We journey back to the Dark Ages, before laws were written down and trials involved harsh physical ordeals with boiling water and red hot pokers. But by the end of this period, the Saxons had created the very first sophisticated legal systems of courts and juries some 200 years before they were formally introduced.
Written to provided extension/ enrichment / independent learning options
Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the worksheet can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing
Worksheet to support the BBC TV Documentary on the building of the Panama Canal from the series: Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.
This episode presents the French and American efforts to build a canal through Panama to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The first attempt to construct the canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal, was abandoned because of tropical diseases (which killed over 22,000 men) and the difficulty of constructing a sea-level canal through the mountains. The resulting financial scandals not only ruined de Lesseps and many investors, it also brought down the French government. The episode then takes up the story seventeen years later when the United States took up the challenge. A concentrated effort succeeded in eradicating the causes of the tropical diseases, but the attempt to build a sea-level canal once again failed. Instead the canal was built with locks.
Written to provided extension/ enrichment / independent learning options
Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the worksheet can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing
Frontiers- Worksheet to support J.W. Davidson’s ‘A Little History of the United States’ Chp 20
Written to support the GCSE American West course as an enrichment, flipped independent reading task.
Written in Publisher for A3 printing but can be amended and saved as a PDF for A4 printing.
What was Coming- Worksheet to support J.W. Davidson’s ‘A Little History of the United States’ Chp 22
Written to support the GCSE American West course as an enrichment, flipped independent reading task.
Written in Publisher for A3 printing but can be amended and saved as a PDF for A4 printing.
BBC- Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents - Episode 1 - Worksheet to support the BBC documentary
In this episode, we find England alone - a protestant nation in a largely Catholic Europe. Then, 12 years into Elizabeth’s reign, the Pope declares her a heretic, which in the hearts of England’s Catholics gives them permission to kill her. Queen Elizabeth looks to her spymaster William Cecil to stop the Catholic assassins getting through. Cecil establishes a huge espionage network - England’s first secret service. His spies break Catholic conspiracies at home and abroad.
Cecil’s network is put on high alert by intelligence from a source in Catholic Europe. As a result he catches a courier carrying coded letters that lead Cecil to unravel a plot to assassinate Elizabeth and install her cousin Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne. Now Cecil will not rest until Mary Queen of Scots, the figurehead for every catholic threat and repository of Catholic hopes, is eliminated. In order to protect a queen, Cecil must kill one.
Cecil now creates an elaborate Elizabethan sting. He incubates a Catholic plot to assassinate the queen and lures Mary into it. But will Mary fall for the bait and seal her fate. Mary does walk right into Cecil’s trap but even then the spymaster’s aim is thwarted by a queen who refuses to execute her own cousin. Cecil knows Mary must die if Elizabeth is to live, but now that means he must defy his own queen and risk the end of his career - perhaps his life.
Written to provided extension/ enrichment / independent learning options
Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the worksheet can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing
Ray Mears explores how 500,000 square miles of flat, treeless grassland was the setting for some of the Wild West’s most dramatic stories of Plains Indians, wagon trains, homesteaders and cattle drives.
Ray joins the Blackfeet Indian Nation as they demonstrate bareback riding skills before a ritual buffalo hunt and sacrifice, and learns how their ancestors were dependent upon the buffalo for their survival. He follows in the wagon ruts of the early pioneers along the Oregon Trail and hitches a ride on a prairie schooner with wagon master Kim Merchant. He discovers the stories of the early homesteaders who lived in sod-houses and farmed the wild grassland around them.
At a cattle auction in Dodge City he explores the story of the railways, cow-towns and the buffalo massacre. His journey across the Great Plains ends at Moore Ranch where he joins a long-horn cattle drive and learns about the life and myth of one of the Wild West’s most iconic figures, the cowboy.
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The battle over freedom of speech and how the monarch finally lost its power, and its head. As crucial as the Magna Carta, the introduction of the Bill of Rights in 1688 saw Parliament and politicians now assume complete domination over the monarchy for good.
