History in the early years

Until recently, history was sometimes seen as being inapprop riate for young children.

Increasingly, however, teachers are discovering that children enjoy finding out about the past, and that teaching history can be an integral part of good practice.

Parts 1 and 2 of the book explore the context for teaching history in the early years, including sections on *understanding change over time *interpretations of the past *deductions and inferences from sources.

Parts 3, 4 and 5 present a range of practical strategies and activities through which teachers can work to develop children's historical thinking.

Part 3 concentrates on organisation, planning and assessment, including how history can be related to other areas of the curriculum and cross-curricular themes.

Also in Part 3 is a detailed section on planning a unit of study, which offers step by step guidance for busy teachers.

Part 4 looks at how these strategies can work in practice, through four case studies: *Year2/3 - Memories of Childhood: The Victorians *Year 2 - A Class Museum *Year 1 - Castles * Children with sever learning difficulties - A Victorian Kitchen.The final part presents some examples of inservice workshops through which teachers can develop their own curricula, based on the needs and strengths of their own schools, on the resources of their own localities and on their own interests and those of their children and their families.