lesson ideas for ks2

LESSON IDEAS FOR KS2

THE AIM

These lesson ideas can be used with children throughout KS2. They are based on Amazing Transport, a beautifully illustrated new non-fi ction book by Tom Jackson that will take your class on a journey through the history of transportation. The lesson ideas included have been designed as sequential activities with cross-curricular objectives. Their overall objective is to give children the opportunity to explore and understand transport history as a chronological narrative and examine the similarities and differences of modes of transport through time.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Fasten your seat belts and get ready to zoom through the history of transport and discover incredible facts about all kinds of vehicles along the way.

Every day, all over the world, people are busy travelling – short hops or great, long voyages, moving slowly and steadily or racing along at super-fast speeds. They make their trips in cars, trains, planes, ships and on bikes – and some people even blast off in rockets!

Make your own amazing transport journeys as you explore timelines and discover the people and stories behind the machines that keep the world moving. Take a twist or turn and fi nd out what happened when the Freedom 7 blasted into space, race your way through Japan at lightning speed on the awesomely fast bullet train, set sail on a Viking longship and let the wind carry you away in a hot-air balloon with the Montgolfi er brothers.

With wonderfully intricate illustrations from Chris Mould, Amazing Transport tells the story of some of science's most recognisable inventions in a way you've never seen before. Prepare yourself for the journey of a lifetime.

illustrated new non-fi ction book by Tom Jackson that will take your class on a journey through the history of transportation. The lesson ideas included have been designed as sequential activities with cross-curricular objectives. Their overall objective is to give children the opportunity to explore and understand transport history as a chronological narrative and examine the similarities and differences of modes of transport through time.

Fasten your seat belts and get ready to zoom through the history of transport and discover incredible facts about all kinds of vehicles along

Every day, all over the world, people are busy travelling – short hops or great, long voyages, moving slowly and steadily or racing along at super-fast speeds. They make their trips in cars, trains, planes, ships and on bikes – and some people even blast off

Make your own amazing transport journeys as you explore timelines and discover the people and stories behind the machines that keep the world moving. Take a twist or turn and fi nd out what happened when the Freedom 7 blasted into space, race your way through Japan at lightning speed on the awesomely fast bullet train, set sail on a Viking longship and let the wind carry you away in a hot-air balloon with the

With wonderfully intricate illustrations from Chris tells the story of some

of science's most recognisable inventions in a way you've never seen before. Prepare yourself for the


RESOURCE PACK OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES

This resource pack provides material for three to four hour-long lessons. The pack uses non-fiction to cover History, Geography, Literacy, Design and Technology, Art and Design, PSHE and Citizenship objectives.

Lesson Idea 1: Terrific Transportation

Objectives: • To identify and classify different modes of transportation

• To work in teams to identify the similarities and differences of transport types

Outcomes: An annotated drawing of a vehicle and its features; a completed table of similarities/differences between transport types

Lesson Idea 2: Time Travel

Objectives: • To understand how transportation has changed or will change over time, and to give reasons for these changes

• To use empathy skills to write from the perspective of a person from a different historical period

Outcomes: A diary entry in role as a time traveller; a drama piece depicting a historical scene; a design for a vehicle of the future

Lesson Idea 3: The Transport Museum

Objectives: • To explore how different inventors contributed to the creation and development of different modes of transport

• To organise and classify information into a coherent, chronological or thematic display

Outcome: A class ‘Transport Museum’ presenting different modes of transport and how they have developed over time


LESSON IDEA ONE TERRIFIC TRANSPORTATION

Starter questions:

• What are some ways you can travel around today, locally and globally?

• How would it change your day if all the vehicles in your town disappeared?

Activity 1:Travelling Teams

First things first: before we can get started you need to organise your class into FIVE TRAVELLING TEAMS. Give each group a name from the book. You can travel by ...

Team 1: TRAIN

Team 2: BUS

Team 3: CAR

Team 4: AIRPLANE

Team 5: SUBMARINE

Team 6: SHIP

Lesson by lesson, you will gather the work that you have completed together in preparation for the final activities at the end of this pack.

Activity 2: How vehicles are classified

What makes a boat a boat? What makes a submarine a submarine? Explore the idea of how vehicles are classified in this activity.

In your groups, take a look at the pages of the book that match your team name. Discuss with your team the following things:

• In what ways has your mode of transportation always stayed the same?

• What features do you think define your mode of transportation?