Written to provided extension/ enrichment / independent learning options
Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the worksheet can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of his death, this documentary presents an intimate portrait of one of the greatest monsters of the 20th century, including fresh evidence about his relationships with women, his family and his inner circle.
The West has rarely glimpsed behind Stalin’s granite mask into his extraordinary private world. But through interviews with family members, the programme reveals details about Stalin’s passions as well as his implacable cruelty. Filmed extensively in Russia, including carefully researched reconstructions, the film offers intriguing insights into his motives and behaviour.”
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The Peasants Revolt - Part 2 - Documentary to support the Tony Robinson Documentary
Written to support independent/ enrichment and flipped learning, students work thorough the sheet carrying out a series of data collection activities and higher order tasks
Written in Publisher and formatted to A3, the worksheet can be saved as a PDF for A4 printing
This is a reading based enrichment activity written as an introduction to the lives of peasants during the medieval period and based upon the book of the same name:
ISBN-10: 0563522755
ISBN-13: 978-0563522751
The worksheet contains a variety of information gathering activities and higher order tasks to prepare students for the study of the period.
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Gunpowder 5-11, The Greatest Terror Plot - Worksheet to support the BBC Documentary
Drama documentary revealing the inner secrets of the Gunpowder Plot, using the words of the plotters themselves. Based on the interrogations of Thomas Wintour and Guy Fawkes.
For the first time, the inner secrets of the gunpowder plotters are dramatised using the actual words of their most senior captured leader Thomas Wintour, Guy Fawkes and state interrogators investigating the 18-month conspiracy in which a family circle of militant Catholic gentlemen tried to blow up king and parliament.
Wintour’s insider account of this epic tale of faith, fanaticism, persecution and betrayal is told in detail, from his recruitment of both Fawkes and his own brother to his capture in a dramatic siege and bloody shoot-out on 8 November.
The hopes, fears and plans for a Midlands rebellion, royal kidnap, the plotters’ penetration of the king’s bodyguard and Fawkes’s attendance, sword in hand, at a wedding attended by the king in December 1604 are shown, as well as a dramatisation of the thrilling, forgotten story of the final days after 5/11 as the conspirators are hunted down and then face the terrible punishments reserved for traitors.
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Horrible Histories returns for a special about King John and Magna Carta, starring Ben Miller. John annoys the barons and agrees Magna Carta at Runnymede after a banging rap battle. Meanwhile, across the world, we meet the formidable Genghis Khan in Mongolia and catch up with the crafty Saladin during the Crusades. With, of course, our host Rattus to guide the way!
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A special episode of the historical sketch show about Oliver Cromwell. We follow Oliver as he rises from obscurity, challenges King Charles I in the English Civil War, and ultimately orders the King’s execution - as he says, a it was a ‘cruel necessity’. In other parts of Britain we meet a bunch of oddly named Puritan soldiers, and the great writers Shakespeare and Milton square up for a word battle. With of course, our host Rattus to guide the way!
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Titanic the New Evidence Investigative journalist and Titanic expert Senan Molony examines recently recovered photographs of the doomed ship, which provide fresh insight into the reasons for its sinking. The images reveal a strange mark on the hull, which may prove previously, overlooked stories of a fire raging in the boiler room.
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EDEXCEL HISTORY GCSE - Topic 2: Henry & Cromwell 1529-40
‘HENRY VIII AND HIS MINISTERS’ SUMMARY 'TOPIC ON A PAGE’ consolidation, revision, resource:
This resource provides students with a 'TOPIC ON A PAGE’ summary for each topic of the Henry VIII and his Ministers Unit. It fully covers the syllabus content for each topic and can be used by students and teachers to:
a) consolidate knowledge and understanding to encourage student mastery (embedding academic language and concepts) after students have completed a topic in class or as a homework task, helping them identify areas of strengths and weaknesses
b) as a quick starter activity to review prior learning or weeks/months later as a spaced retrieval practice task. I regularly take sections from the placemats and use them to support spiralled learning.
