This is a 4 week narrative unit based on the classic novel ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King. It includes daily plans and builds up to the children writing their own short story in the final week by creating their own dilemma for Stig and Barney. It includes some SPAG activities (revision of nouns/adjectives/adverbs/inverted commas; fronted adverbials) and certain resources or notes and suggestions for other resources needed.

A selection of worksheets including a cloze procedure on the Great Orme mine, and a cut and stick activity to summarise the main changes in tools, technology, food and clothes across the 3 periods.

This slideshow is for use in a staff meeting or other training session and provides guidance for the understanding of SPAG for teachers and TAs. It includes clear explanations and examples as well as exercises and links to useful websites for further information. It can be used over more than one session, or to focus on one particular aspect of grammar or punctuation. This might be a useful reference for NQTS , or teachers new to upper KS2 especially teachers who are new to Y6.

This is an assembly/short play based on the story of Boudicca which lasts approximately 15 minutes and culminates in the whole class singing the Boudicca song from ‘Horrible Histories’. Included = playscript (with character list); script to introduce and conclude play (based on Monty Python’s ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ sketch); link to video of Horrible Histories song and a copy of the lyrics for the song. It is possible to include all the class as you need plenty of Celts for Boudicca’s tribe and some Roman soldiers too. I have done this twice (successfully!) and the second time I had a different Boudicca in each scene due to the number of children who wanted a speaking part. Obviously, you can add/adapt scenes if you wish to. This resource is available as part of a Romans activities bundle saving you 33% on the resources overall.

After a discussion on what sorts of groups children belonged to (and a discussion on the meaning of the word belonging!) and looking at a powerpoint of Christian symbols, the children completed a series of activities including naming and explaining some of the key Christian symbols and designing their own symbols of belonging.

Cut, sort and stick the different physical and human characteristics of different counties into the correct place on the grid. Use children’s own general knowledge, maps/atlases and the internet to identify in which county each feature is.

Using a set of 15 cards of things that the Romans brought to Britain, the children have to discuss which they think had the most impact on Britain and sort them into a diamond 9. They then have to justify their decisions.

Do it/stretch it/solve it worksheet based on 2D x 1D multiplication (can practise fluency section with either grid or formal method for multiplication).

Explore the history and geography of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii using these 2 activity mats. These worksheets are useful for both topics on the Romans, or topics on volcanoes/earthquakes and reinforce tier 2/3 vocabulary such as: archaeologist, primary and secondary (sources). The first video link shows an animation of ‘A Day in Pompeii’ which has no narration just powerful imagery of what happend that day in 79AD. There is also a second link showing and describing the lost city of Pompeii. These worksheets are fully editable and are also available as part of a bundle of Romans activities which includes a full class assembly on Boudicca’s rebellion, or as part of a bundle on ‘Natural Hazards’ which contains a range of resources to support topics on volcanoes and earthquakes.

This collection of activity sheets first considers how a volcano is formed, labelling the parts of a volcano and focusing on tier 3 technical vocabulary. (I did this after showing a powerpoint on volcanoes as well as some video clips of volcanoes erupting/timelapse lava flow). Then locate some major volcanoes around the world using the given map and accompanying sheet (alongside ipads/laptops for internet use and atlases with world maps/maps of continents). NB: The first 6 minutes 45 seconds of the BBC programme ‘Africa with Ade Adepitan’ is fantastic for that wow factor and introducing the idea of volcanoes around the world. It even includes a scene showing where volcanic rock has burst through the walls of someone’s house! Tip: Mount Etna is in Sicily, but Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy.

Use the map and points of the compass to answer questions about the counties of the UK. Best enlarged onto A3 so that the map is clearer. Can obviously be edited to link with your own county and its features.

This worksheet considers topographical features of the children’s home county using their knowledge of human and physical features plus their atlas/map skills and knowledge of the points of the compass to answer questions. NB: Can be edited to own county. An atlas with a clear map of chosen county/region is needed.

A trio of activity sheets to be used after the introduction of earthquakes alongside a visual of tectonic plates and earthquake ‘hotspots’ to allow children to investigate for themselves patterns in where earthquakes happen and how earthquakes are measured. Great fun to play an earthquake siren whilst they are working so they can practice the earthquake drill!

A short comprehension aimed at lower KS2 based on the famous eruption of Pompeii. I used this in a whole class guided reading session. We explored much of the vocabulary together and used talk partners and teacher modelling to answer the questions. Also available as part of two different bundles: ‘Natural Hazards’ and ‘Romans’.

Do it/stretch it/solve it worksheet on dividing 3 digit numbers by a 1 digit divisor (fluency/reasoning/problem solving skills).

To begin our Roman topic, after discussing how we know about the past, and the difference between primary and secondary sources, children handled replica artefacts and discussed what they thought they were used for/made from. They chose a few of the artefacts and recorded their ideas on the worksheet. We then revealed what the artefacts were called and what they were for and completed the final column. They got housepoints for being close! The children then made observational drawings inside the picture frame of some of the artefacts using sketch pencils.

Use atlas skills and points of the compass to solve the clues and identify/label the world’s continents. Great for LKS2 as a fresh way of revising the KS1 locational knowledge objective of naming and locating the 7 continents and 5 oceans of the world.

This resource includes a SMART notebook with useful links to information about Roman slaves, a video on life as a Roman slave and a very simple explanation of modern slavery appropriate for KS2 children. The accompanying worksheet covers slavery in Roman times, the story of Passover and the Jews’ escape from slavery and the idea that slavery still exists in some forms today.

After using a powerpoint on the Spread of the Roman Empire, the children used atlases to help understand how much of Europe was conquered by the Romans.