YEAR 3
PLANS FOR SPRING TERM 2015
History – Ancient Egypt
AIMS
In this unit children find out about the way of life of people living in ancient Egypt from archaeological discoveries. Children will develop their understanding
of characteristic features of a society; identify the different ways the past is represented; and use sources of information to make simple observations,
inferences and deductions.
Essential Knowledge
Cross –curricular Studies
Vocabulary
In this unit, children will have opportunities to use:
Children should build secure knowledge of the
following:
a.
how the present has been shaped by the past,
through developing a sense of chronology,
exploring change and continuity over time, and
understanding why and where things happened
This area of learning should provide opportunities
for:
a.
children to develop and apply their literacy,
numeracy and ICT skills
b.
personal, emotional and social development
c.
enhancing children's historical, geographical and
social understanding through making links to
other areas of learning and to wider issues of
interest and importance.




words associated with the passing of time, eg
ancient, modern, BC, AD
words associated with aspects of society, eg
food and farming, science, technology,
architecture, beliefs
words associated with Egypt, eg Nile, Pharaoh,
Sphinx, hieroglyphics
words associated with life after death, eg god,
goddess, tomb, pyramid, canopic jar
Prior Learning
Key skills
These are the skills that children need to learn to
make progress:
It is helpful if the children have:
a. undertake investigations and enquiries, using
various methods, media and sources

d.
compare, interpret and analyse different types
of evidence from a range of sources


e.
present and communicate findings in a range of
ways and develop arguments and explanations
using appropriate specialist vocabulary and
techniques
used a range of sources of evidence, including
artefacts, pictures and written sources
sorted historical sources into categories
studied the way of life of people living a long
time ago
Resources