c) to encourage relevant exam responses - specifically targeting the FEATURES and 12 MARK EXPLAIN questions - knowledge is organised into CAUSES and CONSEQUENCES in line with sample exam questions e.g.) Why was Anne Boleyn Executed? Students are then directed to include three relevant examples that can be cited in the exam and allow access to the highest levels. Students have commented that this has helped them revise an organised and planned response to exam questions that result in a more concise written response in exam conditions.
d) the question squares can be cut up into cards to form an interactive timeline activity or ranking task when completing causation questions. They can also be used to support the HOW FAR DO YOU AGREE questions - organising knowledge into agree and disagree arguments.
e) as a useful revision aid before the final exam. (Many of my Year 11 students rely on these sheets in the final weeks and days of revision and have commented that they have helped make factual recall of the huge volume of the syllabus content more achievable.
The topic on a page summaries can be used as a stand alone resource or in conjunction with the Edexcel Pearson Revision Guide, where all of the answers can be found. This resource can also be used in conjunction with the topic placemats that I have produced to support students in lessons. In particular, I have successfully used the TOPIC ON A PAGE summaries with the ‘EXAM TECHNIQUE’ side of the placemats so when students are given exam questions, they can quickly find relevant supporting knowledge to use in a response. I have used this resource successfully with students targeted Levels 4- 9. It could be easily adapted for students working on or below L3.
Please see my placemats at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/9-1-edexcel-history-learning-topic-placemat-for-henry-viii-and-his-ministers-topic-2-henry-and-cro-11804694
Britain 2000 Years in The Making - Ep4 Dirty Money - Worksheet to support the TV Documentary. Written to support the teaching of the A level: Britain: Losing and Gaining and Empire - 1763-1914. Suitable as an enrichment task for able KS3
Britain 2000 Years in The Making - Ep 5 Superpower - Worksheet to support the TV Documentary. Written to support the teaching of the A level: Britain: Losing and Gaining and Empire - 1763-1914. Suitable as an enrichment task for able KS3
Blackadder Goes Forth - Goodbyeee - Worksheet to support the BBC TV programme. This task has been written to support both Ks3 as an introduction to WWI and a consolidation / flipped task for the GCSE 9-1 curriculum studying the Western Front .
Students are to watch and study the script of the programme, making inferences about : Conditions, Attitudes to War, Food and Causes of the War. They are asked to consider why things are funny and develop the habit of explaining their inferences. The work is set out in tables so could easily be cut up for card based group work
The worksheet, due to its content, is designed to be printed on A3 but can be fully edited and exported for printing by PDF to A4
Canada: A People’s History - Episode 7- Rebellion and Reform - Supporting Worksheet
Written to support flipped/enrichment/independent learning activities based upon the documentary programme
By 1830, the struggle for democratic government in the colonies of British North America has reached fever pitch. As the colonies grow in wealth and population, a generation of charismatic reformers – Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia, Louis-Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada and William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada - confront the appointed governors and their local favourites with one demand: let the citizens’ elected representatives run their own affairs. In the Canadas, the struggle leads to bloody rebellion and disastrous defeat for the rebels. Yet within 10 years, the prize of self-government is won, thanks in part to an unexpected alliance between the French and English-speaking forces of reform.
Rebels and Redcoats - Worksheets to support the BBC Richard Holmes documentary.
Rebels and Redcoats: How Britain Lost America, is a British television documentary series about the story of the American Revolutionary War, narrated by Richard Holmes in a four-parts. Throughout the entire program there are clear explanations about the politics going on behind the scenes, the impact of other nations like Canada and France, battle tactics and strategies, and weaponry, all following a beginning-to-end time line. The impact of each geographic area is frequently emphasized, as there were often a division of loyalties not just in regions but also in neighborhoods. While being a British production, the viewpoint of many different groups are discussed in detail, including the difficult choices Native American Indians and black slaves were forced to make in choosing allegiances.
Ep1"The Shot Heard Around the World"
Ep2"American Crisis 1776"
Ep3"The War Moves South"
Ep4"The World Turned Upside Down"
Written in Publisher and formatted to A3 the documents can be edited and exported as PDF’s for A4 printing