Children should come to school and love being there! Innovation, engagement and excitement should be the hallmarks of their learning. They should be given skills and tools which will allow them to become better prepared for life in an uncertain future. Having a purpose to their learning and knowing why they are learning something are also integral to their formative education. And remember, it isn't only the children who need to be engaged - so do you! I hope these plans help to achieve this.
Children should come to school and love being there! Innovation, engagement and excitement should be the hallmarks of their learning. They should be given skills and tools which will allow them to become better prepared for life in an uncertain future. Having a purpose to their learning and knowing why they are learning something are also integral to their formative education. And remember, it isn't only the children who need to be engaged - so do you! I hope these plans help to achieve this.
This unit is designed for year 1. This unit introduces children to some of the key vocabulary they will need to better understand the past. It uses ‘toys, cartoons and stories to consolidate this understanding. Also, there is a focus on the meaning of ‘exploration’ and ‘invention’. It develops the following skills and knowledge from the National Curriculum:
Pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time.
They should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.
They should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms.
They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events.
They should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.
Changes within living memory - Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life
Lesson 1: Children are introduced to age appropriate historical vocabulary through the use of photographs.
Lesson 2: A practical activity where the children learn about invention and exploration.
Lesson 3: Children further develop their understanding of historical vocabulary through cartoons.
Lesson 4: Children use a story to further focus in on what the difference between old and new is.
Lesson 5: Children use artefacts (toys) to build their understanding of the past.
Lesson 6: Now the children switch their focus to the future and compare with the past and now.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This unit is designed for year 4 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. The unit focuses on the classical period of Ancient Greece. Throughout this unit, children will spend time learning what an archaeologist does. They will also learn how to carry out different types of historical research; develop their understanding of triremes and hoplites; Use Google Apps to become more familiar with the region; Better understand leadership by understanding Pericles and use historical artefacts to make inferences about the time. It develops the following skills and knowledge from the National Curriculum:
To know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; achievements and follies of mankind
To gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’ and ‘civilisation’
Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
Lesson 1: A Chronology lesson which uses photographic evidence to give the children a deeper understanding of how and why different periods/peoples in time were so different. Children make links between different time periods as they start to use the language of chronology.
Lesson 2: Children learn why the Ancient Greek gods were so important to the Ancient Greeks.
Lesson 3: Children use a Google App to better explore the physical geography of Greece and Ancient Greek city states.
Lesson 4/5: Children take the role of an Archaeologist to better understand the Ancient Greeks.
Lesson 6: A research activity where the children are given the opportunity to discover more about Ancient Greek warfare and its importance to the Greeks.
Lesson 7. A practical activity where the children make choices about which Greek city state they would prefer to be a part of.
Lesson 8: Children work in teams to compete in a game which helps them better understand the importance of Pericles, democracy and leadership.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This unit is designed for year 3 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. The unit focuses on the time of the Ancient Egyptians – paying particular attention to settlement and the physical geography of the Nile. Throughout this unit, children will spend time learning what an archaeologist does. They will also learn how to carry out different types of historical research; develop their understanding of the Egyptian farming cycle; Use Google Apps to become more familiar with the region; Use historical artefacts to make inferences about the time. It develops the following skills and knowledge from the National Curriculum:
To know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; achievements and follies of mankind
To gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’ and ‘civilisation’
Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
Lesson 1: A Chronology lesson which uses photographic evidence to give the children a deeper understanding of how and why different periods/peoples in time were so different. Children make links between different time periods as they start to use the language of chronology.
Lesson 2: Children use artefacts to develop their ideas about the Ancient Egyptians.
Lesson 3: Children use a Google App to better explore the physical geography of Egypt.
Lesson 4: Children research the Egyptian farming cycle then use multimedia to present their findings.
Lesson 5: A practical activity where the children take the role of an Egyptologist.
Lesson 6. Children work collaboratively to better understand why ancient people decided to settle where they did.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This unit is designed for year 4 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. The unit focuses on the Romans and their invasion of Britain – paying particular attention to religion, military innovation, reasons for invasion and size of the Roman Empire. Throughout this unit, children will spend time learning what an archaeologist does. They will also learn how to carry out different types of historical research; Develop their own questions to find out more about areas of Roman life; Develop their understanding of Roman and Celtic life and understand invasion and the positive/negative consequences of it. It develops the following skills and knowledge from the National Curriculum:
To know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; achievements and follies of mankind
To gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’ and ‘civilisation’
Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
Lesson 1: A Chronology lesson which uses photographic evidence to give the children a deeper understanding of how and why different periods/peoples in time were so different. Children make links between different time periods as they start to use the language of chronology.
Lesson 2: Children take the role of Archaeologists to better understand the uses of different Roman artefacts.
Lesson 3: A practical activity which gives the children a deeper understanding of the ‘Roman invasion’ of Britain.
Lesson 4: Children gain a better understanding of the size and geography of the Roman Empire.
Lesson 5: Children create their own questions to gain further understanding of the reasons why the Romans wanted to invade Britain.
