This is a set of 7 lessons on the Great Fire of London with aims, activities, vocabulary and references to the National Curriculum. The lessons go with the further resources I have uploaded, but you can use and adapt in whatever way is most useful to you and your class. I love this topic and have tried to include plenty of talk, drama activities and images that bring it to life, in a way that will excite children, and give them the tools to write and discuss with enthusiasm. The Big Questions aim to give them a wider perspective and stretch their understanding. I visit schools linked to my book ‘Vlad and the Great Fire of London’, for information about this please look at the Reading Riddle website. If you have found this useful please give it a review :) and look at my other free resources.

Six images to put in order and make a timeline of the Great Fire of London. For an extension activity children can write further detail and add information about when the fire was finally extinguished. Further free resources are available on my TES shop and if you have found this useful please give it a review so others know :) The images are taken from my picture book Vlad and the Great Fire of London and information about this and my school visits can be found on the Reading Riddle website.

A map of London in 1666 with a grid to mark key sites of the Great Fire. Children mark sites such as Pudding Lane, Tower of London and the fields where Londoners camped after the fire. They are given the grid references to colour the area burned by the fire. This map covers the journey taken by Vlad and Boxton in the picture book of the events of the Great Fire (Vlad and the Great Fire of London by Kate and Sam Cunningham, which is available on Amazon). The map can be used with the book or works independently too. There are other free resources around the Great Fire of London available from my shop. For information on my storytelling and drama sessions please visit the Reading Riddle website.

Lesson 1 A powerpoint presentation introducing the Great Fire of London and what impact it had on the city. It includes information on where London is, what was in London and what it looks like now. Further resources to follow Images are taken from my picture book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London.

Using the events of the Great Fire of London, this planning enables children to take an alternative character and write their story. Using drama the children consider the events and write a story set in September 1666. For further ideas and planning see the Reading Riddle website. Vlad and the Great Fire of London is available from Amazon or The National Archives bookshop.

A mixture of images of materials and clues from 1666 and now that lead to discussion about things that caused the Great Fire to spread. This resource relates to the lesson plan available for free from the shop. The images can be cut up and sorted into the relevant era. They then provide a starting point for comparing what houses were made from and how close they were placed.

The planning and resources are based on the research and illustrations from the picture book Vlad and the Florence Nightingale Adventure. It works well with the book but can also be used independently. Florence Nightingale’s influence included working to make hospitals cleaner, train nurses to be professionals and gathering data to determine what changes improved healthcare. The lessons cover these ideas and include looking at hospitals past and present, timelines, science investigation on hygiene, the role of a nurse now and in history, first aid and making a difference and data gathering. There are links to RE, PSHE, Science, English and Maths. Within the lessons are Big Questions link to the topic to promote speaking and listening. There are powerpoints and resources to support lessons. Planning for English lessons on persuasive writing and instructions has been downloaded separately. For further information about the Vlad series of books (Vlad and the Great Fire of London, Vlad and the First World War), school visits, lesson resources and encouraging reading with families see the Reading Riddle website.

A differentiated lotto game matching pictures to phrases and introducing vocabulary around the Great Fire of London. Pictures are taken from my book Vlad and the Great Fire of London illustrated by my son. There are 6 target boards with varying levels of difficulty in the phrases so the game can be played by mixed ability groups. The game is in a word document so can be adapted according to your needs. I have added other free resources around this topic and although you don’t need the book for any of the materials, it is available from Amazon if you want to use it. Information about my storytelling events are on the Reading Riddle website.

This lesson helps children consider the London refugees after the Great Fire of London. It considers what happened to them and what they took when they fled. They are then encouraged to make links with modern refugees and discuss the differences between now and 350 years ago. it gives the opportunity to reveal and challenge misconceptions about life in seventeenth century. It also raises awareness that people have often had to flee danger at different times and in different parts of the world. It includes a lesson plan, powerpoint (with a copy of Charles II proclamation on the London refugees and how to help them) and differentiated work sheets showing similarities and differences between now and then. The images are taken from my book Vlad and the Great Fire of London. I hope it is useful. If you like this and are interested in me coming in to do storytelling you can further information on the Reading Riddle website.

This powerpoint summarises the what, who, why, when and how of Remembrance Day. It uses simple language and clear illustrations from the picture book, Vlad and the First World War. The powerpoint is editable to suit your specific audience but the illustrations are the copyright of Sam Cunningham so should not be used elsewhere. If you want any further information on the book or the first book Vlad and the Great Fire of London please visit the Reading Riddle website.

