I am Head of Humanities in the West Midlands and have been teaching History for twenty years. I have marked exams and moderated coursework for GCSE History for a popular exam board since 2001. All resources published have been tried out in class before publication!
I am Head of Humanities in the West Midlands and have been teaching History for twenty years. I have marked exams and moderated coursework for GCSE History for a popular exam board since 2001. All resources published have been tried out in class before publication!
Focus on WJEC's GCSE History unit for Depression, War and Recovery 1930 to 1951. This is a 20 page student workbook to help student to revise the key knowledge from the topic. Includes questions on all seven key questions.
A homework booklet with 28 pages for the third half term of year 7. The focus is on learning homework ready for a starter or exit quiz in lessons. Each homework comes with a revision activity as well. This terms homework is about Tudor England and includes:
Contents
Tudor Kings and Queens
Life in 1485 – comparison with 1066
King Henry VII’s problems & successes of his reign
What did Protestants protest about?
Why did Henry VIII break with Rome?
Religious changes under Henry VIII & Edward VI
How ‘bloody’ was Bloody Mary?
Elizabeth’s Middle Way
The Catholic & Puritan threats against Elizabeth I
To what extent did religion change under the Tudors?
Instructions for pupils are:
Each week in History, you will have a fact test on work you completed the week before in lessons. For homework revise the information on the topic which you learnt in your lesson and be ready to answer ten factual questions based on that work. To help you revise there are revision activities to do for each topic.
At the start of each half term and new term in History you will have a fact test which covers ALL the topics you have studied so far. Use this homework booklet to revise for your factual tests.
If you continually fail your factual tests (less than half marks) you will have to stay after school to retake your tests. Your teacher will be able to help you one to one to ensure you are learning.
A homework booklet with 33 pages for the autumn second half term of year 8. The focus is on learning homework ready for a starter or exit quiz in lessons. Each homework comes with a revision activity as well. This terms homework focuses on The emergence of modern Britain and includes:
Contents
Queen Victoria
The British Empire: Definition, colonies, map work, trading goods with colonies
The British Empire: How was the British Empire a force for good & bad? Case studies of two colonies: Canada, Australia, India, Kenya, Jamaica or South Africa
Living conditions in towns: Poverty & workhouses
Crime and Punishment: Law & Order / Prisons
Medical developments & advancements
Votes for women: Situation in 1884, reasons for votes for women
Votes for women: Campaigning and protesting
Votes for women: key people like the Pankhursts, Emily Davidson etc.
Votes for women: Reactions to campaigning: Men, Cat & Mouse Act, impact
Instructions for pupils are:
Each week in History, you will have a fact test on work you completed the week before in lessons. For homework revise the information on the topic which you learnt in your lesson and be ready to answer ten factual questions based on that work. To help you revise there are revision activities to do for each topic.
At the start of each half term and new term in History you will have a fact test which covers ALL the topics you have studied so far. Use this homework booklet to revise for your factual tests.
If you continually fail your factual tests (less than half marks) you will have to stay after school to retake your tests. Your teacher will be able to help you one to one to ensure you are learning.
A sequence of three lessons for key question 1 of Elizabeth I - How successful was the government of Elizabeth I?
These lessons are retrieval based and are used in conjunction with the knowledge organiser included.
Lesson 1 - The Big Picture - extended content with a Do it Now and retrieval activity
Lesson 2 - Mind mapping lesson with an example mind map and a Do Now for the start of the lesson
Lesson 3 - Testing - An extended Do Now comprising of 10 factual questions and one of the exam questions which feature on the Elizabeth I exam paper. The question is explained, modelled and then students have a go too.
The slides are based around the knowledge on the knowledge organiser. During the mind mapping and retrieval activities, higher ability students are given extra information so that they complete in more detail.
We have found this method successful in helping our students remember the key information as the three lesson sequence embeds the core knowledge they need.
Homeworks should be focused on revising / self-quizzing from knowledge organisers as well as completing mind maps.
This method is also useful when students are absent from previous lessons as they are able to fit straight back in by using knowledge organisers.
16 page activity booklet designed to use either in class or for students at home.
Includes a variety of activities including:
True or False
Knowledge Retrieval
Correct the mistakes
Practicing exam questions
Word Wall
key word revision
find the connections between.
revision clock
Used in the classroom to test drive this kept students focussed and engaged for several lessons. Recommended to print this out as a booklet - A3 paper for an A4 booklet.
16 page activity booklet designed to use either in class or for students at home.
Includes a variety of activities including:
True or False
Knowledge Retrieval
Correct the mistakes
Practicing exam questions
Thinking Quilt
Categorising events
improving exam question answer
revision clock
Used in the classroom to test drive this kept students focussed and engaged for several lessons. Recommended to print this out as a booklet - A3 paper for an A4 booklet.
16 page activity booklet designed to use either in class or for students at home. Includes a focus on the historical site for 2024 Ally Pally.
Includes a variety of activities including:
True or False
Knowledge Retrieval
Correct the mistakes
Practicing exam questions
Fill in the definitions of key words
Quick thinking exam prep
Correct the mistakes
revision clock
Used in the classroom to test drive this kept students focussed and engaged for several lessons. Recommended to print this out as a booklet - A3 paper for an A4 booklet.
