Historical Account

£5.95

Why do this project?

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history – George Orwell

In other writing projects, children will have described past events and turned them into Memoirs and Autobiography. They will have also written histories of those close to them or those who are part of their community through our People’s History project. They will have written the Biographies of those who inspire them too. Throughout this time, children will have begun to understand that story-telling, hyperbole and memory can result in history being more subjective than it can sometimes appear in the non-fiction texts they read. Couple this with social media, ‘fake news’ and the ever-growing dismissal of the ‘expert’, and children learning how to explain phenomena using evidence is more important than ever.

In this project, you will discuss how historians try to explain and give an opinion on the past by using evidence (such as primary sources) to account for it. Don’t forget that the children should be well prepared for this type of writing since they have written Information and Explanation texts for several years now. However, the move from retelling to accounting is still a profound one in the development of apprentice historians.

This project is different because the texts will not be a simple retelling of events organised in chronological order, nor are they a simple retelling of events. Instead, writers will have to explain what they think the factors were that produced a certain outcome and the consequences of it. Ultimately, it is about cause and effect – after all, everything happens for a reason and has repercussions.

This class writing project provides you with:

+ Comprehensive teacher notes:

  • Suggestions for both year group and whole school writing progression
  • Advice for teachers on how to write great mentor texts
  • Over 40 writing study and functional grammar mini-lessons
  • Suggested book list for your classroom library

+ Our popular and photocopiable child-facing Genre Booklet which includes:

  • Year 6 purpose and audience writing wheel
  • Publishing and performance menu
  • 3 exemplar texts
  • Idea generation techniques
  • Dabbling and drafting advice
  • Revision checklist
  • Editing checklist

+ Our quick guide to teaching writing

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