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.
Lesson 2. Settling Down: What was it like in settlements around the Yellow River Plain?
This lesson invites pupils to consider the problems faced by people in early Shang settlements. Pupils will discover how Shang people overcame issues of flooding and irrigation problems and they will find out how Shang cities were organised, with an opportunity to design their own Shang city.
This PDF file contains the full lesson plan and two pupil activity sheets.
For upper KS2.
Lesson 8. Who was Fu Hao?: Why is Lady Fu Hao's tomb significant to historians?
Pupils will investigate who Lady Fu Hao might have been by looking at some of the artefacts found in her tomb. They will learn about how people in Shang times were often buried with a tomb full of treasures to take with them to the afterlife. Pupils will engage imaginatively with a scenario about a slave being taken to the grave with his master and they will write a persuasive letter to escape such an unfortunate destiny.
The PDF file contains the full lesson plan and a pupil activity sheet.
For upper KS2.
Celebrate Chinese New Year with this mini history project on the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China. This bundle includes lessons plans, pupil resources and teacher's guide. It is designed for KS2 and includes cross-curricular activities like cooking Shang recipes, investigating ancient tombs and designing oracle bones with ancient Chinese messages on.
This nine-lesson unit 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?
Lesson 1. Introduction: What was the Shang Dynasty?
This lesson introduces the Shang Dynasty and encourages pupils to generate research questions about their new topic. Pupils will make a factfile after researching key facts to set the Shang Dynasty into its wider context of world history.
This PDF includes the full lesson plan and two pupil worksheets.
For Upper KS2
This activity invites pupils to learn about some of the ways that the early kingdom protected itself so well through the famous Benin moat. Pupils will use the worksheet to help to focus their research and then they can use it as a planning template for a report.
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.
In this activity pupils will find out what jobs there were for ordinary people in the Kingdom of Benin by reading the job descriptions on the cards and matching them to the trade titles.
A full lesson for KS2 introducing the topic of Ancient Egypt. The resource includes a detailed lesson plan, Powerpoint slides and pupil resource sheets.
Who were the Ancient Egyptians?
This lesson introduces the Ancient Egyptians topic and helps pupils to set this early civilization into its wider historical context of time and place. After looking at a historical source to find details and generate questions, pupils will create a timeline of key events from the period.
Objectives:
To find out when and where the Ancient Egyptians lived
To use a timeline to explore key events from Ancient Egyptian times
The lesson plan includes differentiation ideas to adapt the activities for the needs of your class.
This is the first lesson from the KS2History Ancient Egyptians Planning Pack for KS2.
This primary history resource is created by KS2History.
Bronze Age Lesson Plans for KS2
The plans are taken from our popular
Stone Age to Iron Age Resource Pack.
Includes full lesson plans with Powerpoint slides and pupil resources/worksheets.
1. Introduction: What does Prehistory Mean?
This lesson puts the Bronze Age in context by introducing 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.
2. 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 process of how it was made.
3. What do grave goods tell us about the Bronze Age?
In this lesson pupils will find out about how people in the Bronze Age were buried alongside some objects that were important to them. Pupils will reflect upon how artefacts found in Bronze Age burial sites can give us information about what life was like in this period. This lesson also introduces the idea that not all artefacts survive over time and invites pupils to sum up their learning by exploring the grave of the Amesbury Archer.
You may also like our other Stone Age planning resources:
Stone Age Boy Literacy Planning
How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth Literacy Planning
Stone Age to Iron Age planning bundle of all 3 packs
Lesson 4. Time to Worship: What were the religious beliefs of the Shang Dynasty?
In this lesson pupils will find out about the different gods that Shang people worshipped. They will investigate how people responded to different situations by feasting, worshipping or making sacrifices. Pupils will have a chance to create storyboards of different worship scenarios.
The PDF file contains the full lesson plan and three pupil activity sheets.
For Upper KS2.
This resource will allow pupils to find out how to make their own oracle bones from clay and they will use a symbols key to write their own questions on them using Shang ideograms. The sheet includes a set of instructions for making clay bones and a handy key to Shang symbols.
In these activities pupils will become familiar with the different types of artefacts that help us to know about life in the Shang Dynasty. They will be introduced to the concept of making deductions from evidence and they will fill in a table to show what information different artefacts give us about the Shang period.
This bundle contains 9 history lessons for Y5/6, covering the topic 'The Shang Dynasty'.
Each file contains a detailed lesson plan and pupil resources.
Instructions for making a model woolly mammoth.
This resource could be used as a DT lesson to go with the Stone Age topic, as a stand alone fun project or as a part of literacy work about instructional texts.
Lesson 6. Off to Work we Go!: What did ordinary people do for jobs in the Kingdom of Benin?
In this lesson pupils will study what jobs there were for ordinary people in the Kingdom of Benin. They will discover how the high quality of its produce helped Benin Kingdom to thrive. Pupils will find out what the main crops grown by famers were and then will have the chance to make and test recipes using two of Benin's main crops: yams and plantains.
The PDF file contains the full lesson plan and two pupil activity sheets.
For Upper KS2.
This worksheet allows pupils to research the context of Charge of the Light Brigade by using the web to retrieve and record information about the Crimean War.
This lesson invites pupils to consider the problems faced by people in early Shang settlements. Pupils will use the cards to match up the problems faced by early inhabitants with their potential solutions.
Pupils can use this activity to consider what early cities were link in the Shang Dynasty and then to design their own using the key features on the checklist.