A revision PowerPoint on the each of the questions on the Elizabeth I exam paper - Unit 1. Can be easily adapted for other unit 1 papers by changing content and names. For each question, advice is given on:
how long to answer
examples of questions
sentence starters
demands of the question
Included is a word document table for students to record information from the PowerPoint - enlarge to A3 for best results. Can be used as part of ‘drop down’ or ‘exam cram’ revision session for real or mock exams.
37 pages of possible exam questions and exam answers for Germany Outline Study for WJEC 1919-1991. Essential revision for Y11 students to try and prepare for the GCSE exam.
Contains questions and answers for topic 1: political and economic and topic 2: social
Includes plans and full differentiated answers for Questions 4 and 5 (essay questions)
19 personalised learning checklists for a variety of the new GCSE exam style questions based on the Elizabethan Age 1558-1603. Each includes the question, mark scheme and targets for improvement on a cover sheet for ticking and circling to make marking easy. Allows opportunities for peer and self assessment as well as targets for improvement.
Questions include:
-8 Connections questions on poverty, government, local government, Puritans and religion
- Summary questions on 5 topics
- 3 'why' questions
- 3 question 5's worth 19 marks
King and Queen tests are a great way of embedding key factual knowledge by giving students weekly fact tests to test their factual knowledge. These king and queen resources include a slide of questions and then the answer slide for each test. They can be used as a starter or plenary. After a test you can write down or use a picture of the name of the king or queen for the week on the sheet provided. I stick students photos up on a laminated version of the attached and change them weekly depending on the top scores. There are 10 King & Queen tests included in this pack as well as a classroom display sheet for the winner(s). There is also a test record sheet using Excel which calculates the weekly average for the student and the class after every test.
Three resources designed to help students learn and revise their factual knowledge for the Entertainment & Leisure thematic study. Includes;
- knowledge organisers for all the key questions including the historical site study of Blackpool
- a student work book to help them make relevant notes and / or revise the topic
- seven king and queen starter tests or plenaries which revise 10 key facts every test
- A king and queen class display sheet
- an excel king and queen test record sheet which calculates the average test result for students and the whole class over the weeks.
A lesson looking at interpretations of young Henry VIII as he ascended to the throne.
Includes interpretations of historians and tasks for students on problems for Henry VIII on accession and how he could solve them. Consists of 18 slides.
Designed for the Eduqas History GCSE topic of Germany 1919-1991 these resources run through the key information about the impact of the First World War on Germany and the new constitution of the Weimar Republic. Includes all the key information, some tasks and exam question practice.
These practice questions on the Elizabeth I exam paper for Eduqas and WJEC came about after my pupils wanted past papers to help them revise! I have put together a selection of practice questions in the style of all five questions on the exam paper.
Question 1 - What can be learnt from Sources A and B ... (8 questions)
Question 2 - To what extent does this source accurately reflect the...? (11 questions)
Question 3 - Why was...? (17 questions)
Question 4 - Explain the connections between TWO of the following that are to do with...? (9 questions)
There is a space underneath each question for pupils to write notes when going over them in class.
Question 5 - 2. How far do you agree with this interpretation of...? (23 questions)
This will give pupils a chance to get a real feel for the new paper and practice their exam skills.
N.B. There are no questions specifically focused on Wales during the Elizabethan era.
A set of flashcards ready for pupils to write on to aid their revision of the Elizabethan age. Just photocopy onto card and cut each page in half. There are 19 pages in total which means 38 flashcards for the topic. Each flashcard addresses a key content description from the key questions in the spec. Use them for pupils to write their notes on and then keep for revision.
Used as an induction lesson for Y11’s wanting to do A Level History with a focus of protesting. Originally designed for an introduction to US Civil Rights but can easily be adapted.
Includes discussion of protest, historical examples of protest and group task on protest with a peer assessment sheet for whole class marking.
A Personalised Learning Checklist for the Eduqas topic of USA 1910-1929. Allows students to self assess their progress and identify targets for improvement.
Updated for 2019-2020!
Knowledge Organisers cover all the basic information in the topics taught for GCSE. These Knowledge Organisers focus on the GCSE History (Eduqas) syllabus for the Elizabethan Age 1558-1603 topic.
There are 7 KO’s in total
1. How successful was the government of Elizabeth I?
2. How did life differ for rich and poor people in Elizabethan times?
3. What were the most popular types of entertainment in Elizabethan times?
4. How successfully did Elizabeth deal with the problem of religion?
5. Why were the Catholics such a serious threat to Elizabeth?
6. How much of a threat was the Spanish Armada?
7. Why did the Puritans become an increasing threat during Elizabeth’s reign?
Each KO includes:
- Timeline / Chronology
- Key events
- key ideas
- key vocabulary
- key people
A concise revision tool for students as soon as they begin the course
A student work booklet comprising 15 pages of questions covering all 7 key questions. The booklet focuses on the key knowledge needed to pass the exam and covers the entire specification. When printed the booklet is ready for students to fill in and use as a revision tool.