Victorian child labour: slate mining

Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see:

• Victorians (Primary History article, 2014)
• Scheme of work: Sarah Forbes Bonetta
• Scheme of work: Brunel

Download Resources 1 and 2 as well as the teachers' notes. 

Resources 1 gives you the paragraphs for the children to cut up.

Resources 2 has the frame which children stick the paragraphs on (enlarge this to A3), plus a sample to show you what the end result should be.

The children examined the concept of work, what it involves and how it has changed, and worked co-operatively together. This child labourer is proud of his work.

History: the children learned about a miner's work in a slate mine in Victorian Britain.

Literacy: the children read challenging texts, working on two different genre types - autobiography and non-chronological reports.

Editor's note: The teaching described could be adapted and used with a range of texts, with or without a site visit looming!

See also the West Somerset Mineral Railway

(These resources are attached below)

 

Related lessons on this site Down the mine Child labour in the textile factories Teaching methods Reading documents Speaking and listening Sites and the environment Learning about Time The more privileged were not much better off - see Henry at boarding-school Background information for teachers Teaching Victorian Britain