This classroom activity looks at war memorials and considers who they are for, what they are made from and what images are used. Children then use this to design a memorial of their own. Through this activity the children think about why we have memorials and the wide range of people and animals who are being remembered. For further information about the Vlad flea books visit the Reading Riddle website.

These resources support a set of lessons on purposeful persuasive letter writing (KS2). Based on research I did to write Vlad and the First World War, they focus on Walter Tull and Phoebe Chapple. Both could have been awarded the Military Cross, but prevailing attitudes discriminated against them. The lessons support writing a letter to persuade the Ministry of Defence to award them posthumously. It includes a set of lesson plans linked to the literacy curriculum, templates for making notes and crib sheets if you want to focus on the letter writing rather than note taking. There are website links for research and 2 videos summarising their lives. Government offices respond to letters so if sent will receive a letter back. Further resources are available on the Reading Riddle website along with information on my books and school visits.

This is a word mat including vocabulary needed to write as part of a topic on Florence Nightingale. It uses illustrations from Vlad and the Florence Nightingale Adventure. Look for the other planning and resources on the topic from my shop on TES or on the Reading Riddle website Check out the website for information on the books, author visits and links to other resources.

This 6 minute video shows the evidence for the fire starting at Pudding Lane in Thomas Farriner’s bakery. It shares Pepys diary entry, the Hearth Tax entry for 1666 and maps from 1593, 1667 and now. The film then moves to Pudding Lane to show what it looks like now, the memorials and the spot where it all began. It is suitable for sharing during the primary topic and is based on the research I used when writing my picture book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London. I have lots of other resources here and on the Reading Riddle website.

This is a set of history plans for the topic of Ancient Egypt. They are linked to Vlad and Tutankhamun’s Tomb picture book, and show how to use the story and facts in this in the lessons. All linked resources (powerpoints, information sheets are available to download for free on the Teacher resource section of the Reading Riddle website Further activities and plans can be found on the shop and on our YouTube channel.

This is a set of 6 lesson space plans with objectives and links. They are in a word document so fully editable so you can alter or reformat them. All supporting resources marked in the planning are available to download from the Reading Riddle website (including a space timeline activity, powerpoint about satellites and space wordmat). The lessons cover: What is space? A timeline of space achievement. What does it take to be an astronaut/cosmonaut? Designing a spacesuit and how design has changed over time. Our Solar System - what have we discovered and what will happen in the future? The lessons link to Vlad and the Space Race, which is part of the Vlad flea history picture books. You can use them without this book but the reason I wrote it was to bring history into the classroom through historically accurate stories as I believe that engages the children. For further information about the books, school visits and resources visit the website. Thank you , Kate Cunningham

This is a set of 5 lessons which focus on the personal testimonies of those caught up in the First World War. The activities and objectives are included on the lesson plan and there are resource sheets and a planning sheet. Children work in groups to read and re-enact stories from eye-witness accounts. They then plan and write their own accounts and read them to the class. For other free resources, information about the Vlad history stories school visits and online sessions visit the Reading Riddle website.

With illustrations and vocabulary from the book Vlad and Tutankhamun’s Tomb this word mat is one of the resources created for the ancient Egypt topic. There are many more free resources including planning and lesson resources. The picture book Vlad and Tutankhamun’s Tomb is a many layered story that was written to engage, trigger ideas, discussion and help children visualise life for a ancient Egyptian worker. The linked resources help understand the research behind the story. More information about the books, resources and school visits can be found on the Reading Riddle website

Vlad and Tutankhamun’s Tomb is a story about Kel the tomb artist and the rush to prepare Tutankhamun’s tomb after his sudden and unexpected death. The illustrations show the methods and materials the artists used and this plan explains this and helps children understand some of the logistic and artistic challenges to painting the tombs. There are activities including the resources to recreate an illustration from the book and produce a large scale mural for the classroom wall. Finally, there is information about copyright - what it means, how to check it in a book and crediting artists and understanding that this is their livelihood.

This is a word sheet which includes labelled illustrations from the book Vlad and the First World War. The book includes a fuller glossary, map, fact file and story told by Vlad flea and his companion Crisp VC, the carrier pigeon. For other resources, activities and information on visits go to the Reading Riddle website.