Planning and resources for primary teachers from http://www.ks2history.com. Our history topics include Stone Age to Iron Age, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Victorians, Shang Dynasty etc and the list is expanding each month, with literacy units to link to the topics too.
Our popular resources have been tried and tested in hundreds of classrooms.
Planning and resources for primary teachers from http://www.ks2history.com. Our history topics include Stone Age to Iron Age, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Victorians, Shang Dynasty etc and the list is expanding each month, with literacy units to link to the topics too.
Our popular resources have been tried and tested in hundreds of classrooms.
A full lesson for KS2 about the Industrial Revolution, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
What was the Industrial Revolution?
In this lesson, KS2 pupils think about the impact of the Industrial Revolution in Victorian Britain. Pupils will engage with historical sources to make observations about a British city before and after the Industrial Revolution. Pupils will learn about changes to cities, employment, living conditions and the landscape and will play a game to reflect on whether the effects of the various changes brought about were positive or negative ones.
Objectives:
To find out what the Industrial Revolution was
To explain how Victorian Britain was changed by the Industrial Revolution
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
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Introduction to the Victorians: (FREE): A full lesson for KS2 introducing the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Who Was Queen Victoria?; A full lesson for KS2 exploring the life and significance of Queen Victoria, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Inventions: A full lesson for KS2 about famous Victorian inventions, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Railways A full lesson for KS2 about the introduction of the railways, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Working Children A full lesson for KS2 exploring the topic of jobs for Victorian children, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Schools A full lesson for KS2 about Victorian schools, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Clothing A full lesson for KS2 investigating Victorian clothing, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Crime and Punishment A full lesson for KS2 about crime and punishment in the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets…
A full lesson for KS2 introducing the Bronze Age, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
How did bronze replace stone in the Bronze Age?
This lesson looks at the changes between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, including the implications of the discovery of bronze and the process of how bronze was made. Pupils will find out why bronze was so important and they will create their own flowcharts to record the ‘smelting’ process of how it was made.
Objectives:
To know how the Bronze Age was different to the Stone Age
To explain how the smelting process was used to make bronze
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
This is the seventh lesson in the popular Stone Age to Iron Age Unit for KS2..
This primary history resource was created by KS2History.
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Bronze Age Grave Goods (Lesson for KS2)
Iron Age Hillforts (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Cave Art (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Artefacts & Evidence (Lesson for KS2)
Stonehenge Mysteries (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Boy Literacy Planning - 2 Weeks
Stone Age to Iron Age Planning Bundle for KS2
A full lesson for KS2 about Victorian schools, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
What were Victorian schools like?
In this lesson pupils will compare their own experiences of school to life in a Victorian classroom. Pupils will learn about key changes in the Victorian period regarding who could go to school. Then they will have the opportunity to role play being a Victorian school pupil, completing three different activities from Victorian classrooms: drill, nature drawing and handwriting in the copperplate style.
Objectives:
To find out how rules about who could go to school changed over the Victorian period
To compare Victorian schools with modern day schooling
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
You may also like:
Introduction to the Victorians: (FREE): A full lesson for KS2 introducing the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Who Was Queen Victoria?; A full lesson for KS2 exploring the life and significance of Queen Victoria, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Inventions: A full lesson for KS2 about famous Victorian inventions, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Industrial Revolution A full lesson for KS2 exploring the impact of the Industrial Revolution, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Railways A full lesson for KS2 about the introduction of the railways, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Working Children A full lesson for KS2 exploring the topic of jobs for Victorian children, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Clothing A full lesson for KS2 investigating Victorian clothing, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Crime and Punishment A full lesson for KS2 about crime and punishment in the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
A full lesson for KS2 exploring the life and significance of Queen Victoria, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Who was Queen Victoria?
In this lesson, pupils learn about Queen Victoria and the impact of her reign. After exploring the facts about her monarchy, pupils will consider the legacy she left behind and create newspaper reports from the week of her death. Pupils will finish the lesson by pretending to be directors of a new film about Victoria’s life.
Objectives:
To find out about the life of Queen Victoria
To think about why Victoria became such a popular monarch
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
You may also like:
Victorians Full Unit for KS2: A fully-resourced unit of 10 history lessons for KS2, covering the Victorians topic.
Introduction to the Victorians: (FREE): A full lesson for KS2 introducing the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Inventions: A full lesson for KS2 about famous Victorian inventions, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Industrial Revolution A full lesson for KS2 exploring the impact of the Industrial Revolution, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Railways A full lesson for KS2 about the introduction of the railways, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Working Children A full lesson for KS2 exploring the topic of jobs for Victorian children, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Schools A full lesson for KS2 about Victorian schools, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Clothing A full lesson for KS2 investigating Victorian clothing, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Crime and Punishment A full lesson for KS2 about crime and punishment in the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Download our popular two-week unit of work for Years 3/4 based on the book ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’, with a focus on instructional texts. Perfect for linking the Stone Age topic in literacy!
