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
Summer 2
The Reception children have visited the Sealife Centre in Tynemouth and talked about their experience. They found it surprising what people would wear to the beach all those years ago when they looked at past photographs. The photographs were black and white and the people had their best suits and dresses on. There wasn’t a single pair of shorts, t-shirts or sunglasses!
Summer 1
The whole school got involved in lots of Jubilee activities this half term. Reception talked about the Queen and how long she has been on the throne and thought about historical items and things they think of that are associated with Britain. As you can see in the pictures below, the children completed flags to make a whole school banner, I can’t wait to see it hanging up in our school next half term!
In Year 1, the children created a timeline of her life and created fact files, which you can enjoy reading below.
Year 2 celebrated the Jubilee by visiting Bowes Museum. The children made monarch timelines and the Queen’s family tree. They were surprised to discover John Bowes’s great-great grandfather was the king. They discovered many interesting facts and artefacts at Bowes Museum, including the 250 year old silver swan. The children explored how life had changed throughout the reign of the Queen but also how royal events are celebrated.
Year 6 also researched British Monarchy. They developed their knowledge of change and continuity and can now explain how monarchs are represented in different ways. The children are becoming more confident when identifying primary sources and interpretations and can make inferences from historical sources and can support these with details from the source.
In other areas of History…
Year 1 have been exploring some famous people, including Norman Cornish. They looked at what he did and why he is a significant figure in our community. The children looked at pictures and information texts to infer information and identify key facts about his life and job so that they could compare life from then to now. As a class, they placed significant events from the past like the moon landing and England winning the world cup on a timeline and looked at where Norman Cornish fitted in chronologically. Finally, they examined mines, why they were important to him and what this meant for the people living in this time.
I think Year 2 have started their summer holidays early! They have loved exploring seaside holidays in the past. They created a list of items they would take to the beach and enjoyed researching the vocabulary in Spanish. From this they began to look at holidays in the past; including transport, where to stay, what to do at the beach and the clothing. The girls especially were disgusted that they couldn’t wear summer clothes and felt it was very unfair. However, they liked the idea of having their own bathing machines to get changed into and having a horse take them into the water. This helped the children understand how times have changed and that people now, are allowed and, can afford to do a lot more. They liked the idea of going on holiday on a train but after researching steam trains and the carriage they opted for a car. They all thought Punch and Judy was hilarious but understood how the message of the stories are not great (but still couldn’t help laughing). The class had a discussion about why Victorian people weren’t very good swimmers which led to talking about different opportunities available now. The children consolidated their knowledge by identifying the similarities and differences of seaside holidays in the past and present.
Year 3/4 have continued their journey through time, this term studying the Ancient Greeks. They used research skills to find out about how the Ancient Greeks used to live, including their jobs, what life was like for adults and also life for children. The children also found out about how the Ancient Greeks have shaped life today and their impact on things like the alphabet, democracy and the Olympics. The focussed on the famous Greek, Alexander the Great and have created fact files about his achievements and influences.
As you can see in the pictures below, Year 4 have really immersed themselves in the life of the Anglo Saxons. They loved dressing up! They started by looking at what happened once the Romans left Britain. They explored the different reasons for the Romans leaving by playing a game of true or false. Then, they created maps to show which groups invaded Britain and used lots of primary sources to explore what life was like for the Anglo Saxons. Finally, the children focussed on kings and the beginning of kingdoms by examining the burial at Sutton Hoo and the importance of Alfred the Great.
Spring 2
It has been an amazing History half term with a lot of trips and visitors!
Reception have had another been busy half term thinking events from the past. This has included writing about their visit to the farm and as you can see in the pictures below, they had a fabulous time. They have also, learnt about how Christians remember a long, long, long time ago and the Easter story.
Year 4 were very lucky to have the opportunity to be involved with the new 1950s area at Beamish Museum. It started with Robert, from the museum, visiting them in school with a selection of 1950s artefacts for the children to explore and then they visited Beamish Museum where they had the chance to make ice cream in the new John’s Café, which was originally in Wingate.
