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History

'A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.'

Marcus Garvey

National Curriculum Programme of Study for History - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239035/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_History.pdf

 

History Progression Document 

How we teach History at The Round House

The school uses a variety of different teaching and learning styles in history lessons and within ICE Zone sessions to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in history. ICE Zone learning within KS1 and LKS2 provides children with a rich learning environment, in which they are immersed within the topic that they are studying. This, in turn creates a love of learning within the children. In years 5 and 6, the children explore history predominantly through whole class teaching. We believe, therefore, that our school provides children with a broad range of learning opportunities throughout their primary education.  

We believe children learn best when: 

  • They are provided with opportunities to work independently or collaboratively 

  • They are encouraged to ask as well as answer historical questions. 

  • They have access to, and can handle, artefacts 

  • They visit museums and places of interest, when applicable  

  • They have access to secondary sources such as books and photographs 

  • Visitors talk about personal experiences of the past, when applicable 

  • They listen to and interact with stories from the past 

  • They are shown, or use independently, resources from the internet and videos 

  • They are able to use non-fiction books for research 

We recognise the fact that we have a wide range of children within our classes, and so we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by offering a variety of different ICE Zone activities for pupils within KS1 and LKS2, as well as providing differentiated work within years 5 and 6.  

 

The role of the teacher should include: 

  • Providing children with both taught history lessons (teacher-led) and the opportunity to explore through role-play and more independently-driven activities.  

  • Encouraging pupils to engage in class discussions, where children are given the opportunity to ask and answer historical questions, including considering issues such as cause and consequence.  

  • Initiating ICE Zone history activities which subsequently give pupils the opportunity to independently reflect on what was previously discussed as a class. The children enjoy the opportunity to carry out independent learning exploring the past and asking questions linking to specific topics which capture their interest. 

  • Setting clear expectations of work within all history lessons, both in classrooms and in the Ice Zones, recognising the importance of maintaining a standard of English usage which correlates with work done in explicit English lessons. 

  • Setting specific success criteria that focus on the required learning within each activity to help children both complete effectively and self assess their work. 

 

Teaching within the ICE Zone 

Every day, the children in both Years 1/2 and in Years 3/4 are split into two groups. One group stays with the class teacher and the other goes out into the ICE zone. Here they work with experienced TAs on their foundation subjects. 

This half class is then split again, so half of the children go into our outside ICE zone area and half stay inside. Every single subject is spread across both ICE zones so the children receive the best experiences possible. 
 

Teaching within EYFS 

History, although not taught explicitly within the Early Years classrooms, is evident in many of the different EYFS topics. Through a combination of exploratory play and class discussion, children start to develop their understanding of change over time in respect of their own lives. Teachers and teaching assistants will provide opportunities for exploratory role-play, opportunity for class discussions and will encourage conversations that require children to recall events from the past (whether this be in their own lives or within stories). More information about how history is taught within EYFS can be found below.  

 

Planning 

Using the National Curriculum, every term, Year 1/2 and 3/4 teachers from the DLPT meet and collaboratively plan this intensive curriculum. As a group, every foundation subject is discussed and planned meticulously to link with the children’s topic.  The teachers also take ownership of each unit and introduce the topics to the children at the beginning of every term. Throughout the term, the teachers have a continuously updated overview of how and what the children are learning. 

 

Likewise, Year 5/6 teachers from The Round House work together to plan all foundation subjects, with the aim being that all lessons will relate to a specific topic which the children will be exploring that term. With the termly topics operating on a two-year cycle, all national curriculum objectives will be covered by the end of Year 6.  

 

Children also have the opportunity to write at length at the end of each topic. Although the ‘essay’ is used to assess their knowledge and understanding of the relevant foundation subject, it provides them with additional opportunity to write for a purpose. 

 

Within the Early Years Foundation Stage, the EYFS Framework is used as a basis for all planning. History is taught through a focus on changes over time in respect of their own lives, for example how they have changed since they were baby and how they will continue to change and develop as they get older. Children are asked to bring in baby photos of themselves at the start of the year to support the discussion of how they have changed over time. They are encouraged to talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members (one of the early learning goals for the end of the year). This early learning goal is very much focused on the memories of the children and they are asked to talk about special events or customs/routines for their family. We focus on the concept of time and sequence of events so the children become aware of past and future events, e.g. asking 'what happened before that?' when reading a story or looking at the sequence of events for planting seeds or getting changed for PE. At the start of the summer term we have two weeks focusing on dinosaurs which the children really enjoy too. They do activities related to this topic from all areas of learning, writing and maths for example, and also take on the role-play of a palaeontologist in the role-play area. 

Policy Document

Opportunities to engage with History at home

 

Below are links to a range of different learning opportunities to use at home. Explore and enjoy!

 

EYFS: Dinosaurs and Animals:

What do we know about dinosaurs ?https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/video/item849500/gradef/module845514/index.html

How do we know about dinosaurs?

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/video/item849507/gradef/module845514/index.html

Rotton or rascal?

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/video/item1144222/gradef/module845514/index.html

Dinosaur snap activity:

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/activity/item848439/gradef/module845514/index.html

Dinosaur labelling activity: 

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/activity/item849644/gradef/module845514/index.html

 

Year 1 and 2: Seaside

Baranaby Bear goes to the Seaside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qO0mu6YJW8 

Seaside Entertainment – Magic Grandad  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exFmcLMjKsw 

Introduction to Grace Darling Video:   https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/modules/t2_music_search/dynamics/video_grace_inv.html?source=search-all-all-all-all&source-keywords=Grace%20Darling 

Queen Victoria Video - https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/news/video/item1232663/grade1/index.html?source=search-all-all-all-all&source-keywords=Queen%20Victoria 

The Beach – Magic Grandad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWgnpY4L9so 

Lucy and Tom at the Seaside story 

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/video/item1070591/grade1/module1067404/index.html 

Activity to go with Lucy and Tom at the Seaside 

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/activity/item325027/grade1/module1067404/index.html 

A day at the Seaside in the past 

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/primary_uk/subject/module/video/item339788/grade1/module1067404/index.html 

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/history/history.htm - click on seaside holidays now and then 

 

Year 3 and 4: South America

The history of rainforests

thinkjungle.com/rainforests/rainforest-history-seasons/

 

Year 5 and 6: Ancient Greece

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/z87tn39

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z36j7ty

http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/gods/explore/exp_set.html  (The British Museum- Gods and Goddesses)

http://mystery-productions.com/hyper/Hypermedia_2003/Miller/AM_hypermedia/Artifact/go.htm(Adventures in Ancient Greece game)

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/Greece.html

 

General History:

https://www.stneotsmuseum.org.uk/ - This includes:

  • Videos on local history topics including early people, woolly mammoths and St Neots priory aimed at KS2 Yr 3 /4 pupils 
  • Craft time lapse videos for families including Easter activities 
  • Talks by the curator on local history topics inc the St Neots Quads
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