Author Archives: mrssteachesvictoria

In a departure from my normal focus on the history and geography curriculum, this post is about my approach to planning a novel study. It is similar to my other recent posts in the way it focuses on links between different areas of the curriculum, and how I prepare the children for reading the bookContinue reading “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A Novel Study”

There has been a fair amount of discussion around whether it is best to take children on educational visits before or after teaching a topic. I’ve been a fan of going towards the end (or at least after teaching some of the content) for several years now. I can trace this back to the firstContinue reading “Curriculum decisions – Using knowledge to create moments of joy”

This is the next in my series of posts exploring exemplar topics and how they can build on children’s prior knowledge. As I said in my previous posts, there are many ways for schools to deliver the National Curriculum, so please don’t worry if your school doesn’t teach this topic in the way I’m describing.Continue reading “Why you should teach a topic on Italy in Lower KS2”

This is the next in my series of posts about exemplar topics and how they can build on children’s prior knowledge (following on from the post about the Amazon). As I said in my first post, there are many ways for schools to deliver the National Curriculum, so please don’t worry if your school doesn’tContinue reading “Why you should teach Charles Darwin’s Voyage on the Beagle in Year 6”

In the previous two parts of this series of posts, I described how I found myself thinking about the best way to develop as many prototypes as possible. Is it by placing linked topics together in the same term, or is there a different way of planning that would expose children to lots of examplesContinue reading “History & Geography Curriculum Decisions (Part 3)”

As I said in Part 1, these posts are a record of my reflections during and after a workshop led by Christine Counsell on shaping the primary curriculum. Part of this workshop involved a summary of the research on prototypes by Eleanor Rosch. Rosch found that the more prototypes we have for a particular word,Continue reading “History & Geography Curriculum Decisions (Part 2)”

I’m taking a break from my series of posts about specific topics because I was lucky enough to attend a workshop lead by Christine Counsell on Shaping the Primary Curriculum recently. It caused me to think more generally about the process of curriculum design, so I’ve written this two part blog to capture my thoughtsContinue reading “History & Geography Curriculum Decisions (Part 1)”

This is the first in a new series of blogs on developing the wider curriculum. I have selected several topics that I believe there are excellent reasons for including in the curriculum for particular year groups or phases, and will outline the National Curriculum objectives that can be taught through each topic and how itContinue reading “Why you should teach a topic on the Amazon at Upper KS2”

In contrast to KS1, the majority of the areas of study for KS2 are stated explicitly. However, there are some choices that will need to be made before you can decide on the specific content you will teach in each unit, and place them in a logical sequence. Select an ancient civilisation for in depthContinue reading “Curriculum planning:KS2 History”

The National Curriculum specifies four very broad areas of study for KS1. As these objectives are so open, there are multiple ways that they can be translated into units of work when planning the curriculum. Each objective will be considered in turn, with suggestions about how to select units of work, and how they couldContinue reading “Curriculum planning:KS1 History”