With the Year 5 topic, the children took part in a series of workshops for the Black to Green Project. Much of this was looking back at our heritage and the amazing history of Horden and it’s mine. Everyone was fascinated by the photos, data and accounts of the miners, but a real highlight was being able to interview two former miners about their experiences. The information the children learned will never be forgotten. They also looked back at when coal was formed, and everyone was amazed that the process to create coal started before the dinosaurs – in fact it was 300 million years ago. It was lovely to see the children sharing their work with their parents during the exhibition held in school.
Spring 1
This half term, Reception have looked at things from the past including traditional stories and also kings and queens from the past. They really enjoyed looking at all of the different clothes and how they are different to ours today.
There are some fantastic History detectives in Year 1! As you can see in the pictures, they investigated a range of items from over 100 years ago and tried to guess what they were. They guessed some correctly, but some were a bit trickier. The children then sketched the items and added labels. The children enjoyed comparing houses, rooms and items from the past to those we have now and were shocked at how different things were in the past, especially the outside toilet and the fact there was no electricity! Also, they searched Horden for clues and were amazed to find that some things hadn’t changed at all, in fact they could see that some of the bungalows near the bandstand in the park looked exactly the same.
Year 2 have loved exploring fantastic firsts! From creating a list of inventions that have changed people’s lives the children were hooked on finding out more. They began by putting fantastic firsts in chronological order with many discussions on the way they worked. Many believed a bike would be quicker than a car and that the first telephone was useless because it wasn’t in colour! The children looked at a range of aircrafts through the ages and the children used the internet to research the first flight by The Wright Brothers. To support the understanding of the first films they created flip books to show how to make pictures look like they are moving. The telephones from Durham Learning Resources were mind blowing! The majority thought that phones that were just for talking were a bit boring compared to modern day mobile phones. Space travelling has been their English focus and they were lucky enough to have a visit from author Adam Bushnell, who showed them the Mars mission and explored the different parts of the spacecraft needed to complete the journey. Finally, the children sequenced the life of Neil Armstrong and wrote a newspaper report of the first lunar landing.
Years 3 and 4 had an amazing day at the Great North Museum. Year 3 were particularly interested in the Ancient Egyptian section and couldn’t believe that the mummy was real! Their favourite part was learning all about the journey to the afterlife – which they also used in their English work. While, Year 4 explored a range of artefacts from Roman Britain.
Back at school Class 3/4 loved their Egyptian topic. They found out just how fascinating they were! The children first looked at where the Ancient Egyptian civilisation existed in relation to our timeline of history. Then , they looked at where Egypt was within the world and mapped out some key places in Egypt. The children loved learning about the Ancient Egyptian Gods and even created their own version!
It’s been another busy History half term in Year 4. The children started with a quiz to see how much the children had remembered from their previous Romans topic. Then, they created timelines to show how the Romans fit in with other civilisations that they have learnt about. The children focussed on how life change in Roman Britain by researching different areas of Roman life such as food, clothes and towns. As you can see in the pictures below, they were lucky enough to have the author, Adam Bushnell visit. The children had the opportunity to hold artefacts associated with Roman gladiators which gave them a lot of ideas to be able to write about what the Romans did for fun.
Year 5 have been fascinated with the Ancient Mayans and how they lived. The children linked their knowledge of the Vikings with the Mayan and compared the two very different cultures. The best part of the whole half term was preparing for and holding their own Mayan festival day, with traditional food, sports, arts and crafts!
Wow! It has been fabulous to see Year 6 immersing themselves in their ‘Fallen Fields’ topic. They developed their understanding of chronology and built timelines to show various time periods. Studying World Wars and invasions has gripped their interest as they have had the opportunity to handle artefacts from those time periods and use non-fiction texts as well as the internet to search for information about other invasions and what how life was like in the early 1900s.
Autumn 2
Although History has not be a focus this half term, Reception have been looking at the night sky and thinking about who is out at night. They have looked at all the different people that still work while we are sleeping including, nurses, doctors, firefighters and the police.
The whole school also took part in Remembrance Day. As you can see in the pictures below, the children made their own poppies and respected the two minutes silence.
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.
