple sequencing of images, which pupils first attempted at the start of the topic, to explaining…

Seaside image from the 1950s.

Going to the seaside – KQ5b – How have seaside holidays changed? What our grandparents tell us

This lesson finds children producing a questionnaire, collecting data from grandparents, feeding data into a database and then drawing conclusions. …

wright brothers

Wright Brothers – KQ6 – How should the Wright brothers be remembered?

Commemorating the Wright brother’s achievements with words young children can understand Pupils have to create a plaque to commemorate the…

poppy

Remembrance Day – When did we start wearing poppies and have we always done so?

More than a century ago, in 1921, paper poppies were first sold to raise money for returned soldiers of the…

florence nightingale statue

Smart task Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole: Who said it? / Who am I?

This simple task encourages children to spot the differences between Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. With a large A4 image…

Keystage1 roles of learners

Outstanding Lessons: Key Stage 1

If you have ever searched the internet for inspiration for your history sessions you will know how frustrating it can…

Teaching Toys to Key Stage 1

Toys is an obvious topic to select for infants. Not only is it appealing , at least initially, it is…

planner

KS1 Medium term planner: Toys through time (Term 1 or 2 of Y1)

This is one of the earliest topics to be taught at EYFS/KS1 following on from Myself. As we know this…

Toys – KQ1 – What are our toys like today?

Because the topic is aimed at children beginning key stage 1, it is a good idea to spend more time…

Toys – KQ2 – What are other people’s toys like?

This session comprises two very simple tasks: matching objects to the young children who would usually play with them, followed…

mary seacole

Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach

Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach: 1….

planner

KS1 Medium term planner: The sinking of the Titanic Y2

This topic provides an exciting addition to the usual famous events taught at KS1. Not only is there a clear,…

Titanic – KQ1 – Launching the Titanic enquiry, drawing on pupils’ prior knowledge

What do we already know about the Titanic and what can we work out from a picture? This lesson’s activities…

scott of the antartic

Teaching Scott of the Antarctic to Key Stage 1

Those of you who are thinking that this choice of famous person seems to presage a return to an Our Island…

planner

KS1 Medium Term Planner – Man’s First Moon Landing Y2

The current history curriculum at KS1 asks schools to provide a little more coherence in their choice of famous people…

Titanic – KQ2 – What was so special about life on the Titanic?

What was so special about life on board the Titanic? and was it the same for everyone? In this enquiry…

Titanic lesson

Titanic – KQ3 – How could the unsinkable Titanic sink?

This Y2 lesson takes pupils understanding beyond that of knowing what happened to the Titanic to work out why it…

moon landing

Moon Landing – KQ1 – Has man ever been to the moon and how can we know for sure?

Varied introduction to the Moon Landing topic with pupils actively involved in sequencing, speculating and then the killer activity called…

planner

KS1 History Planner for Scott of the Antarctic topic

Medium term planning and planner for Scott of the Antarctic KS1 This topic has been designed for Term 3 of…

grace darling

Grace Darling – KQ1 – Setting up the enquiry – What did Grace do that made her famous …and why is she remembered today?

This is the first lesson on an enquiry into Grace Darling: what she did, and why she was famous. The…

titanic

Titanic – KQ4 – How should we film the sinking of the Titanic?

Stephen Spielberg has asked for a historically accurate poster for a new film he is planning on the sinking of…

scott of the antartic

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ1 – Who on earth is this famous person?

This fun first lesson on Scott of the Antarctic using the slow reveal technique of an iconic image to enable…

grace darling

Grace Darling – KQ2 – Why did Grace Darling act in the way she did?

An active lesson in which pupils generate adjectives and then use a Diamond-4 ranking activity, followed by hot seating, to…

apollo 11

Moon Landing – KQ2 – Why did the astronauts risk their lives going to the moon?

This session for KS1 children comprises three distinct activities. Activity 1 – Story telling Activity 2 – Diamond 4 Activity…

moon landing small

Moon Landing – KQ3 – How were they able to get to the moon and back safely?

This lesson focuses on how the astronauts were able to get to the moon and back safely. There are 2…

scott

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ2 – How did Scott get to the South Pole and what happened then?

You can use this task on Scott’s journey to the South Pole in a number of ways: as a simple…

Teaching grace darling

Grace Darling – KQ3 – Did Grace Darling really carry out the brave rescue on her own?

This Year 1 lesson on historical interpretations starts with a stark comparison of 2 images of the rescue showing very…

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ2b -Scott of the Antarctic: From sequencing to Living graph Key question

This activity enabled children to see how certain events had a positive or a negative effect on Scott’s expedition to…

Moon Landing – KQ4 – What did they do on the moon?

This lesson uses differentiated resources as a starting point to help children access the detail of man’s first steps on…

scott of the antartic

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ3 -Why did Scott risk his life going to the South Pole?

The concept of an intrepid explorer may not be completely alien to even the youngest children as the media does…

Grace Darling – KQ4 – How do we know about Grace Darling’s actions which happened so long ago?

There are two distinct elements to this session. Firstly, pupils develop a sense of period and of evidence by thinking…

titanic lifeboat

Titanic – KQ5 – Why weren’t more people saved from the Titanic?

In this problem-solving activity, pupils have to speculate, using a stimulus image and then evaluate a range of given reasons…

moon landing

Moon Landing – KQ5 – Would you take the Golden Ticket and travel to the moon?

This lesson follows on from lessons introducing the reasons why men first went to the moon, what they did when…

lifeboat

Grace Darling – KQ5 – How did sea rescue improve as a result of Grace Darling’s story?

This session comprises 2 principal activities: matching descriptions of lifeboats to time periods to deepen pupils’ sense of change, continuity…

modern lifeboats

Titanic – KQ6 – What are the best ways of stopping disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic ever happening again?

Pupils are employed as safety advisers to the UK and US governments in the aftermath of the sinking of the…

apollo 11

Moon Landing – KQ6 – Commemorating the Moon Landing

How do you think we should remember the first man on the moon on July 21st 1969? What symbol could…

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ4 – How do we know what happened on Scott’s last journey? A KS1 smart task

Pupils have already studied Scott’s last journey and have turned a series of events into first a living graph and…

Grace Darling – KQ6 – How should we remember Grace Darling?

This last key question of 6 on the medium-term planning, focuses on her legacy and why we should commemorate her….

scott of the antartic

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ5 – Why did he not get to the South Pole first?

In this lesson in the teaching sequence on Scott as a famous person, or as part of a more integrated…

Toys – KQ3 – How can we tell these toys are old?

This smart task complements the existing lesson on the site using ICT . Rather than re-write the whole lesson this…

Toys – KQ4 – What sorts of toys did our grandparents play with and how do we know?

Optional question: What toys did our grandparents get as Christmas presents when they were your age? Start with a discussion…

toys

Toys – KQ5 – Who played with these toys in the past? and how can we know?

This is particularly suitable as an extension question for the older/ higher attaining pupils in KS1 if you are teaching…

toy museum

Toys – KQ6 – How can we set up our own toy museum?

This final KS1 lesson on the Toys topic cements children’s understanding of old and new in an interesting way. Activity…

Sample page from outstanding website produced by Warwickshire's Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum

Toys old and new: Sorting and setting

This lesson draws on some excellent resources you may not have come across, produced by museums in Bedfordshire and Warwickshire. …

OFSTED’s report on teaching of Toys-outstanding lesson

When the inspector entered, the pupils were sitting on the carpet around the teacher. She was gently exploring whether they…