maps of ancient Egypt
a class time line from 3,000 BC to present day
information about life in ancient Egypt, eg
videos, pictures of artefacts, history books,
postcards
replicas of ancient Egyptian objects
Learning and thinking skills
f.
investigate, asking relevant questions,
identifying problems, analysing and judging
the value of information and ideas,
questioning assumptions. They plan
systematically using time and resources
effectively, anticipating, taking and
managing risks
Social Skills
1. work collaboratively towards common goals
2. take turns and share as appropriate, stating
their own views and needs
Breadth of Learning
The study of the past should include aspects of local, British and world history. Children should:
1.
2.
3.
study the past in outline and in depth, covering different societies and periods of history from ancient times to modern day
use dates and vocabulary related to the passing of time
place events, people and changes within a broad chronological framework
Use a range of sources of information and visit historic buildings, museums, galleries and sites. (the children will visit Bolton Museum)
Curriculum Progression
M1.
know how identities, communities, places, cultures and traditions have changed and are changing over time
M2.
identify patterns in communities, places and past events by searching for and locating information using keywords, and carrying out searches, fieldwork and surveys
explore the different ways we can find out about the past and how to understand the evidence - This includes primary and secondary sources, artefacts,
documents, photographs, film, accounts, including online sources – not all sources of evidence are as reliable as others and the past has been represented and
interpreted in different ways
M10.
LEARNING
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
OBJECTIVES
 to locate ancient Egypt in
time and place
 that information can be
classified in different
ways
ASSESSMENT/
NOTES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
What do we already know about ancient Egypt?
Ask the children what they already know about ancient Egypt. Write
ideas on post it notes. Remind them of the story of ‘Joseph and the
technicoloured dreamcoat’ (read story). Ask them to think of stories
from the bible, films etc. to help them (think about the story of
Moses). Distinguish between stories based in fact and those in myth
& legend (eg, curses, mummies etc)
 locate ancient Egypt on a map
and place it on a time line
 group information in
appropriate categories
Help them to group existing knowledge under headings eg daily life,
houses, death.
The purpose of this
activity is to establish
the children’s prior
knowledge. It may also
be necessary to start to
draw distinctions
between myths and
facts, eg the curse of
the Pharaohs.
ICT opportunity:
www.ancientegypt.co.uk website from British
museum. Find link from
main page to Daily Life.
Timeline cards from
Use maps and a class time line to locate ancient Egypt in time and
place. Use on-line timeline from the British museum to do this.
Draw a blank timeline starting with year of Ancient Egyptians
(3000BC to 0 to present year).
Establish what is meant by ‘ancient‘ and ‘modern’.
Sparkle box – use large
ones for demonstration
and smaller ones for
children to sort
 to observe an object in
detail and to make
inferences and deductions
 to record information
about an object
accurately
What can we learn about ancient Egypt from one object?
Show the children a picture or a replica of an object from ancient
Egypt. Ask them to make a detailed drawing of the object and to
describe it.
Ask the children to use information from the object and what they
have learnt about ancient Egypt to decide, What does this source tell
us about life in ancient Egypt? Ask them to think about why it is
 describe an artefact accurately
 make inferences and
deductions from objects
This activity requires
children to apply what
they have learnt about
artefacts as a source of
information.
important for historians to consider a wide range of sources of
information.
 to make deductions about
life in the past from
pictures of the landscape
 how much of the life of
Egypt depended on the
Nile
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/
What does the landscape tell us about what life might have been
like in ancient Egypt?
Give the pupils pictures of the Nile and of the Egyptian landscape.
Use ICT to look at the Nile from space http://veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/6566/Egypt.A2004201.0830.1km.jpg
Compare how green the land around the Nile is compared to the
desert areas.
 extract information about the
landscape from pictures
 provide answers that show the
relationship between the
geography of Egypt and the
way of life in the past
Ask the children to complete a grid with two headings: ‘What can we
see that would make living in Egypt easy?’ and ‘What can we see that
would make life difficult?’ The objective of this activity is to help
pupils understand that the Nile provides food, water, transport, and
the desert was the place of burial.
 to classify information in
various ways
 about the range of
objects which have
survived from ancient
Egypt
 to make inferences from
objects about the way of
life in ancient Egypt
 about aspects of life in
ancient Egypt
 to make inferences and
deductions from objects
and pictures
 that what we know about
the past is dependent on
what has survived
Discuss as a class how the Nile provided water and a method of
transport. Look at an atlas with children and tell them about the
physical features of the Nile and how it flooded annually. Look at the
ancient farming calendar (Hamilton resource).
What objects survive from the time of the ancient Egyptians?
Give children pictures/postcards of ancient Egyptian objects. Ask
them to sort these in different ways, eg Which are made from wood,
paper, pottery, stone etc? Which tell us about food, death, daily life,
clothes, houses? Which tell us about rich people, poor people?
Discuss with the children what they have found out and why they
think these objects have survived. Do we know more about rich or
poor people? Why?
 sort information into different
categories
 ask and answer questions about
what has survived from ancient
Egypt and what it reveals about
the past
This activity can be reinforced when visiting Bolton Museum.
What do objects that have survived tell us about ancient Egypt?
Give groups of children a topic, eg food and farming, art, buildings,
writing, technology. Ask them to find three pictures and/or objects
that they think can tell us the most about their topic. Ask the
children to decide what they know for certain from their objects,
what they can guess, and what they still need to find out. Teacher to
model this initially.
Ask groups to record their findings and talk about their topic to the
rest of the class. Children could make ‘books’ to include in the class
library with drawings of their objects and what the evidence tells us.
 select pictures illustrating
aspects of a chosen topic
 infer and record information
about a topic from pictures
The teacher should
demonstrate that the
same object can answer
multiple questions about
the past. It is important
to ask what we still need
to know and in that way
maintain the sense of
mystery.
ICT opportunity: chn
could take digital photos
of objects in museum to
include in their reports;
This activity is designed
to help children collect
information in a
structured way.
This activity could be
extended by asking the
children to use reference
books to see if they can
find out more about their
objects.
 about Egyptian tombs,
pyramids and burial sites
 to use sources of
information in ways which
go beyond simple
observation
 what we can find out
about ancient Egypt from
what has survived
 to understand how
archaeologists can learn
from the past
What did the ancient Egyptians believe about life after death?
Give the children information on ancient Egypt beliefs about life and
death. Use the PowerPoint to discuss what the Egyptians believed
about life after death and what happened when people died. Discuss
the processes and why they were important.
Discuss why some were buried in coffins/tombs and others in the
sand.
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pyramids/story/main.html
What can we learn about ancient Egypt from what has survived?
Discuss with the children what they have learnt about ancient Egypt.
Discuss not only what is known but what is not known from what has
survived.
Look at the job of an archaeologist (see clips from BBC website)
Introduce the archaeologist Howard Carter and why he’s such an
important figure in the history of Ancient Egypt. Use the PowerPoint
to tell the story of his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
 Create a model sarcophagus
using clay
 Explian why some Egyptians had
a sarcophagus.
 To be able to explain how to
create a sarcophagus in clay.
PowerPoint: Life After
Death
 Create a newspaper front page
telling the story of Howard
Carter’s discovery.

To explain the
importance of Howard
Carter’s discovery

To create a
Tutankhamun head piece
PowerPoint on the story
of Howard Carter.
Horrible Histories; The
Mummy Song
Clay/clay tools/rollers
Paints/ fine brushes
Template of a newspaper
front page.