Engaging and challenging History resources for Key Stages 3, 4 and 5.
Striving to produce well-balanced, well-paced, challenging and differentiated resources that cater to a variety of ages and ability levels.
Engaging and challenging History resources for Key Stages 3, 4 and 5.
Striving to produce well-balanced, well-paced, challenging and differentiated resources that cater to a variety of ages and ability levels.
KS3 History resources: 50 mins-1 hour PP, worksheets, well differentiated.
These resources have been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow. All resources are editable (so easy to adapt for your classes) and are designed to last between fifty minutes and one hour each.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A Key Stage 3, Year 8 observation lesson designed to test students’ understanding of the historical concept of significance by deciding which Industrial Revolution inventor’s face should be on the next banknote.
Differentiated learning objectives:
Gold: Argue why one inventor is more significant than another, justifying your choice.
Silver: Assess how significant an inventor was using Partington’s model of historical significance.
Bronze: Describe the key inventors of the Industrial age, explaining their impact on Victorian Britain.
A ‘hook’ starter designed to get students engaged with the topic, asking about the most important inventions in their lives.
An information gathering activity using five sources giving information about five key Industrial Revolution inventors.
A speech writing activity on the most significant inventor, with differentiated learning objectives.
A plenary for student-led sharing of ideas and a class vote.
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KS3 History resources: 50 mins-1 hour PP, worksheets, well differentiated.
These resources have been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow. All resources are editable (so easy to adapt for your classes) and are designed to last between fifty minutes and one hour each.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
This lesson forms part of a scheme of work on The Tudors. Ideal for Year 7 / Year 8 students, depending on your school’s SoW.
Learning Objectives:
describe what the Wars of the Roses were
explain the events of the Wars of the Roses
explain how Henry Tudor gained power.
Starter - introduction to Wars of the Roses, with word bank
Main - movement activity to collect information about the Wars of the Roses
Main (option) - activity to produce a news report on Richard III, detailing the key events of the war.
Plenary - consider the impact of the Wars of the Roses on King Henry VIII.
Plenary (option) - memorising activity
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KS3/KS4 History resources: 50 mins-1 hour PP, worksheets, well differentiated.
These resources have been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow. All resources are editable (so easy to adapt for your classes) and are designed to last between fifty minutes and one hour each.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
An ‘outstanding’ rated lesson. Contains:
presentation with starter activity on Oppenheimer quote
evidence collecting activity (two options - either walk around the room sources or a single source sheet that can be shared at desks between two students)
two differentiated tables for collecting the evidence (or that gives more time for slower students by being partially filled in)
opportunity for students to write a speech either justifying or opposing the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
two options for either self- and peer-assessment or just peer-assessment
Learning Objectives:
Gold: Assess the extent to which Britain and France were also responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War.
Silver: Explain why he wanted to revise the Treaty of Versailles.
Bronze: Describe Hitler’s foreign policy aims.
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KS3 History resources: 50 mins-1 hour PP, worksheets, well differentiated.
These resources have been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow. All resources are editable (so easy to adapt for your classes) and are designed to last between fifty minutes and one hour each.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on the Industrial Revolution.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
describe the factors that led to the Industrial Revolution
explain how they led to the Industrial Revolution
analyse and prioritise these factors, making links between them
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***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
Learning objectives:
identify some of the differences between Catholic and Protestant churches
explain how the changes affected the lives of ordinary people
evaluate the reign of King Edward VI
A lesson on the reign of King Edward VI, with particular attention paid to the changes he made to religion, and the implications of these changes for ordinary people.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on the Industrial Revolution.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
describe conditions in factories by selecting information from sources
use this information to come up with a structured argument that is for or that opposes child labour in factories
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on the Stuarts and the Civil War.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
explore how and why King Charles was put on trial.
analyse the key events of the trial.
evaluate the arguments for and against killing the King!
KS3/KS4 History resources: 50 mins-1 hour PP, worksheets, well differentiated.
These resources have been designed to be engaging, detailed and easy to follow. All resources are editable (so easy to adapt for your classes) and are designed to last between fifty minutes and one hour each.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson on the nuclear arms race and the space race. Forms part of a scheme of work on the Cold War, designed either for Year 9 or GCSE students.
Learning Objectives:
Bronze: describe what the nuclear arms race was and identify the key events as it developed
Silver: explain the consequences of the nuclear arms race on the Cold War
Gold: assess whether the nuclear arms race was ‘good’ thing
Contains:
recap of Hiroshima bombings and the reasons for them
evidence collecting activity, visiting several information stations
nuclear arms race worksheet which distils the notes, defining key terminology
opportunity for students to reflect on the impact of the nuclear arms race and space race
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***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
This lesson - the final one in a scheme of work about the Cold War - introduces Year 9 students to the following issues.
