Headline History - Key Stage 2 educational interactive history for children

Information for teachers

Below we explain the technological requirements of this website, the ability levels the project covers and the themes of content. We have also included four progressive lesson plans plus details of how Headline History fits in with the National Curriculum, a quick start guide, and match ups to QCA schemes of work in History at KS2 & 3.

Key Points

The material on this website is aimed at Key Stage 2 & 3 pupils and focuses on the Roman era, the Tudor era, the Victorian era and World War Two in British history.
The content has been vetted by BECTA as well as working teachers and historians.
All the stories on Headline History are true. Every article or story which appears on this website and the associated CD-ROM is based on real newspaper archive material, primary historical sources, archaeological finds and other contemporary sources. In all cases professional journalists have used this material and rewritten it to suit the target audience. Where possible we have included the original newspaper report with the aim of allowing teachers to show the difference between a contemporary source and our interpretation. The adverts on the website and CD-ROM are not genuine adverts but set out to give a feel the era. The associated text has been gathered by professional journalists based on reputable primary and secondary sources.
Although the focus is on history, the site promotes cross curricular learning.
Throughout the site an animated editor will offer help and hints. He/she can be switched off at any time but we strongly recommend that you draw your pupils' attention to this feature as the Editor offers very useful instructions throughout the site.
A mute button has been incorporated into the main navigation to silence all sound effects.
We have provided a printable quick start guide that will help you and your pupils use the site.

Overview

Each of the four eras of Headline History has its own virtual newspaper title, The Roman Times, The Tudor Times, The Victorian Times and The War Times. Each era's newspaper comprises six editions of a virtual newspaper.

When you enter the site you will be asked to pick which region you live in. This is because a lot of the stories are from the regions and we want each paper to have a local feel, so pupils become interested in local history.

The idea is that pupils become reporters on these newspapers. They can read and talk about the newspaper stories and then go on to interview up to 30 characters per era (through streaming video playback). These characters have witnessed the events which make up the six front page leads. The pupils then add quotes from these witnesses to the front page story to create their own version that they can then save or print out.

When pupils want to save work to return to later they must register with a username, password and an email address. Work is not saved locally. This is so pupils can work on the same piece wherever they access the website. It is not necessary to register unless you, or a pupil, want to save a piece of work.

Quick Start Guide

We have included a Quick start guide that can be printed and handed out to your pupils. It covers the basics of navigating the site and editing the main story.

Worksheets

We have created four printable Worksheets. These are quizzes, one for each era's timeline, which will help your pupils a get a picture of the key events of each era as they look for the answers.

Table of printable worksheets in various formats.
	Adobe Acrobat	Rich Text format	Word Documents
Roman	download	download	download
Roman Answers	download	download	download
Tudor	download	download	download
Tudor Answers	download	download	download
Victorian	download	download	download
Victorian Answers	download	download	download
World War 2	download	download	download
World War 2 Answers	download	download	download

Lesson Plans

We have created some sample lesson plans. This section has been devised by primary school teachers. We recommend that you follow lesson one before allowing pupils to explore the site in order to familiarise them with the basics of Headline History.

Technology

This website uses Flash technology, specifically version 7,0,19,0 and above. If you don't have the correct version of Flash your browser will tell you but you also won't be able to see the words "Start Here" in the middle of the home page. If that's the case follow the link from the home page to install Flash player.

This site is best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024x768.

Should any of your pupils be visually impaired Flash allows pupils to right-click and zoom in to enlarge the text. The site will function normally when zoom is active.

CD-ROM

A CD-ROM featuring all content of the website in html format is available to all primary schools. The CD-ROM is aimed at helping schools with Internet accessibility problems. It does not feature the interactive elements present on this website.

A copy of the CD will be sent to your school via the LEA before the end of April, 2005. If, by June, you believe your school does not have a copy then please email theeditor@headlinehistory.co.uk stating the name and address of your school plus a contact name. There is one free copy of the CD available to each school.

Amendment: Some versions of the CD-ROM say that The Great Exhibition closed on
October 16, 1852. It did of course close on October 15, 1851