This unit gives children the opportunity to understand the features of instructions as a text type. In the first week, children will engage with the text through research, a hands-on toy washing challenge and the opportunity to create their own ‘Woolly Mammoth Cleaning Kit’. They will become familiar with the text type by following instructions to make their own milk bottle mammoth models and identifying features of the text. There is a grammar focus on using prepositions and imperative verbs.
In the second week, pupils will use drama to develop ideas and extend vocabulary. They will then plan their own set of instructions and they will draft, edit and present their final written outcome.
The literacy objectives covered are:
To retrieve and record information from non-fiction
To participate in discussion about a text
To use a range of imperative verbs
To use prepositions
To read and follow written instructions
To identify the features of instructions
To identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning
To prepare a group performance
To use a rich and varied vocabulary
To make a plan for my writing
To write my own set of instructions
To edit and evaluate my writing
To integrate visual devices
The PDF file contains 10 full lesson plans and accompanying pupil resource sheets.
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Stone Age Boy Literacy Planning
Stone Age to Iron Age Resource Pack
Stone Age to Iron Age planning bundle of all 3 packs
Download our popular Roman Britain lesson planning bundle containing 10 full lesson plans for KS2.
This resources contains a bundle of history lessons that make up a complete unit covering the topic Roman Britain. Each file contains a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint slides and pupil resource sheets. There are also there extra comprehension resources included.
Lessons in this unit include:
Where did the Roman Empire come from?
How did the Roman army help to expand the Roman Empire?
What was Britain like before the Romans invaded?
How did Britain become part of the Roman Empire?
Who was Boudica and how did she rebel against the Romans?
What did the Romans build after they settled in Britain?
What were houses like in Roman Britain?
What can archaeological sites tell us about Roman Britain?
How did bathhouses provide leisure for Romans in Britain?
What lasting impact did the Romans leave in Britain?
This lesson is brought to you by KS2History,
A full lesson for KS2 about Stone Age hunter-gatherers, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
How did hunter-gatherers survive in the Stone Age?
In this lesson pupils find out who the ‘hunter-gatherers’ were and how they survived in Stone Age Britain. Pupils will learn the difference between ‘threats’ and ‘assets’ provided by the natural habitat and then they go on their own survival treasure hunt around the school grounds.
Objectives:
To find out about how hunter-gatherers lived in Stone Age Britain
To explore how Stone Age people survived against threats
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
This is the second lesson in the popular Stone Age to Iron Age Unit for KS2.
This primary history resource was created by kS2History.
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Prehistory Timelines (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Cave Art (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Artefacts & Evidence (Lesson for KS2)
Stonehenge Mysteries (Lesson for KS2)
Bronze Age (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Boy Literacy Planning - 2 Weeks
Stone Age to Iron Age Planning Bundle for KS2
This is a fun and popular performance poetry unit for KS1, based on creating and performing Autumn poetry about a fieldmouse looking for safety during Autumn time. This pack covers one week of literacy lessons for Y1 or Y2.
The five lessons in this unit aim to give children the opportunity to read and listen to a classic autumn poem and to consider how the sounds and language patterns come alive when it is read aloud, in particular its use of verbs and commands. Children will have the opportunity to engage imaginatively with the poem and to create their own version of an autumn poem to perform aloud.
The aims of the unit for pupils are:
• To listen to a classic harvest poem being read aloud
• To identify verbs
• To use command sentences
• To prepare a poetry performance including actions
• To perform a poem to an audience
The final performances would also be perfect for a harvest assembly.
Download our complete unit of work for primary history including lessons plans, pupil resources and teacher’s guide. The Shang Dynasty is now a study unit for KS2 on the new curriculum for history.
This ten-lesson unit is designed for upper KS2 and it covers the following questions:
1. What was the Shang Dynasty?
2. What was it like in settlements around the Yellow River Plain?
3. How did Shang farmers provide food for their society?
4. What were the religious beliefs of the Shang Dynasty?
5. What was the Shang system of writing like?
6. What did the rulers of the Shang Dynasty do?
7. What do archaeological findings tell us about the Shang Dynasty?
8. Why is Lady Fu Hao’s tomb significant to historians?
9. Why did the Shang Dynasty fall in 1046 BC?
10. What have we learned about this period of history?
#lovehistory
A full lesson for KS2 about King Alfred the Great, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Who was Alfred the Great?