- Ronald Reagan and his 'Tear Down This Wall' speech
- The problems facing the USSR and its allies
- Mikhail Gorbachev and his reforms
- Popular protest and uprisings in Eastern Europe.
It starts with an analysis of the Reagan speech (a short 4 minute video available on YouTube), before students categorise the problems facing the USSR and Gorbachev's potential solutions. These solutions are discussed, with students prioritising the problems and solutions, and identifying that the 'solution' for problems in Eastern Europe isn't really a solution at all! This leads nicely on to a brief discussion of popular protest in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany, before students assess the relative importance of the above four factors in the fall of Communism.
This lesson is ideal as an overview of the topic, or as an introduction. It could easily be stretched over two lessons with a little improvisation and expansion of the section on popular protest in Eastern Europe.
Contains: Starter (Video discussion), Main (Card sort/Table activity), Main (Discussion), Plenary (Assessment), Plenary (Exit Questions for Students)
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on early modern history.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
describe the Renaissance
explain what people believed in 1509
explain how this had changed by 1707 by giving examples of Renaissance individuals and their accomplishments
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on the Industrial Revolution.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
describe changes to the population of Britain after 1745
explain how a variety of factors affected the population
analyse and prioritise these factors
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
Learning objectives:
explain what happened on 11th September 2001
explain the consequences of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
assess the most significant consequence
Starter: an impactful BBC video clip about the terrorist attacks
Main: picture-led class discussion about the consequences of 9/11, following by an evidence categorisation activity. This stage of the lesson also allows for students to bring in their own opinions about the consequences of 9/11 (it may, for example, lead to the idea that 9/11 has negatively affected the portrayal of Muslims).
Main: a debate arguing over the most significant consequence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Based around the historical concept of significance, and with a variety of impassioned views, this activity acts really well as a method by which students can both strengthen their understanding of 'significance' and develop their skills of backing up their arguments with well-explained evidence.
Plenary: a summary of the debate.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on early modern history.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
explain who travelled during the Age of Discovery – and how they did it
explain the reasons why European countries wanted empires
prioritise the reasons
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on Oliver Cromwell, the Commonwealth and the Restoration.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
describe how life in England changed after the Restoration
explain the reasons why people were happy to have a King again
evaluate the reign of the Merry Monarch and explain why opinions on him changed after his death
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
A lesson that forms part of a scheme of work on Oliver Cromwell, the Commonwealth and the Restoration.
Contains:
presentation with starter activity and plenary discussion
high quality images and resources, ready to print from Microsoft PowerPoint
Learning Objectives:
discover why some people admired and respected Cromwell and others disliked him
analyse what he did to earn his good and bad reputations
judge whether you think Cromwell was a hero or a villain
Edexcel Political Ideologies Liberalism - Ultimate Revision Guide condenses the essential information students need to know to answer 24-mark Edexcel Politics A-level questions. It also contains essay plans for the four major themes on the specification (human nature, society, state, economy).
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
Learning outcomes:
describe what rationing consisted of.
assess the methods by which rationing was ‘sold’ to the people of Britain.
assess the relative significance of different aspects of the Home Front to people’s lives
Lesson features differentiated learning objectives, a well-paced starter, main and plenary, and a focal on source evaluation, including the analysis of sources designed to encourage rationing.
Lesson ties together series of three lessons on the Blitz, evacuation and rationing by asking students to compare the relative impact of these three events on Britain using Partington's model of historical significance.
The first lesson in an enquiry entitled ‘How was the world ‘turned upside down’ in the 1600s?’
Students consider some of the situations and decisions Charles I faced as king, and evaluate whether a civil war was inevitable or if it could be avoided.
***SALE*** - this resource is on sale at a reduced price.
Two lessons that form part of a scheme of work on the Industrial Revolution, ending in the early 20th century (before the First World War).
Lesson one: a group news presentation involving the following learning objectives:
- describe what the Titanic was like as a ship
- explain why it is such a famous ship
- judge whether women and children really were rescued first
Students work in groups of three, read the information sheets and present a news report on the three key questions. This active lesson familiarises students with the key events of the Titanic, preparing them for the next lesson which is more writing-based.
Lesson two: an observation lesson involving the following learning outcomes:
- explain how several people’s actions led to the sinking of the Titanic
- explain how these people could defend themselves from blame
- assess which person or group of people was ultimately the most responsible for the sinking of the Titanic
Students analyse the five 'suspects', deciding who is responsible for the tragedy. They then write a persuasive report detailing their opinion. Ideal as an observation lesson, this lesson could easily be adapted for peer or self-assessment following the writing of the report if there was time.