The Museum of London has a wonderful selection of teaching resources on its website including an infographic poster, an interactive story and perhaps best of all a Minecraft version of 1666’s tragic tale.
Find all of these here, at museumoflondon.org....
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Great Fire and Titanic
Outstanding KS1 history lessons the Great Fire and the Sinking of the Titanic at KS1
Despite being around for a very long time as an infant topic The Great Fire still ‘does the business’. Not only does it offer one of the best contexts for looking at cause and consequence, it also encourages the use of drama and role play to develop an empathetic understanding of the human dilemmas of the thousands having to watch their houses going up in flames.
The Sinking of the Titanic is a real winner as a topic which fires pupils’ imagination, especially the boys’. It deals with issues to do with causes really well, as you will see from the lesson using the history mystery approach. It also is great for looking at consequences. By focusing on the rescue, pupils can see how it has been shown differently in pictures and on film. This provides an excellent way into interpretations. Some colleagues might think is a bit of a sad, indeed tragic, story to use with young children. By focusing on the rescue and the improvements it led to, you can ameliorate any sad feelings pupils might have, but most teachers tell me that it is so removed from the present that pupils abiding reaction is one of strong engagement with the material, and only very rarely tinged with sadness.
All the excellent lessons below are linked to a medium term planner (available in the planning section) which give the whole topic coherence.
KS1 Medium term planner: The sinking of the Titanic Y2
This topic provides an exciting addition to the usual famous events taught at KS1. Not only is there a clear, compelling narrative that pupils can relate to, it also offers opportunities to develop worthwhile historical concepts such as diversity, causation, consequences, interpretations and source analysis....
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What are the best ways of stopping disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic ever happening again? KQ6
Pupils are employed as safety advisers to the UK and US governments in the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic? Their job is to come up with the best, and most cost-effective measures to make sure no disaster such as this ever happens again? ...
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Why weren’t more people saved from the Titanic? KQ5
In this problem-solving activity, pupils have to speculate, using a stimulus image and then evaluate a range of given reasons based on their plausibility, placing them on a spectrum. To demonstrate their understanding pupils complete 3 speech bubbles giving the most important reasons coming from...
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KQ5 on Sinking of the Titanic now ready for subscribers
The final piece of the jigsaw for the Sinking of the Titanic topic at KS1 is now in place. Key Question 5, Why weren't more people rescued from the Titanic? is now available to subscribers on request. Using the strategy called spectrum, pupils evaluate the...
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KQ6 On the sinking of the Titanic KS1 now available to subscribers
Subscribers can now request all the resources and lesson outline for The sinking of the Titanic KQ6. The medium term planner is also ready.
Here is s snippet from the lesson introduction
Pupils are employed as safety advisers...
What was so special about life on the Titanic? KS1 enquiry
What was so special about life on board the Titanic? and was it the same for everyone? KQ2
In this enquiry pupils play Prove it! using a gallery of images to test the evidence and who said that? to explore diversity on board ship. Creatively, they...What happened during the Great Fire and how do we know?
This lesson focuses on the idea of evidence and proof. Can pupils find evidence to back up statements made in books? Can they tell which is the strongest piece of evidence to support a statement. By learning how to select the sources which they think...
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Remembering the sinking of the Titanic – a famous event for KS1
All the lessons for this topic have now been uploaded along with the Medium-term planner....
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Launching the Titanic enquiry, drawing on pupils’ prior knowledge
What do we already know about the Titanic and what can we work out from a picture? KQ1
This lesson's activities are designed to release any prior knowledge pupils might have about this well known story. By focusing on clear and detailed illustrations pupils quickly develop...KS1 |Great Fire interactive resource
Just thought I'd bring to the attention of those who haven't yet seen it the interesting resource put together by the Museum of London and other agencies a year or so ago.
You can find it here
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Why did the Great Fire burn down so many houses?
This Great Fire lesson focuses on developing children's powers of explanations. They will already have looked at the sequence of events and will be able to offer a few simple reasons. This lesson aims to take them beyond a simple list towards deeper understanding of...
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How shall we rebuild London after the Great Fire?
This lesson gives full rein to children's creative flair, disciplined by evidence. The City of London is offering a prize for the best design for a rebuilt London after the Great Fire. If the children know the causes well, and they should do after using...
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Help Tom to fight the Great Fire. Smart Task
This ICT based activity draws heavily on the superb new website created as a joint enterprise by the National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, Museum of London and London Fire Brigade Museum. It appears on the Learning Curve section of the National Archives site. The interactive...
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KS1 Star Lesson on The Great Fire
Why did the Great Fire of 1666 burn down so many more houses than other fires in London at that time?
In this exceptional lesson, pupils adopt the role of providers of a new plaque for a monument explaining why the Great Fire of 1666 burnt...6 top history ideas to cover in your Great Fire topic
Many of you will be starting your Great Fire topic this term. Naturally you will want this to be exciting as well as challenging and you will want to focus on the main historical concepts: in this case, cause and consequence and change.
But you might...
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Keeping up-to-date with your teaching of the Great Fire at KS1
If you get the chance, between the end of term and April, to visit the Museum of London’s exhibition Fire! Fire! don’t hesitate. There are some extraordinary exhibits and it offers a really interesting opportunity to bring your teaching of this popular topic...
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Using De Bono’s Thinking Hats to develop thinking skills at Key Stage 1 via the topic the Great Fire of London. Smart Task
Two infant teachers from southern Hampshire, Julie Syms from Crofton Hammond Infants and Nicola Beazley from Sarisbury Green Infants, have created a composite description of their experience of using de Bono’s Thinking Hats. The article in the resources section at the side focuses mainly on...
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The Great Fire of London – Key Stage 1
2 SMART TASKS AND Using de Bono’s Thinking Hats approach to deepen children’s understanding of the Great Fire. A fascinating short article in which 2 talented infant teachers explain how they successfully used de Bono’s Thinking Hats approach to both deepen pupils’ understanding of the...
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How could the unsinkable Titanic sink? KQ3
This Y2 lesson takes pupils understanding beyond that of knowing what happened to the Titanic to work out why it sank. The aim is to go beyond simple one cause answers to develop a more sophisticated explanation, which children are capable of, given the right...
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How should we film the sinking of the Titanic? KQ4
Stephen Spielberg has asked for a historically accurate poster for a new film he is planning on the sinking of the Titanic. He wants school children to design a poster for him, but it MUST be historically accurate. The children can only ensure this if...
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Great Fire Smart Task .What’s going on in our mystery picture?
This simple starter activity uses a large, coloured, artist’s reconstruction of Pepys burying his possessions when he knows it is time to finally flee his home. Children will be familiar with the story though it will deliberately not have been looked at in detail so...
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