History: Victorians

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History Victorians
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History Victorians
Key Use the symbols below to quick reference
areas of the unit. ?Activity outline ?Resources ?
Differentiation ?Helpers/ Learning
Support ?Curriculum and Objectives
Resources ? Quick links to lesson
resources. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Unit Overview The canal is a fantastic place to
study local history. Built in the 1800s it was
once a bustling commercial highway, which carried
cargo like chocolate from Birmingham to London as
well as serving local industries such as the West
Drayton brick fields. During Victorian times,
competition with the railways forced many boating
families to live on their barges and created a
fascinating canal culture. Student love finding
out how difficult the lives of Victorian canal
children were and how little they went to
school! In this unit students learn about the
Victorian heritage and history of the canal. They
get a chance to dress up as Victorian canal
children, learning what life was like and how
different it was for the children who lived on
the canal. The Students also get to make and take
home a toy that is similar to a Victorian toy.
Curriculum and Objectives ? A wide range of the
History curriculum is covered in this unit that
include Knowledge Skills and Understanding
relating to the lives of children in the past as
well as Victorian Britain sections as part of
their Breadth of study. The units are also
good for cross-curricular work. This unit
contains activities relating to English Maths and
PSHE.

• Objectives
• Analyse the role of transport in change during
  the industrial revolution
• Recognise when Queen Victoria reigned as queen.
• Discover what life was like for Victorian
  children who lived on the canals.
• Compare life on the canals with in Victorian
  times with today.
• Develop oral presentation skills through
  role-play.
• Build an understanding of the way Victorian
  children might have felt

• Outcomes
• Make a timeline of key Victorian events
• Say when queen Victoria was on the throne
• Spot the difference between locations in
  Victorian times and now.
• Design a toy that a Victorian Canal boat child
  could own.
• Act out a play where you travel in time to meet a
  Victorian canal boat child.
• Express the feelings of Victorian canal children
  through diary writing

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History Victorians
Lesson 1 - Before Your Trip.

Starters Todays Transport? (10 mins) ?
Students draw small pictures showing 3 different
modes of transport for the goods they are given.
Students should try and say how long each mode of
transport has been used for. This gets them used
to the idea that modes of transport change,
providing the scaffolding for ideas about how
changes in transport affects other things. ?
Lower ability groups can use option cards for the
transport types. To extend this activity students
could also say what the advantages for using this
type of transport are and what was done before
this transport type was around. ? Helpers/LSAs
can ask questions about potential types of
transport or goods like this resource is needed
in large amounts. What does this tell you about
the type of transport needed to carry it? or,
this resource needs to be moved quickly so it
what type of transport will be most suitable?
Break down the problem and avoid giving them
direct answers or clues that help them guess
without thinking about the reason for the type of
transport. ?Resource - Work Sheet and Cards
Today's Transport Victorians
Main Activities Timeline (25 mins) ? Students
construct a timeline showing some of the major
events in Victorian history using the activity
sheet. On the top of their timeline can go
pictures of Kings and Queens and general
historical information. Underneath the line
should be used for important canal information
and information about the railways and decline of
the canals. This activity needs to be done in
groups on a larger than A3 sheet of
paper. ? Objectives Analyse the role of
transport in change during the industrial
revolution Recognise when Queen Victoria
reigned as queen. Outcomes Make a timeline of
key Victorian events ? Helpers/LSAs will need
to help students lay the information out as it
doesnt fit easily ?Resources - Work sheets and
Cards Timeline Cards and Instructions
Victorians, Scissors, glue, larger than A3
poster paper How did Victorians Move things
around? (10 mins ) ? Students match the pictures
of Victorian (and other eras) transport to the
words, put them in order and then suggest one
reason why each mode of transport was better then
what came before it. ? For lower ability
students a second sheet with pre suggested
reasons has been included (page two of the
resource sheet) ?Resources - Worksheet How did
we move things around Victorians Scissors, glue.
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History Victorians
Lesson 1 - Before Your Trip.

Plenaries How Likely? (10 mins) ? Using
statements on the PowerPoint the students as a
class have to move around the room between two
points on a sliding scale of how likely they
think the statement is to be true. ?Resource
PowerPoint How Likely Victorians
Homework's Canal Research (20 mins) ? Find out
the answer to these questions. Write them down on
a small piece of card that you can take with you
on your boat trip. Students could use the
internet or books to find out or you might be
able to ask their parents or older
students! When were the canals built? What canal
runs through Hillingdon? Who built the first
canals? What were the canals used for?
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History Victorians
Lesson 2 - During Your Trip.