Newspaper Editions in Each Era

There are six issues of the Roman Times, each with its own theme. These themes have been chosen specifically because of their relevance to the National Curriculum. You can identify each issue, and therefore the theme it covers, by its headline. You can also see which issues can be used with the History QCA Schemes of Work.
The six Roman headlines are:
1. Sick Travellers Seek Cure (theme: Everyday Life) - this theme covers how the Romans lived day to day.
2. Boudicca's Deathly Defeat (theme: The Brits) - how the tribal people of Britain lived before and during the Roman occupation.
3. Fire Sweeps Through Roma (theme: Ancient Rome) - events and developments at the centre of the Roman Empire.
4. Girl Gladiator Gored (theme: Entertainment and Culture) - how the Romans entertained themselves
5. Hadrian's Wall Is Complete (theme: Build It, Use It) - the impact of Roman buildings and technology.
6. Romans Invade Britannia (theme: Conquest) - all about Roman military life.
7. Education and food stories are featured in the last two pages of each themed paper.
There are six issues of the Tudor Times, each with its own theme. These themes have been chosen specifically because of their relevance to the National Curriculum. You can identify each issue, and therefore the theme it covers, by its headline. You can also see which issues can be used with the History QCA Schemes of Work.
The six Tudor headlines are:
1. Amazing New Land Is Found (theme: Exploration) - stories about how the Tudors explored so much of the World.
2. Will The King Marry Again? (theme: Henry and His Family) - the convoluted personal lives of Henry and his family are examined here.
3. Marlowe Stabbed To Death (theme: Culture) - arts and entertainment in Tudor times.
4. Execution For Sir Thomas (theme: Religion) - one of the key issues of the period is explored here.
5. Spanish Armada Is Defeated! (theme: War) - from the Battle of Bosworth to the Spanish Armada.
6. Lifeline For Poor Families (theme: Everyday Life) - the contrast between rich and poor and much more.
7. Sport and food stories are featured in the last two pages of each themed paper.
There are six issues of the Victorian Times, each with its own theme. These themes have been chosen specifically because of their relevance to the National Curriculum. You can identify each issue, and therefore the theme it covers, by its headline. You can also see which issues can be used with the History QCA Schemes of Work.
The six Victorian headlines are:
1. Body Of Hero Pit Boy Found (theme: Work, Work, Work) -includes stories about ordinary people and children at work as well as biographies based on the lives of famous people like Dr Barnardo and Lord Shaftesbury.
2. Exhibition Has Been Great - (theme: New-Fangled Inventions) - children can find out what happened in their area during the Great Exhibition.
3. Pupils Run Riot In Class - (theme: Kids, Canes And Classes ) - examines education and schooling in Victorian times.
4. Our Florence Returns Home - (theme: Germ Warfare) - explores the Crimea and Boer wars plus working and living conditions at home.
5. Murdering Mary Is Hanged - (theme: Crime and Punishment) - prison conditions, the police, public hangings and crime are covered in this edition of newspaper.
6. A Dickens Of A Train Crash - (theme: On The Move ) - looks at all types of Victorian transport.
7. Entertainment and sport stories are featured in the last two pages of each themed paper.
There are six issues of the War Times, each with its own theme. These themes have been chosen specifically because of their relevance to the National Curriculum. You can identify each issue, and therefore the theme it covers, by its headline. You can also see which issues can be used with the History QCA Schemes of Work.
The six World War Two headlines are:
1. We're Ready For You Hitler (theme: A War Begins) - the events of the first few months of the war, and their impact.
2. Children Flee Big Cities (theme: Evacuation) - what happened as the children were evacuated to the countryside.
3. Blitzed But Not Beaten! (theme: The Home Front) - how did Britain react as the bombs fell.
4. The End In Sight (theme: The Frontline) - all the military activity that's fit to print.
5. Victory Is In Your Hands (theme: Life At Work) - those that stayed at home, especially women, had to work really hard to make sure the country kept going.
6. The Germans Are Defeated (theme: The End Of War) - from VE Day to VJ day and all the issues that emerged as the dust settled.
7. Entertainment and Sport stories are featured in the last two pages of each themed paper.

Ability Levels

In order not to discriminate between pupils´ ability levels, we have used skill levels, represented by job titles. When you have chosen the region and era you want to study you will be asked to select Trainee Newshound, Senior Journalist, Chief Reporter or Veteran Hack. Please note that this selection process only affects the user journey at the interviewing witnesses section of the website.

There are a total of 30 characters children can interview - five for each of the six newspaper editions. The number of characters that children can access depends on the ability level chosen.

Trainee Newshound is the easiest skill level. Children will be able to listen to and watch three characters (per issue) give their version of events connected to the front-page story. As each character is interviewed, ONE quote will drop into the on-screen notebook. Pupils will be able to choose one of the three quotes to add to the front page story. They can move it around until they are happy with its position. The Editor will also read out the front page story if requested. This function is only available at this level. Pupils´ work at this, and every other, level can be printed and saved.
Senior Journalist is the next skill level. Children will be able to listen to and watch four characters (per issue) give their version of events connected to the front-page story. As each character is interviewed, TWO quotes will drop into the on-screen notebook. Pupils will be able to choose up to four of the eight quotes to add to the front page story. They can move these around until they are happy with their position. Pupils at this level can also change the headline of the story.
Chief Reporter is the hardest KS2 skill level. Children will be able to listen to and watch five characters (per issue) give their version of events connected to the front-page story. As each character is interviewed, THREE quotes will drop into the on-screen notebook. Pupils will be able to add up to all 15 quotes to the front page story. They can move these around until they are happy with their position. The text of the story can also be changed at this level. However an added challenge will be to keep within a letter limit. The Editor will indicate if the letter count has been exceeded. Pupils at this level can also change the headline of the story.
Veteran Hack is the hardest level overall and is aimed at KS3 students. Pupils can listen to and watch five characters (per issue) give their version of events connected to the front-page story. As each character is interviewed, THREE quotes will drop into the on-screen notebook. Pupils are asked to write their own full newspaper story about the events that have occurred using the available facts and what the witnesses have to say. Unlike the easier levels pupils CANNOT drag quotes from the notebook to the main story. Instead they must transcribe them themselves and ensure that they are introduced into the story in the proper manner. Naturally teachers can help with this. There is no upper level on the word limit. Also a sixth tab has been added to the notebook. Within this Editor's Tab, suggestions on how to write the story from a different perspective can be found, which will introduce ideas of bias in writing and newspapers.

Submitting Stories

The website encourages pupils to write their own stories about their local history. These stories can be sent to The Editor. Each month he or she will choose five stories which will be published on the site in the form of a newspaper page. The username of the pupil or class behind the story will be featured alongside their work. There will be no word limit to these stories but we can not include photographs at this stage in the project.

Events & Venues

This section of the website gives details of forthcoming events and permanent attractions in the region. These can be searched by county and type of venue or event to help you organise school trips and extra-curricula activity.