The Making of Nelson’s Navy

Napoleon, Nelson and Trafalgar
1 lesson from a series of 7 on the Napoleonic Wars, The Royal Navy and the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The lessons are as follows:

1. Napoleon and the threat to Britain
2. The Making of Nelson’s Navy
3. Nelson v Villeneuve
4. Life in Nelson’s Navy
5. The Battle of Trafalgar
6. Napoleon and Trafalgar Pokémon revision game

Each lesson works as a standalone, but they are designed to be taught in sequence, with each lesson adding a new layer of context and skills ready for the final writing task in lesson 4. Each lesson comes with 4 Pokémon style key word cards which are all gathered with a range of factor and skill word cards in the 5th lesson – this allows students to use them in their writing.
Each lesson includes a range of activities and resources all contained within the same PowerPoint file for ease of use.
The activities are as follows:
Lesson 1: Napoleon and the threat to Britain
• French Revolution context
• Trading card keywords activity
• Napoleon info cards and CV writing task
• Napoleon’s conquests and the Continental System
• Comprehension questions

Lesson 2: The Making of Nelson’s Navy
• Age of sail video and question/answers
• Assemble a fleet discussion task with prompts
• 8 Factors of success – table fill
• PEE prioritisation task
• Writing a letter to family task
• Trading card keyword activity
• Reading comprehension questions

Lesson 3: Nelson v Villeneuve (and life on a sailing ship)
• Nelson video and question/answers
• Reading comprehension questions
• Trading card keyword activity
• Nelson’s Victories place and describe map activity
• Nelson: Hero and Villain extended reading and debate task

Lesson 4: Life in Nelson’s Navy
• Video and questions
• Teach Roulette – life as a sailor group task
• Nautical English terms task
• Write a diary entry as a sailor task
• Trading Card Activity

Lesson 5: The Battle of Trafalgar
• Recap task
• Events of the day info slides (enabling teacher talk)
• Extended reading – Bernard Cornwell – the gruesome side of a war at sea
• Cartoon strip of the battle with info slides
• Why did Nelson win the Battle of Trafalgar? Essay task to include all factors studied thus far (the recap reminder sheet from activity 1 is useful here).
• Trading Card Activity

Lesson 6: Battle of Trafalgar Keyword Trading Card Game
• 20 Pokémon style keywords
• 11 General factor history and skill cards
• An excellent and engaging way to stimulate writing tasks!

Bonus: Trafalgar History Club Activity
• Flag making – Re-create Nelson’s famous flag signals!
• Battle Snowballs – create the line of battle, act out the fight and see who wins in the rematch!

We hope it helps.
#BetterTeachingBetterPlanet