Starters Safety and Rules (5 Mins) ? Students
are given a brief list of safety rules and play a
couple of simple games to practice being quiet
and sitting down game for emergencies. Photo
Quiz (5 Mins) ? Students are shown some photos
from the PowerPoint of Queen Victoria, James
Brindley and the canal and asked a few simple
questions about them. ?Resource -
PowerPointUnit 11 Victorian Britain
Main Activities Evidence of Victorians (20 Mins)
? Students look for and draw any evidence of
Victorian/ historical life they can see on the
canal. Usually in pairs or 3s Verbal feedback is
taken. ? Resources - Clipboards, pencils and
paper Spot the Difference ( 20 mins) ?
Students get given two pictures in groups and are
asked to look at them. The pictures show the same
place today and in Victorian times. The students
are asked to spot the similarities and
differences and write them down. They use drywipe
pens and post its to stick to the sheets. They
then feed back to the group. ? Resources -
Laminated Spot the difference sheets, drywipe
markers, post it notes, pencil. ? Helpers/LSAs
will need to work with students to make sure they
think about haow the canal has changed beyond
physical factors. The way the canal is used
differently is clearly depicted in most of the
photos. Try to get the students to tell you
this. Canal Childrens Toys (20 mins) ?
Students build on this new understanding of the
living conditions and lifestyle of a child on the
Canal. They use this information to design a toy
that a canal child could use. They make either a
peg doll, a cup and ball toy or a mask at one of
3 work stations. A brief introduction is given as
a discussion about the difference between their
toys and victorian toys and why they are
different. ? Resources - paper cups, string
polystyrene balls, wooden pegs plain paper
scissors, wool, felt pens, glue, mask templates
mask accessories. ? Helpers/LSAs can choose a
toy (cup and ball, peg doll or mask) and help
students make at this workstation.
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History Victorians
Lesson 2 - During Your Trip.

Main activities Time Travel (30 mins) ?
Students imagine they have travelled through time
and have meet a Victorian Canal Child. Students
read the speech bubbles and look at photos on
the PowerPoint that demonstrates some aspects of
being a child in the canals in Victorian times.
They must tell now them all about their average
day and how different it is from their own. They
act out different parts of this in groups. Two
are Victorians and dress up in appropriate
costumes. Two are time travellers from today and
one person plays director. The Activity is filmed
to extend it and for peer learning/afl
purposes. ?Resources - PowerPoint Unit 11
Victorian Britain, Video Camera, Canal
Costumes. ? Helpers/ LSAs should try to
encourage the children to think of questions they
can ask each other as part of their performance
and how they can make it more fun to watch, maybe
with humour or maybe with actions and movement.
Plenaries Mix and Match (10 mins) ? Students
are given some cards with speech bubbles on. They
must match into pairs a Victorian child with the
corresponding child from today. The pairs compare
an aspect of childhood for a canal boat child and
themselves. ?Resources - Cards Match the
Children Victorians
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History Victorians
Lesson 3 - After Your Trip.

Starters Recapping the life of Victorian Canal
Children (5 mins) ? True or False statements
about Victorian canal children are read to or
given to students . Students could fill out the
worksheet or they could answer with Red or Green
coloured cards as a class. Students could also
put in what the true statement would be.
?Resources - Worksheet True or False
Victorians.
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History Victorians
Lesson 3 - After Your Trip.

Plenaries Mix and Match (10 mins) ? Students
are given some cards with speech bubbles on. They
must match into pairs a Victorian child with the
corresponding child from today. The pairs compare
an aspect of childhood for a canal boat child and
themselves. ?Resources - Cards Match the
Children Victorians
Homework's Drawing and Caption (20 mins) ?
Students choose one of the activities they have
done on the boat randomly by being given a number
corresponding to an activity (see below).
Students must draw a picture of themselves doing
the activity on the boat and write a caption
explaining what they learned doing the
activity. 1. Spotting Old and New Things 2.
Making Victorian Children's Toys 3. Time
Travelling