Lesson 6/7. A research activity where the children are given the opportunity to discover more about the Roman and (British) Celt’s way of life.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This unit is designed for year 4 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. Ultimately the unit is focused around the concept of ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ and its link to the Hindu festival of Diwali. In this unit, children will spend time learning to discuss what ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ are and how these concepts are linked to Hinduism. It develops the following skills:
Children can express a personal response to the concept of good and evil.
Children can describe how the concept can be applied in their own and others’ lives.
Children can describe what ‘Good and Evil’ means.
Children can describe how Good and Evil is expressed by Hindus in the festival of Diwali.
Children describe the value, for Hindus, of recognising good and evil through celebration.
Lesson 1: Children discuss the concept of Good and Evil
Lesson 2: Children use examples and work in teams to better explain the impact of Good and Evil.
Lesson 3: Children learn about Diwali and its link to Good and Evil.
Lesson 4: Children use what they have learned to take part in a debate on the relevance of Good and Evil to Diwali.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This is an English Plan which helps children to write a formal email. It is based on the book Wonder by R.J.Palacio. The unit offers the children a chance to better understand the purpose of formal email writing. It uses the character Jack Will as a stimulus for this writing. This unit is focused on HPL (Higher Performance Learning) and the UK National Curriculum.
This is an English Plan (with resources) which helps children to write and then present a TedTalk on their philosophy for happiness. It is based on a TedTalk by Sam Berns. The grammar focus is heavily linked to the outcome. The use of short sentences, patterned language and precise punctuation gives the writing more meaning. This unit is focused on HPL (Higher Performance Learning) and the UK National Curriculum. This plan focuses on children reading aloud and presenting a piece of writing they have a great deal of ownership over.
This unit is designed for year 2 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. Ultimately the unit is focused around Great Fire of London and those who could have been responsible for causing the fire. Throughout this unit, children will spend time learning how to carry out different types of historical research; present arguments based on historical evidence; question sources and work collaboratively. It develops the following skills and knowledge from the National Curriculum:
Pupils develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time.
They should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.
They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events.
They should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.
Changes within living memory. The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods
Different significant historical events.
Lesson 1: A Chronology lesson which uses photographic evidence to give the children a deeper understanding of how and why different periods/peoples in time were so different. Children make links between different time periods as they start to use the language of chronology.
Lesson 2: Children identify the main events connected to the GFL and make initial decisions about who might be responsible for starting it.
Lesson 3: Children are introduced to different sources of historical evidence for the GFL. They learn how to use these sources of evidence to carry out historical research.
Lesson 4: Children use sources and research to make decisions about the GFL.
Lesson 5 - 7: Children present their findings on the GFL through a dramatized role play.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This unit is designed for year 4 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. Ultimately the unit is focused on children researching ‘Hinduism’ and the various different aspects which help to differentiate Hinduism from other religions. It develops the following skills:
Children can provide a personalised summary on the religion of Hinduism.
Children can describe some of the key aspects of Hinduism.
Children describe the value, for Hindus, of some of the key parts of Hinduism i.e. festivals, place of worship, sacred text and inspirational leader.
Lesson 1: Children are introduced to the term ‘religion’ and what makes up a religion.
Lesson 2-5: Children are provided with a research challenge where they must find out as much as possible about certain aspects of the religion.
Lesson 3: Children present their understanding of the religion to an audience.
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This Year 5/6 unit is based on the question of A.I. rights. It is designed to get the children to take part in a structured child-led debate; as well as writing a persuasive writing piece. The unit starts with a series of debates (P4C, speech-related and Socratic) and builds towards the writing of persuasive text. The unit uses video, sources of evidence, discussion and argument to give the children a clearer understanding of how to build persuasive language. The children will use rhetorical questions, modal verbs and fronted adverbials to create a persuasive argument for or against A.I. rights. The students loved this unit and were highly engaged by the subject matter.
This English unit is designed for year 4. The unit requires at least one version of the myth ‘Midas and the Golden Touch’. The aim is for the children to write a mythical story based on an edited version of the Greek myth – King Midas. The unit allows the children the opportunity to become more familiar with mythical stories and their composition. It also gives the children the opportunity to role-play, read and immerse themselves in a variety of different mythical stories. This unit is very specific and detailed when it comes to the planning and writing stages (a modelled write is included in the plan). It also develops the following skills and knowledge from the National Curriculum:
Writing (Composition):
Plan their writing by:
i. discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
ii. discussing and recording ideas
Draft and write by:
i. composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures
ii. organising paragraphs around a theme
in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot
iii. using commas after fronted adverbials
develop their understanding of the Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation by:
i. choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
ii. extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although
iii. using fronted adverbials
Evaluate and edit by:
i. assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
ii. proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
iii. proofread for spelling and punctuation errors
iv. read their own writing aloud, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.
This is a 3/4-week unit which includes 12 separate lessons/activities. However, some of these lessons will often need more than a single lesson to complete (particularly the writing and planning sections).
