It worked for me: key stage 1 cameos

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Homes across the curriculum: the place of the past within wider learning

Nicola Beazley at Sarisbury Infant School decided to question whether history is best taught through topics in key stage 1. She decided to take a whole-school approach and investigate history’s place within the curriculum. She began this process by introducing the discussion statement ‘We believe our curriculum is made up of separate subjects’ at a staff meeting. The teachers concluded that they wanted to provide a curriculum that ‘had fewer boundaries and more chances for children to see links within their learning’. Nicola used these findings to assemble a checklist for future topic-based learning.

Bearing these guidelines in mind Nicola began to write a scheme of work which would reflect and enhance children’s learning in such subjects as geography, science and ICT as well as history. The topic chosen was ‘Homes’.

What sort of homes do people live in today?

Exploring homes in the local environment gave an ideal opportunity to begin the topic from knowledge and first-hand experience that the children already possessed. This mainly covered the geography elements of the topic. It enabled Nicola’s class to lay a good foundation for later work when making comparisons between Victorian houses and houses of today, but did not encroach on the history time allocation. It gave quality time to spend on developing the children’s knowledge and vocabulary of a variety of housing.

To help the year 1 children in their exploration of homes around them, Nicola set up estate agent and architect role-play corners. The children were asked to look for pictures and house leaflets for the role-play corners and they talked about the similarities and differences of their pictures. Vocabulary was introduced, leaving specific Victorian vocabulary for later on. In the architect corner the children developed their building skills, and the less able children gained an understanding of the basic house vocabulary. It also gave the children time to explore the design and technology elements of tents before they made a variety of tent homes. The children learnt how to make comparisons and to use their observation skills.

Home learning played an important role as parents supported the children’s learning by talking about features of their own houses, using the relevant vocabulary and exploring houses around them. The class discussed how people’s needs are different and this can be reflected by where they choose to live. Children spent time reflecting on why we need a home and how not everyone has what they need. It soon became clear that many children had not thought about this question before and it led to an interesting discussion. The children were already being introduced to the idea that not everybody lives in the same type of house or has the same lifestyle during any one period of time, which is an important step towards avoiding any misconceptions that can occur with young children.

What can we find out about houses from looking at the outside?

This was one of the main lessons that began the history element to the topic. Nicola used a modern house from the class ‘estate agent’ and a Victorian picture from the Hampshire local education authority history pack. The children used their previous knowledge gained from geography lessons and from science lessons based on materials found in houses. They were able to identify the main features of each house and quickly made comparisons while working in small mixed-ability groups. The children’s vocabulary was of a better standard due to their prior learning. It also gave them more time to spend on new vocabulary and to challenge their thinking.

The children needed a little encouragement to look at the style of windows and to think about how that affected how they were opened. One child recognised the sash-style window because his house was similar, but he did not know the correct name. There are difficulties when looking at the age of a house, as many old styles have been copied and can lead children to mistaking the age of a house. Nicola knew that this child’s house had the modern PVC sash window and she had to tackle the idea of how styles had been copied and tell the child that his house was not Victorian. Nonetheless the children relished the new vocabulary of sash and bay window. They were already secure with previous vocabulary and ready for more.

To help the children realise that Victorian houses are still lived in by people today and not just in Victorian times, Nicola invited the class teacher from a year 2 class to talk about her home. The children’s learning was brought alive by listening to someone that they knew talk about life in their house. They heard about high ceilings and how difficult it was to keep the house warm. It was also good for the children to hear how the owners of the house were very keen to keep the Victorian features of the house. Later in the topic Nicola invited the year 2 teacher back to show them that although she lived in a Victorian house, she did have many modern-day appliances and did not use the old scrubbing board!

To return to the pictures, the more observant children noticed that the modern-day house had a garage and with a little prompting realised that the Victorian picture did not have one. Some children could not give a reason for this but some did use prior knowledge and said that the Victorians did not have cars. The children were very good at noticing and describing what they could see but found it more difficult to say what was absent from the picture. This is something that they began to practise and the children were then prompted to think about what was not on the picture.