In this lesson, pupils will find out why Alfred was a significant figure in Anglo-Saxon history. Pupils will listen to Alfred’s story and consider why he left a legacy as a ‘great’ king. They will then design a commemorative statue and be challenged to think about why historians sometimes doubt the truthfulness of the historical sources that tell us about King Alfred.
Objectives:
To explore the story of Anglo-Saxon King Alfred
To consider why Alfred is remembered as ‘The Great’
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
You may also like:
Anglo-Saxons Unit for KS2: A fully-resourced unit of 10 history lessons for KS2, covering the Anglo-Saxon topic.
What was it like in an Anglo-Saxon village? A complete lesson for KS2
Where did the Anglo-Saxons come from? A complete lesson for KS2
A full lesson for KS2 about the introduction of the railways to Victorian Britain, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
How did the Victorians respond to the new railways?
This lesson looks at the introduction of the railways during the Victorian period. Pupils will think about their own experiences of rail travel and consider what travel was like before the railways were built. They will learn about how the new railways impacted people in positive and negative ways using case studies and role play activities, before writing a letter to explain one character’s perspective on the new railways.
Objectives:
To find out how the introduction of the railways changed travel and trade
To explain different viewpoints about the new railways
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
You may also like:
Introduction to the Victorians: (FREE): A full lesson for KS2 introducing the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Who Was Queen Victoria?; A full lesson for KS2 exploring the life and significance of Queen Victoria, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Inventions: A full lesson for KS2 about famous Victorian inventions, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Industrial Revolution A full lesson for KS2 exploring the impact of the Industrial Revolution, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Working Children A full lesson for KS2 exploring the topic of jobs for Victorian children, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Schools A full lesson for KS2 about Victorian schools, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Clothing A full lesson for KS2 investigating Victorian clothing, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Crime and Punishment A full lesson for KS2 about crime and punishment in the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
A full lesson for KS2 about life in an Anglo-Saxon settlement, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
What was it like in an Anglo-Saxon village?
This lesson explores life in an Anglo-Saxon settlement. Pupils will take a video tour and think about how the Anglo-Saxons used natural resources to make their settlements safe and self-sufficient. Pupils will design their own settlement maps and think about what different people might be doing in the settlement on a day-to-day basis.
Objectives:
To explore the features of an Anglo-Saxon settlement
To consider what life might have been like for different people living in an Anglo-Saxon village
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
You may also like:
Anglo-Saxons Unit for KS2: A fully-resourced unit of 10 history lessons for KS2, covering the Anglo-Saxon topic.
Why did the Anglo-Saxons want to settle in Britain? A complete lesson for KS2
Where did the Anglo-Saxons come from? A complete lesson for KS2
This activity allows pupils to set the period of Benin Kingdom 900-1300 AD into the wider context of British and World History by making their own timelines.
The PDF file contains two pupil activity sheets.
This activity allows pupils to read a recount of the British Invasion of Benin and then sort the statements into arguments for and against the invasion. This activity would be good preparation for a class debate or for planning a written argument.
A full lesson for KS2 exploring the topic of jobs for Victorian children, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
What was life like for working Victorian children?
In this lesson, pupils will find out about the different kinds of work that Victorian children undertook. Pupils will watch videos exploring work in mines, factories and fields and will consider what these jobs would have felt like for children performing the work on a daily basis. Pupils will make a paperchain of Victorian children to present information about different jobs and have the opportunity to hot-seat in the role of a child worker.
Objectives:
To find out what sort of jobs were taken by Victorian children
To explore what life was like for Victorian working children
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
You may also like:
Introduction to the Victorians: (FREE): A full lesson for KS2 introducing the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Who Was Queen Victoria?; A full lesson for KS2 exploring the life and significance of Queen Victoria, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Inventions: A full lesson for KS2 about famous Victorian inventions, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Industrial Revolution A full lesson for KS2 exploring the impact of the Industrial Revolution, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Railways A full lesson for KS2 about the introduction of the railways, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Schools A full lesson for KS2 about Victorian schools, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Clothing A full lesson for KS2 investigating Victorian clothing, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Victorian Crime and Punishment A full lesson for KS2 about crime and punishment in the Victorian period, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
Download our popular Escape From Pompeii English Planning Pack for KS2.
This is a ten-lesson unit of work based around the book ‘Escape from Pompeii’ by Christina Balit, designed for Year 3 and Year 4.
