Upper Key Stage 2 Stone Age to Iron Age Britain

Introduction to Stone Age to Iron Age

Children learn about and create their own timelines covering ancient history and learn about the timescales involved.

Teaching Outcomes:

• To create timelines to put up in the classroom covering prehistoric periods.
• To research dates to go on the timeline from books and the internet.

Children will:

• Use chronological vocabulary.
• Put the events of prehistory into the correct order and understand the scale of prehistoric time.
• Locate information from non-fiction sources.

• Modelling a timeline (differentiated)
• Dates for timeline
• Archaeological dating conventions

• String
• Measuring tapes

BBC interactive timeline from bbc.co.uk
Timeline from 50kya to AD43 from schoolsprehistory.com
Timeline from 4000BC to AD43 from schoolsprehistory.com

Children learn about the difficulties in investigating prehistory and work together to evaluate sources.

Teaching Outcomes:

• To prepare for a debate about the reliability of each source of evidence.
• To have a debate about the reliability of each source of evidence.

Children will:

• Explain the different sources of evidence about prehistory.
• Evaluate the reliability of different sources of evidence about prehistory.
• Understand how a debate works and take part in one.

• Battle of the archaeologists
• How to run a debate

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Round up of different archaelogical evidence of Iron Age Britain from bbc.co.uk
Some quotes about Iron Age Britons by Roman writers from primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk
Prehistory of Australia from kids.kiddle.co
Irish Medieval sagas and their roots in prehistoric oral traditions from rootsweb.ancestry.com

Children investigate some of the special terms used in archaeology and create a dictionary to help their research.

Teaching Outcomes:

• To research the meanings of words used in archaeology.
• To create a class dictionary.

Children will:

• Break down words into constituent parts to understand their meaning.
• Create a dictionary entry.
• Understand and use some vocabulary that archaeologists use

• Writing a dictionary entry (differentiated)
• International phonetic alphabet

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Guide to archaeology from bbc.co.uk
Glossary of archaeological terms from buckscc.gov.uk
Analysing parts of a dictionary entry from superteacherworksheets.com

Children plan and write the story of a piece of land and its changes over time.

Teaching Outcomes:

• To write a class story about a patch of land from the Stone Age to the Iron Age using a timeline as inspiration.
• To write a story about one patch of land.

Children will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of how layers of debris left behind by humans build up over time.
• Demonstrate an understanding that lower layers are older, and higher layers are younger.
• Plan and write a narrative for a specific purpose.

• Traces left behind sheet
• Narrative support sheet
• Story board

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

How archaeological layers are formed from history.org
Hunt the ancester archaeological excavation game from bbc.co.uk
Guide to archaeology from amnh.org
Quiz about archaeology from amnh.org

Children plan, set up, and investigate their own archaeological digs!

Teaching Outcomes:

• To set up an archaeological excavation based on a narrative they have written themselves.
• To write a report based on the excavations of the other class.

Children will:

• Carefully dig and record an archaeological excavation.
• Demonstrate an understanding that lower layers are older, and higher layers are younger.
• Plan and write a report using appropriate language.

• How to create an archaeological dig resource sheets
• How to dig sheet
• Archaeological recording sheet
• Archaeological reporting frame

• One or two sand pits, or pallets lined with tarpaulins
• 10kg bag of clay (not air drying)
• Bag of clean sand or gravel (can be sourced from garden centres)
• Bag of compost
• Bits of wood to make fences, stones or small bricks to make walls
• Green material to lay on top as grass

Archaeologist resource pack for schools from nts.org.uk

Children bring together their learning and skills to run an archaeological conference.

Teaching Outcomes:

• To organise what you know about prehistory into a presentation.
• To prepare and give presentations about what you have learned to another class/ (assembly).

Children will:

• Prepare and structure a presentation.
• Give a presentation in front of other children.
• Organise some key facts about prehistory.

This session does not need any provided resources.

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Getting students to do presentation and some tips to help them from teachingenglish.org.uk