An activity mat collating the ideas of looking at primary and secondary sources to find out about the Stone Age settlement of Skara Brae.

This is a 4 week narrative unit based on the classic novel ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King. It includes daily plans and builds up to the children writing their own short story in the final week by creating their own dilemma for Stig and Barney. It includes some SPAG activities (revision of nouns/adjectives/adverbs/inverted commas; fronted adverbials) and certain resources or notes and suggestions for other resources needed.

To begin our Roman topic, after discussing how we know about the past, and the difference between primary and secondary sources, children handled replica artefacts and discussed what they thought they were used for/made from. They chose a few of the artefacts and recorded their ideas on the worksheet. We then revealed what the artefacts were called and what they were for and completed the final column. They got housepoints for being close! The children then made observational drawings inside the picture frame of some of the artefacts using sketch pencils.

After using a powerpoint on the Spread of the Roman Empire, the children used atlases to help understand how much of Europe was conquered by the Romans.

This resource includes a SMART notebook with useful links to information about Roman slaves, a video on life as a Roman slave and a very simple explanation of modern slavery appropriate for KS2 children. The accompanying worksheet covers slavery in Roman times, the story of Passover and the Jews’ escape from slavery and the idea that slavery still exists in some forms today.

A selection of worksheets including a cloze procedure on the Great Orme mine, and a cut and stick activity to summarise the main changes in tools, technology, food and clothes across the 3 periods.

Using a set of 15 cards of things that the Romans brought to Britain, the children have to discuss which they think had the most impact on Britain and sort them into a diamond 9. They then have to justify their decisions.

A short comprehension aimed at lower KS2 based on the famous eruption of Pompeii. I used this in a whole class guided reading session. We explored much of the vocabulary together and used talk partners and teacher modelling to answer the questions. Also available as part of two different bundles: ‘Natural Hazards’ and ‘Romans’.

This is an assembly/short play based on the story of Boudicca which lasts approximately 15 minutes and culminates in the whole class singing the Boudicca song from ‘Horrible Histories’. Included = playscript (with character list); script to introduce and conclude play (based on Monty Python’s ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ sketch); link to video of Horrible Histories song and a copy of the lyrics for the song. It is possible to include all the class as you need plenty of Celts for Boudicca’s tribe and some Roman soldiers too. I have done this twice (successfully!) and the second time I had a different Boudicca in each scene due to the number of children who wanted a speaking part. Obviously, you can add/adapt scenes if you wish to. This resource is available as part of a Romans activities bundle saving you 33% on the resources overall.

Explore the history and geography of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii using these 2 activity mats. These worksheets are useful for both topics on the Romans, or topics on volcanoes/earthquakes and reinforce tier 2/3 vocabulary such as: archaeologist, primary and secondary (sources). The first video link shows an animation of ‘A Day in Pompeii’ which has no narration just powerful imagery of what happend that day in 79AD. There is also a second link showing and describing the lost city of Pompeii. These worksheets are fully editable and are also available as part of a bundle of Romans activities which includes a full class assembly on Boudicca’s rebellion, or as part of a bundle on ‘Natural Hazards’ which contains a range of resources to support topics on volcanoes and earthquakes.