The ten lessons in this unit aim to give children the opportunity to read and listen to the Escape from Pompeii story a number of times. In the first week, children will engage with the text through discussion, drama and even creating a parachute volcanic eruption in order to increase their familiarity with the story. They will have the opportunity to articulate ideas about the text using an increasingly varied vocabulary. There is a grammar focus on using powerful verbs and a chance to develop thesaurus skills.
In the second week, pupils will plan their own story based on the structure of Escape from Pompeii and they will then have the opportunity to draft, edit and present their final narrative.
The literacy objectives covered in this unit are:
To use sensory descriptions
To use a thesaurus to improve my writing
To perform a poem as a group
To use powerful verbs
To prepare a short drama piece based on a text
To write a descriptive recount
To make a story plan
To write my own narrative
To edit my writing
To make decisions about how to present my writing
The PDF file contains ten full lesson plans and all pupil worksheets/resources.
#lovehistory
You may also like the following planning for Year 3/ Year 4:
Roman Britain Planning Pack
Romans Literacy Pack (Instructions Unit)
Romans Planning Bundle of all three planning packs
A fully-resourced unit of 10 history lessons for KS2, covering the Maya Civilization history topic. This KS2History planning pack includes 10 detailed lessons plans, each with accompanying pupil resource sheets and Powerpoint slides.
The ten sessions in this unit aim to give an overview of the history of the Maya Civilization, with a particular focus on the period leading up to the height of the civilization in AD 900. As with all KS2History.com units, there is an emphasis on allowing pupils to consider the sources of evidence that form our understanding of this period of world history. The unit also takes the opportunity to draw contrasts with comparable themes from British history.
The aims of the unit for pupils are:
To gain an overview of significant people, places and events from the Maya Civilization
To explore how the geography of the Maya area impacted trade, daily life and the growth and decline of the civilization
To consider broader historical context and draw links with British history and other familiar aspects of world history
To become familiar with historical sources and debates, to address misconceptions and to use accurate vocabulary relating to the Maya Civilization.
This pack contains everything you need to teach this unit, including differentiated activity ideas so that it can be adapted to the needs of your class. The Powerpoint text is also editable.
The planning pack covers the following lessons:
What was the Maya Civilization?
How did the landscape of the Maya area affect trade?
How did Maya settlers survive and thrive in the rainforest?
What do Maya ruins tell us about city-states?
How useful are the pictures of Frederick Catherwood as a source of information about the Maya?
Did the Maya invent football?
Why was maize so important to the Maya people?
Who was Pakal the Great?
How did the Maya keep track of time?
What is the mystery of the abandoned Maya cities?
This resource includes 1 x PDf file (containing all lessons and resources) and 10 x separate PPT files.
6. How to Rule a Dynasty: What did the rulers of the Shang Dynasty do?
In this lesson pupils will be introduced to the story of the first king of the Shang Dynasty, King Tang of Shang. They will work in groups to prepare dramas based on his story. Pupils will then consider the arguments for and against Shang kings taking prisoners of war and they will write and deliver a persuasive argument to support or oppose this practice.
The PDF file includes the full lesson plan and two pupil activity sheets.
For Upper KS2.
A full lesson for KS2 introducing the British prehistoric period covering the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, including a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint and pupil resource sheets.
What does prehistory mean?
This lesson introduces the period of British history from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Pupils will make a timeline to set this period into the wider context of British History and they will discover how we break up this period into distinct ages.
Objectives:
To put events in chronological order
To understand how the period from the Stone Age to the Iron Age fits into a wider picture of British history
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
This is the first lesson in the popular Stone Age to Iron Age Unit for KS2..
This primary history resource was created by KS2History.
You may also like:
Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Cave Art (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Artefacts & Evidence (Lesson for KS2)
Stonehenge Mysteries (Lesson for KS2)
Bronze Age (Lesson for KS2)
Stone Age Boy Literacy Planning - 2 Weeks
Stone Age to Iron Age Planning Bundle for KS2
Download this popular two-week unit for Year 1 based on classic poetry to perform.
A two-week literacy unit of work for Year 1, containing lesson plans and pupil resources, looking at some ofEdward Lear's most funny and imaginative poems.
In this unit pupils will:
- listen to classic poems by Edward Lear
- investigate the sounds and language patterns of the poem
- make a comic version of 'The Owl and the Pussycat'
- identify rhyming words and patterns
- make a new version of the poem 'The Jumblies'
- prepare and give a performance to an audience
The poems include 'The Owl and the Pussycat', 'Calico Pie' and 'The Jumblies'.
You may also like our other KS1 poetry packs:
Year 2 Performance Poetry Pack
Summer Performance Poetry Pack
Spring Performance Poetry