History at Cotsford
This year in History we are following the suggested units of work from Durham County alongside the Cornerstones projects. After reviewing our curriculum, we are now focusing on chronology and improving the children’s understanding of significant aspects of History both within the UK and the wider world. This is started in EYFS where the children focus on themselves and changes within their families and environment. It then progresses into Key Stage One where the children start to look at the history of their local area. By Key Stage Two the children will be focusing on important civilizations around the world.
Please click on the link for History National Curriculum Information
Autumn 1
As part of their new topic, Me and My Community, Early Years have been exploring their family. They have drawn pictures and talked about the people who are important to them and their families. I love seeing their role playing pictures from their home corner. They have also looked at people who help us within the community, school and at home. It was lovely to see them walking around school, meeting and finding out about all the different jobs people do in our school.
In History, in Year 1 the children looked at their own timelines from when they were babies until now. They realised they had lots of experiences in their life even though they are only 5 or 6 years old. The children brought in some baby pictures of themselves and really enjoyed guessing who all the baby pictures were. They even guessed a few correctly! The children were shocked at how much things have changed in the past 50 years. Now, they are very much looking forward to Christmas and comparing it to Christmases in the past.
We’ve had some excellent Street Detectives in Year 2 this half term. They have looked for clues in pictures, names and labels to help them identify famous local structures. Placing these structures in chronological order proved tricky so they looked at the dates they were built and supported each other. The children learnt the skill of looking for clue words when matching structures to their descriptions. They used Google to find out about the history of Horden and it’s popular structures. As you can see in the pictures, they have created a wonderful display to show off their work.
Year 3 have gone back in time to explore who Britain’s first builders were. The children first looked at a time line of Britain’s history – it was hard to understand just how long ago it was! They looked at the Mesolithic Period from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
The Historians in Year 4 have become engrossed in their Romans Topic. They have been focussing on why the Romans came to County Durham. The children built on their chronological knowledge of Britain since the Stone Age to create a timeline of significant events of the Roman Empire. They have explored a range of primary sources and interpretations in order to learn about the past and to begin to understand the impact the Romans had in our local area. As you can see in the pictures below, they even visited Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman fort, Housesteads.
Year 5 have been learning about the Vicious Vikings! They started by learning where the Vikings fitted in history and where they came from. It was so interesting to find out about what life was like for Vikings in their home countries and the jobs they did. They learned about being a Viking warrior and the weapons they used, and even made their own shields. I love some of their warrior poses! Finally, they researched the Viking gods and some of the myths they enjoyed as a form of entertainment.
Year 6 have been working so hard to develop their chronological understanding and have become more aware of differing periods in the past. They have used time lines to place different eras and make links between different time periods. They had fun using interpretations to gather information from a given era and presenting their findings to the rest of the class. The children can now compare certain aspects from different eras such as; how people had fun, life of children and how lives differed for rich and poor people.