Other observations included the tiled path, the brick chimney, the unpainted wall, the arched doorway and the very small front garden behind the railings. There was quite a buzz as the children were independently making links in their learning and saying why certain materials had been used, for example that bricks are strong and last a long time and are therefore good for walls (obviously making links between their English and the ‘Three little pigs’ work and their science lessons). A small group of more able children were given a picture from 1930 and attempted to place it in chronological order. They did find it difficult but the car in the driveway was noticed. With some help they could see that it was an older car but it was a difficult task. It was useful, however, because it helped the children to begin to see that history is not just old or new, which was later developed when looking at artefacts from homes.

What would we find inside people’s homes a long time ago?

The children began with a suitcase of washday artefacts from the Hampshire History Centre. First of all the class was told that the case contained objects from one room in an old house and their job as history detectives was to find out which room and who would have used the objects. Some objects were easier to guess than others, which allowed for a degree of differentiation. By looking at the properties of the materials that the artefacts were made from they were able, with support, to begin to make decisions about the possible uses of the objects.

At another session they used the artefacts to complete science and mathematics work for the week and the class sorted the objects according to what they were made from. This gave a good chance to explore the idea of a Venn diagram with the intersecting set. Even though it was timetabled as a science activity it provided a great starting point for comparing modern and old objects.

How do we use the artefacts?

This was an excellent day at the school as the children wore Victorian-style pinafores and used the artefacts to complete a real-life washday. They learnt the order in which the washing was completed; they learnt how to scrub the washing and how to use the tools. They used their mathematics vocabulary of first, second, third, etc. They used the mini wringer and finally pegged out the clothes with the old wooden pegs. They were able to develop their skills of explaining what they were doing to other adults and children who happened to be passing by.

After they had completed the washing they were asked to choose their favourite tool used in the washday, draw a picture of how it was used and give instructions orally on its use. At a later date the children were asked to put pictures of a washday in order, and most children were able to do this without much difficulty, including less able children, and they were able to talk in detail and with real feeling because they had actually done it. Once the artefacts had been returned the class used their drama slots to mime the washday and to empathise with people in Victorian times.

Can we find modern-day equivalents?

The children were asked to cut and sort pictures along with real objects and place them on the correct house. The class also set up a ‘history detective’ corner in which they placed lots of items that could help children find out about the past. This included books the children were interested in, pictures and whiteboards for children to write their own ideas.

What is a modern-day washday like?

The children invited a parent to come and talk about their modern washday. To develop their ability to formulate questions and to use question words in their English work they devised a question each that they would like to ask the visiting parent. It soon became clear that they needed to ask the right questions in order to get the information that they needed. It was a great session as the parent made it quite clear that not only was her washing task quite easy in comparison but she did not do it by herself as her husband did his fair share! During circle time linked to the social and emotional curriculum the class discussed helping at home and being part of a team. Through these discussions they also talked about how electricity aided the modern washday. This was a good starting point for future science work on electricity.

Did the children experience high-quality learning in a topic format?

Nicola comments ‘The best way of answering this question is to talk to the children themselves. Working alongside the children, seeing how they made links in their learning and how they came to different sections of their learning with confidence and enthusiasm was a delight. The children were able to talk confidently to visitors and seemed to have a real drive to their learning.’

The children’s work showed a good level of understanding and above all they remembered their learning, which became obvious during their visit to Manor Farm Country Park. Due to timetable constraints, the class could not visit this Victorian farm and village until a few weeks after the completion of the history elements to the topic and so it was the ideal opportunity to see how much the children had understood and remembered. Children of all abilities could talk to the staff at the park about their learning. Some were able to play along with the staff who acted out roles from Victorian life. This day enabled them to be ‘alive’ in the Victorian times and to put their learning into practice. They heard and saw things that they had previously seen only in books.

The school has found this experiment to be so successful that they have reorganised curriculum planning teams to encourage more cross-curricular topic-based learning. The ‘Homes’ topic plan is an example of the school's cross-curricular topic-based learning.

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