KS1 & KS2 history curriculum

This unit uses and builds on knowledge pupils have developed about travel in the past during their study of Elizabeth II and traditional stories from the past. This unit prepares pupils for their Year 2 study of Victoria's reign by introducing terminology regarding technology that they will revisit. It also prepares them for future units in Key Stages 2 and 3 where vocabulary concerning ships, seafarers and explorers is used.

1. Early explorers and their boats
2. How Polynesian explorers travelled and navigated
3. Seafaring in the early Mediterranean world
4. The Vikings and their longboats
5. Viking navigation and expansion
6. The incredible voyages of Zheng He
7. Chinese innovation in seafaring
8. John Cabot's journeys across the Atlantic
9. Seafaring 550 years ago
10. Brunel's race to cross the Atlantic
11. Life aboard the SS Great Britain
12. From sail to steam power

• The idea that people travel and have travelled to other places.
• Some similarities and differences between things in the past and now.
• Some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments.