Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.

This is a highly interactive and stimulating simulation for years 3 and 4, and a very effective way of involving children in a range of issues.

We introduced the story of the Armada, outlining the main parties involved and the nature of the conflict. We gave the children a problem to solve, taking two perspectives: those of the English and the Spanish.

The lesson provides the children with a framework of ideas to map on to the actual events of the Spanish Armada. It serves as an introduction both the Armada writing lesson and to a study of the portrait of Queen Elizabeth.

Prior knowledge assumed: Elizabeth and Philip, the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and the Spanish assembly of an invasion fleet at Lisbon.

Literacy: we are using mini-writing frames in the explanation genre, that is, introducing the connective "because" into the writing.

Teaching methods

• Speaking and listening
• Chidren writing
• Learning about Time
• Simulations and games

Related lessons

• Queen Elizabeth I
• Tudor portraits: who am I?