KS1 History Lesson Plan: Significant Historical Events, People and Places in Our Locality

1. Lesson Overview
- Year group: KS1 (Year 1/2)
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Topic: Significant events, people and places in our local area
- Example focus: A local hero, an important local building, or a local event (teacher to insert specific local example)

2. Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, pupils will:
- Know that there are important people, places or events in their own locality.
- Name at least one significant local person, place or event.
- Use simple time words (past, long ago, then, now, before, after).
- Ask and answer simple questions about the local past using pictures, stories and maps.

3. Key Vocabulary
local, town, city, village, past, long ago, then, now, before, after, important, hero, monument, statue, memorial, museum, map

4. Resources Needed
- Simple story or information about a local person, place or event (chosen by teacher)
- Photos or drawings of the local area (then and now if possible)
- Simple local map with key places marked
- Picture cards showing key moments or features
- Large class timeline (with “long ago” and “today”)
- Paper, crayons, pencils

5. Starter Activity (10 minutes)
- Show a photo of a well-known local place (e.g. a statue, old building, park, or memorial).
- Ask: “Do you recognise this place? Where is it? Why might it be important?”
- Explain that today we are learning about important things from the past in our own area.

6. Main Teaching Input (10–15 minutes)
- Tell a short, simple story about the chosen local person, place or event.
- Show where it is on the local map.
- Place 3–4 key events or facts on the class timeline.
- Model using time words: “Long ago… then… after that… now…”
- Briefly show how we know about it (photos, stories, plaques, buildings, museums).

7. Pupil Activities (25–30 minutes)
Activity 1: Local History Map
- In pairs, children mark or stick a picture of the significant place/person/event on a simple local map.
- They say: “This is important because…”

Activity 2: Then and Now (if possible)
- Children look at pictures of the place/person/event “then” and “now”.
- They draw or sort pictures into “past” and “present” and explain one difference.

Challenge
- Higher-attaining pupils write one or two simple sentences about why this local person/place/event is important.

8. Plenary (5–10 minutes)
- Ask a few pupils to share one thing they learned about their local history.
- Revisit objectives: Can we name one important local person/place/event? Can we say why it matters?
- Add new words or ideas to the class word bank.

9. Homework
- Homework sheet: ask pupils to visit (or look at a photo of) the local place with an adult, or talk about the local person/event at home.
- They draw the place/person/event and write or dictate one simple sentence: “This is important in our town because…”

10. Assessment Notes
- Look for pupils using time words correctly.
- Check if they can name and describe the chosen local person/place/event.
- Note who can explain why it is important to their locality.