KS1 Topic: Great Fire of London Block F: Diaries Session 4
Session 4 Quills and Ink!
National
History: To understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways
Curriculum in which it is represented.
Teaching
To understand the significance diaries play in providing information to aid our understanding of the past.
Objectives
National
English: Writing about real events.
Curriculum
Teaching
To produce individual, ‘historic’ diaries.
Objectives
Resources
Weblinks
Group photos from S3 + speech
http://www.pepys.info/fire.html#anchor600522 - Extracts from diary;
bubbles; A4 paper tea stained to look
www.kiwicrate.com/projects/Straw-Quill-Pens-and-Homemade-Ink/1615 old (prepared before hand) fold in half Instructions for simple quill and ink;
to use as diary writing sheet; Plastic
http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/aston/ks1/firelondon/samuelpepys.htm drinking straws; Ink OR paint thinned
Image of quill and ink.
with water; Small containers for the
ink; Coloured Feathers; Glue; Basket/
bin.
Whole class: Did Samuel Pepys use a tablet or i-phone to write his diary? A keyboard? A felt-tip pen? Pencil? Ask each as
chn respond ‘NO!’ He wrote with a pen made from a feather, a quill, which he dipped into ink. Give out resources and have
chn make a quill using the link here. When ready, continue, We are going to write our own diary, on paper stained with tea
to make it look old and using the old way of writing, with our quill! But – what are we going to write? Explain that each child
is going to write a page from a diary as though they were the character they depicted in their FREEZE frame; so they will use
‘I’ as they pretend to be that character. Mime various actions to model some examples, e.g. mime digging a deep hole and
burying a heavy cheese; invite chn to say what you are doing and who you are being; reinforce, Yes, that’s right I am quickly
digging a deep hole to bury my precious, expensive cheese to protect it from the fire. I will write in my diary that I was so
worried my expensive tasty cheese was going to melt in the fire that I dug a deep hole in the garden and buried it’ Tell chn
they are going to do the same for their character.
Easy/ Medium/ Hard: Groups as S2 and S3
Each group rereads the title and speech bubbles from their FREEZE frame images. Chn work together to plan what they
would say in their diary. They write on small white boards, check it makes sense, and spellings are either correct or
phonetically plausible, then copy on to prepared diary paper, writing with ‘quill and ink’ as much as is possible, reverting to
handwriting pen when/if the quill becomes too difficult. Encourage reading writing out aloud to partner to check it makes
sense. Illustrate appropriately.
Plenary Chn stand in a circle, groups together, displaying their diary page for all to see. Work together to check that the
group members are in chronological order. Chn take turns around the circle to read out their diary extract. Look
again at Sam Pepys diary on website. We have used tea-stained paper to make our paper look very old. We have
tried writing with a quill and ink. Look carefully at the web page – what else do you see on the paper? Yes, it’s all
crumbled and creased! Chn crumple and scrunch their pages into a ball and throw into a collecting bin/ basket.
(These can then be opened and smoothed out once again; the ‘crumbled’ look will still be evident, just like the
old pages as seen on the website.)
Outcomes Children will
 Understand how writing implements have changed over the years
 Realise afresh how very old the diaries of Samuel Pepys are
 Write a realistic page from a diary as written during the GFOL 1666
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
We refer you to our warning, at the foot of the block overview, about links to other websites.