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Book for the Literacy Hour
Primary History article
Jo Barkham reviews 'Asha in the Attic' written by Gill Howell and illustrated by Alan Marks.
Book for the Literacy Hour
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Written sources and local history at Key Stage 1
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Working on written sources is fundamental to historical learning. A document, inscription or sign brings children directly into contact with the past in much the same way as an artefact. It is real and conveys...
Written sources and local history at Key Stage 1
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Research the history of the fire service in the local community
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Jayne Pascoe, third year BEd trainee teacher describes the use of the fire service in her assignment on 'exploring an aspect of local history'.
Research the history of the fire service in the local community
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How do we ensure really good local history in primary schools?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Primary History regularly contains articles from teachers who have taken some aspect of their locality and turned it into a really good activity. Hundreds of OFSTED reports as well, comment on really good practice in...
How do we ensure really good local history in primary schools?
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Records for a study of the life of Agricultural Labourers in Somerset in the mid 19th century
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This article focuses on extracts from the mid nineteenth and provides information on the wages and living standards of agricultural labourers. In the article Sue Berry suggests numerous ways in which these extracts can be used in lessons at Key Stage 1...
Records for a study of the life of Agricultural Labourers in Somerset in the mid 19th century
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Archaeology - An approach to teaching history at Key Stage 2. Curriculum history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Alongside modern University buildings, at Beckett Park, (part of Leeds Metropolitan University), there is evidence of a monastic grange, a seventeenth century farmhouse, and an eighteenth century mansion which was extended in Victorian Times. The Beckett Park Archaeology Project was established in...
Archaeology - An approach to teaching history at Key Stage 2. Curriculum history
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Refined, high-class and thrilling entertainment!
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
There is a huge range of moving image material that provides, or purports to provide, direct documentary coverage of many historical events over the last 105 years. You can access much that is suitable for primary children from television and the video...
Refined, high-class and thrilling entertainment!
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Ways of making Key Stage 2 history culturally inclusive: A study of practice developed in Kirklees
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Kirklees, West Yorkshire comprises Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Batley. There is a population of 300,000. Minority, ethnic pupils account for nearly 20%. Over the next decade it is predicted that there will be an increase in the number of pupils of Pakistani, Indian,...
Ways of making Key Stage 2 history culturally inclusive: A study of practice developed in Kirklees
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‘No one else knows this’: Scottish primary schools using ICT to investigate local history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
John W Robertson explains how computer databases can be used by primary school children to investigate local history.
‘No one else knows this’: Scottish primary schools using ICT to investigate local history
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Britain and the wider world in Tudor times
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The first two articles in this series introduced three generic principles which might underpin planning a scheme of work in the KS2 History Curriculum. Article 1 (Jan 2001) drew on contemporary history to analyse and explain the principles. Article 2 (May 2001)...
Britain and the wider world in Tudor times
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Queen Victoria's visit to Wolverhampton, November 30 1866
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
When Prince Albert died in 1861 Queen Victoria went into deep mourning and ceased all public duties. By 1866 she had still not made any public appearances. Wolverhampton, like many other towns, raised a subscription to commission a statue in Albert’s memory....
Queen Victoria's visit to Wolverhampton, November 30 1866
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Looking at buildings as a source for developing historical enquiries
Primary History article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum. The section on using computers in particular is now outdated.
Buildings offer a fascinating insight into history. We live, work and shop in buildings of various descriptions. Some of these buildings are very new, others are very old. Frequently...
Looking at buildings as a source for developing historical enquiries
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Enhancing temporal cognition: practical activities for the primary classroom
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Research during the last eighty years has suggested that ‘time’ concepts, such as chronology, duration and the usage of dating systems are difficult for children to assimilate. However, my recent research would suggest that temporal concepts...
Enhancing temporal cognition: practical activities for the primary classroom
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The Jill Grey collection and Hitchin British schools
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Jill Grey lived in Hitchin and over a period of 25 years, collected over 35,000 items. A11 of the material relates to the history of education and social history of childhood. I am still in the process of cataloguing the collection and...
The Jill Grey collection and Hitchin British schools
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Teaching history through nursery rhymes in the foundation stage
Primary History article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum and some content is now outdated.
All teachers working within the foundation stage will, at some time, be using nursery rhymes in their classrooms. Their importance to early language development has long been acknowledged, particularly the way in which they contribute to...
Teaching history through nursery rhymes in the foundation stage
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History in the Foundation Stage
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
In September 2000, the introduction of a foundation stage for children aged three to the end of the reception year was widely welcomed for the way in which it confirmed a distinct identity for the early years in education. The recent guidance...
History in the Foundation Stage
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Planning for diversity in the Key Stage 2 history curriculum
Article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum and some content is now outdated, e.g. reference to the QCA. This article may therefore be more useful for those engaging in research than for practising teachers. See Primary History summer resource 2019: Diversity for current guidance.
In a series of three articles Hilary Claire...
Planning for diversity in the Key Stage 2 history curriculum
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The Plague in Cumberland 1597-1598. Some documents used in the Cumbria Record Office (Carlisle) by Key Stage 2 pupils studying the Tudors
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Outbreaks of the plague were common in the 16th century and the north of England was badly affected in the 1590s. It is believed that the plague arrived in Cumberland from Newcastle about Michaelmas 1597 and continued for over a year. The...
The Plague in Cumberland 1597-1598. Some documents used in the Cumbria Record Office (Carlisle) by Key Stage 2 pupils studying the Tudors
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Rhyd-y-Car cottages at St Fagans Museum of Welsh Life
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The miner’s cottage is part of a project at The Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans, to preserve folk history. Since its founding in 1948, over 40 buildings, including a row of six original miners’ cottages from Rhyd-y-Car, have been dismantled and...
Rhyd-y-Car cottages at St Fagans Museum of Welsh Life
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The coming of the railways - Fire-breathing monster or benefit to mankind?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Today children regard trains as just another not very exciting means of travel, but to many early Victorian people the thought of riding on a train was as alarming and exciting as the idea of space travel is today. To be whisked...
The coming of the railways - Fire-breathing monster or benefit to mankind?
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Oral history in primary schools
Article
Although this article focuses on a distinctive and effective historical activity it is important from the outset to recognise that involvement in oral history also has the potential to enhance learning across the ‘formal curriculum’ and beyond. Talking to older people about their lived experience and recording their memories provides...
Oral history in primary schools
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Any place for a database in the teaching and learning of history at KS1?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Early in July of this year I was involved in a meeting at BECTA in which a lively discussion took place about whether ICT should be a requirement, or not, in the teaching of history at KS1. As those participating included representatives...
Any place for a database in the teaching and learning of history at KS1?
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Addressing the issues of knowledge, skills and understanding
Article
This section explores some of the key ideas and activities for time, causation, interpretations, enquiry and significance. There are also some ideas on how history can be linked with literacy.
Addressing the issues of knowledge, skills and understanding
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Progression in history and adapting work to the needs of different children
Article
This section deals with some of the general issues of progression and differentiation in the subject. The level descriptions provide the characteristics of progression in history and teachers should consider progress against these. However, progression is no simple issue and it can be looked at in different ways.
Progression in history and adapting work to the needs of different children
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Some teaching and learning strategies
Article
The history of the community is an important aspect of history in both key stages but is rarely something that can just be taken off the shelf. Wherever possible, local history should be used to link different periods of history. The specific Key Stage 2 unit should be an investigation...
Some teaching and learning strategies
