School life in the past: 1950s school day

Topics Reception/Year 1
This unit is part of Changes within Living Memory A Day in the Life

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Objectives

History

Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change.
Learn about changes in living memory.
Identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.

English & Drama

Participate in role play
Say sentences out loud before writing them.
Use words to connect clauses in sentences.
Re-read what is written to check that it makes sense.
Write a narrative based on fictional personal experience.

Lesson Planning

Give children a 1950’s school day or morning! Boys and girls are segregated, they are doing different tasks and there is NO talking!

Teaching Outcomes
To talk about the key features of day-to-day life in the 1950s.
To write a piece of ‘news’ as a 1950s child.

Children will:

Recall key features of day-to-day life in the 1950s.
Role play a school day (or morning) as it would have been in the 1950s.
Write a simple ‘news’ entry in role as a child of the 1950s.

Planning

Provided Resources

Images of school life in 1950s
Sample diary entries from the 1950s

Unit Resources

You Will Need

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Weblinks

School memories from the 1950s from shirleyinfantschool.org.uk
School life in the 1950's from bbc.co.uk
BBC music and movement recording from the 1950's – YouTube clip
Bill and Ben children's programme from 1953 – YouTube clip