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
THIS PLAN INCLUDES A SLIDESHOW AS PART OF THE RESOURCE This year 6 English unit is a 6-7 lesson mini-unit which gets the students to analyse then perform two poem World War One poems. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘An die Soldaten des Grossen Krieges’ by Gerrit Engelke. It is designed to get students to ask their own questions about the poem, then answer them. They also learn how to perform poetry while other members of the class are also performing at the same time.
The second poem offers them the opportunity to rewrite parts of the Gerrit Engelke’s poem then create a video presentation. The unit has many links to Michael Rosen’s ideas about performing poetry, while making sure the children understand that the impact of performing poetry from the First World War. While it has been designed as a Year 6 unit, it could be used in Year 5 or Year 7.
This Year 6 unit is based on the first three chapters of the John Boyne book ‘Stay Where You Are Then Leave’. It is designed to get the children to write setting descriptions from two character’s perspectives. The unit uses music, drama, video and sound to give the children a clearer experience of the time (WW1). It then moves onto producing apprentice sentences which can be used in their own writing. Finally, the children create story continuations where they describe their journeys through a part of WW1 london.
This unit is designed for year 4 but could be adapted to fit into other year groups. Ultimately the unit is focused on better understanding different animals and plants and the positives and negatives of natural and artificial habitats. In this unit, children will spend time classifying different animals/plants, creating their own habitats, debating the positive and negative aspects of artificial habitats. It develops the following skills:
• Using and making simple guides or keys [sorting, grouping, comparing, classifying] to explore and identify plants and animals.
• Making a guide [sorting, grouping, comparing, classifying] to local living things.
• Raising and answering questions based on their observations of animals and what they have found out about other animals that they have researched.
Lesson 1: Children build classification keys to better understand different animals and plants
Lesson 2: Children learn about different habitats and learn to distinguish between them
Lesson 3: Children create their own zoo and debate the ethics of zoos as habitats for animals
Within this unit plan there are hyperlinks to other resources associated with the plan.
This Year 4-6 plan with slides supports students to write a persuasive speech to the British Parliament. It uses evidence from the book ‘Street Child’ along with modality, conjunction-based sentence starters and the language of persuasion to help children to write a speech from Lord Shaftesbury to the British Parliament. The unit also includes debate and a final public reading lesson. The unit is designed to stand alone but can be used to build connections for those classes who are studying Victorian Britain and/or the book ‘Street Child’.
This Year 5/6 unit is based on creating a game which includes a diary entry about a ship being wrecked in a storm and persuasive letter sent from a desert island. It is designed to get the children to produce purposeful writing where they give the final game to a family member/carer/friend. The unit starts by playing an example version of the game (included in the plan as a link) and builds towards the writing a descriptive diary entry describing the sinking of a ship. The historical time period is meant to be based in the classical pirate era, however this can be altered. The unit then goes into the second section where children simulate the feelings of being shipwrecked then write a persuasive letter begging to be rescued. The children will use metaphors, rhetorical questions, modal verbs and emotive adjectives/verbs to create their diary entries and letters.
This is a key stage 2 RE unit based on the concept of stewardship. It includes slides and a unit plan. It focuses on inspirational religious leaders as stewards of the Earth. It looks at the concept of Stewardship then focuses on Islam and Buddhism and the way they use scripture to encourage believers to become stewards of the Earth. It then focuses on the Dalai Lama and the Grand imam as examples of stewards of the Earth and inspirational leaders. This unit encourages children to become stewards by coming up with a care plant for looking after classroom plants. It is a fun, engaging and relevant unit for KS2 aged children.
This inquiry unit focuses on the question ‘Was the Roman Invasion of Britain a good or bad thing for the British Celts?’ There are a mixture of experiential and inquiry based activities which help the students to decide whether the Roman invasion of Britain was actually a good or bad thing! This unit is built around the twin learning concepts of research and experience. For those who are interested, it is also centered around Higher Performance Learning goals. There are numerous resource links included in the plan.
This is an incredible plan which uses experiential learning to build towards children creating there own NGO. It starts with children analysing the structure of the Earth then moves onto children identifying the seismic similarities and differences between 2 locations (Nepal and Japan). Finally, the children work together in groups to create there own NGO. They then take part in an NGO fair where they try to get support for their NGO. This unit is cross-curricular, making links with science, PSHE and other subjects. It also has High Performance Learning objectives added to the plan so the children better understand why they are learning and how the learning will help them.
This Year 5/6 historical inquiry unit (including powerpoint) is focused on the concept ‘Reputation’. The central case study which continues to run through the inquiry is the ‘Viking’ age. Ultimately, the inquiry involves a series of activities which focus on the following concepts: bias, trade, raiding and settlement.
These activities are primarily concept formation lessons. However, they also include case studies (some fictional, others real) which are intended to provide the children with a better idea of each of the concepts. Throughout the inquiry, the students will come back to bias and its influence on history and peoples from history. There is an initial and final assessment where the children have to draw/write their interpretations of the concepts. The initial assessment connects these concepts to the Vikings, the final assessment does not.