The passing of Harry Patch - the last World War I veteran - in the summer of 2009 is a fitting starting point for children in Key Stage 2 (7-11 year-olds) to begin to tackle some of the issues of the First World War. Many classes already study the Second...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial comment: Pupil reading of written and printed texts is a central element in their ‘Doing History'. As such, it is one of numerous integrated pedagogic activities that combine to make up a lesson, a series...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial comment: The in-service course had focused on how to read information texts in a stimulating, engaging and intellectually rewarding way, and how to take Bruner's concept of transforming information from one mode to another...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. First let me say that I did not research the materials used or plan this lesson. For this I must acknowledge, with thanks, that this is the work of my colleague, Mike Huggins, and the senior...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. What impact did the Saxon invaders have? Our Year 4 class were puzzling over the picture of the Roman town forum at the height of the Roman Empire, one A3 picture per pair of pupils. To...

Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Classic fiction provides useful sources of information for investigating the lives, beliefs and values of people in the past. In this article Ann Cowling describes activities undertaken with student teachers which may also serve as models...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Everyone loves a story - especially a story well told. To encourage learning all primary teachers should consider the creative art of telling a story, as well as developing a variety of ways of interacting through...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. ‘Some primary schools are like the High Street in many of our towns. I can predict what I will see before I go through the door. What I want to see is something that gives me...

Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. If you are considering studying someone other than Florence Nightingale you have two basic options. You can either choose a local character who would be more relevant to the children, or you could study someone who...

Synopsis: Self-assessment sheets for Early Years literacy, which the child completes in discussion with the teacher. Review: This would be useful if Early Years staff have not got any other assessment strategy in place. It contains colour sheets for the child to complete, stating what level they are on and...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. The innovative use of visual images as communication mode and stimulus to writing is provided by Jan, a teacher on one of the Nuffield courses. Children, and adults, have trouble in making effective...

Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references are outdated. Story is the crucial factor in children’s awareness of past times in their ‘mythic’ phase of mental development, see page 4. Everyone loves a story, stories ‘open out fresh fields, the illimitable beckoning of horizons to imagination…...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated Museums are memory boxes. They contain artefacts that tell stories about people in the past. The creation of a class museum is a simple and effective way of bringing the past to life through investigation,...

Why did I research my family history and write a memoir based on my ancestors’ and my own life? And why is all this relevant to readers of the Primary History Journal and not just self indulgent musing? Because it is an insider’s story of trying to write honest history...

Children develop their understanding of the past through a range of historical sources of evidence. Written sources may provide different types of information for children to work from. Records such as census returns or street directories provide information about families and tradespeople living in a particular communities and old maps...

For the majority of children a picture book is the first book that they enjoy and share with an adult. Picture books introduce children to different genres of writing, different themes and different artistic styles. As young children 'read' and explore picture books they take meaning from the text and...

Nursery rhymes are good sources of evidence about the past and their potential for developing children's understanding has been discussed in earlier editions of Primary History (Woodhouse: 2005, 2001; Cooper: 2005; Primary History : 2000) They may be used as starting points to provide information about past ways of life...

How many of us became interested in history through reading a good historical story? When starting this article we came up with a seemingly endless list of historically based stories and films which have inspired us. Clearly, we are surrounded by references to the past in popular culture and our...

Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references are outdated. Background The emphasis in pupil writing in the National Literacy Strategy is upon non-fiction genres (DfEE:1997; DfEE: 1998). Such genres are essential tools for life and are at the centre of an effective literacy programme (Wray...

Talking about historical stories written at different times in the past can reveal much about the more sophisticated understandings that young children have of the past. Primary school children often work with artefacts, historic architecture and sites to enable them to visualise and reconstruct the past. However, these sources do...