On a large piece of paper, draw your team vehicle and label the things it must do or must have to qualify.

Activity 3: Compare and share

With your group decide which other type of transportation is most similar to yours. Once you’ve decided, take a trip to see that team!

Together in your new super-team, compare and contrast your two types of transportation. How are they similar? How are they different? Take notes, and complete the similarities and differences chart overleaf.

After five minutes, or at your teacher’s signal, visit one more team and compare your vehicles again. Present back to the class what you have found.

Extension questions:

1. What do all modes of transportation have in common?

2. What are some of the ways they are different?

3. Why do you think there are so many different modes of transportation?

Bonus challenge: On your way home, make a tally chart of the different types of transportation around you. Which transportation types do you see the most? Why do you think that might be? Consider where you live, e.g. in the city, near the sea, on a hill, etc.


MODES OF TRANSPORT FEATURES SIMILAR TO … DIFFERENT TO … NOTES

TRAIN

BUS

CAR

AIRPLANE

SUBMARINE

SHIP


LESSON IDEA TWO TIME TRAVEL

Starter questions:

• What are some ways you get around today?

• What do you know about how people travelled in the past?

Activity 1: I can’t believe my eyes

In the book, you can see how modes of transportation have changed over time.

Imagine a time traveller from the year 1700AD has just arrived in the middle of your town or city!

Pretending you are this time traveler, write a diary entry. What would you think about all the vehicles around you? How would you describe them? How do you think they would make you feel?

Activity 2: Lost in time!

Choose another era for your time traveller to visit, such as the late 1800s, the early 1900s, or even the 1990s! Then, using Amazing Transport or other sources (e.g. old newspaper articles, photographs, information online), research what transportation was like in the specific time period that you have chosen. What modes of transportation were there? What were the most popular modes of transportation?

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to plan a performance. One of you should be the lost time traveller who finds himself/herself in the past. The rest of the group should act out the scene by showing the different modes of transportation available in that era. The time traveller should interact with all the modes of transportation, and ask questions. Everyone else: be ready to explain your vehicle and its features to this poor, lost traveller!

Activity 3: Flash forward to the future

We’ve seen how transportation has changed in the past, but what do you think it will be like in the future?

Think about and discuss with your team why your mode of transportation has changed over time. Was it to go faster? To be safer? Or for a specific purpose? What evidence do you have to support your ideas? After you think about these questions design and draw a vehicle for the future! On a separate sheet of paper, write how you have adapted your vehicle and why. How will this future transportation be better than what we already have?

Activity 4: Create a future-scape:

With your team, colour and cut out your vehicles of the future, and on a large piece of paper work together to draw an environment for all of your future vehicles. What environment do your vehicles need? Will you need water? Sky? Think about what the buildings and land will look like in the future. Then place and glue your vehicles into the scenery.

Next, walk around and visit other teams’ ‘future-scapes’. Do they have the same or different ideas about what transportation will look like in the future?

Reflection questions:

1. Why has transportation changed over time?

2. What are some problems with transportation today?

Bonus challenge: At home, ask your family how transportation has changed during their lifetimes.


LESSON IDEA THREE THE TRANSPORT MUSEUM

Starter questions:

• Do you know any famous inventors? What did they invent?

• If you could invent anything what would it be?

Activity 1: Investigate an inventor

Using the book, find an inventor that you admire. What did they invent? When did they invent it?

Using a small piece of card or paper, write your inventor’s name down and stick it on yourself. Once everyone has chosen an inventor, walk around the room for a meet and greet and introduce yourself to other inventors. Then, when your teacher calls out a category, rush to find the group you fit into.

Potential categories include: bicycle inventors, steam vehicle inventors, invented something for flight, invented something in the past, invented something we use today, etc.

Activity 2: Around the world

Every type of transportation has relied on inventors from around the world to help it improve it over time. As a team, analyse the pages in the book that present your team’s mode of transportation. How many different countries are important to the development of your mode of transportation? Mark these places on a world map and write a short note about why they are important.

Activity 3: Out of this world

Rockets and spacecraft have enabled humans to go out of this world and explore space! The International Space Station (ISS) is human’s first permanent home in space (p.55). The current space station is only about the size of a football stadium and designed mostly to conduct scientific experiments. Imagine you are asked to draw the plans for a brand new space station for humans to live in, and this time it can be as big as you want! If you were going to live in space, what would you want to make sure your space station has? Draw your space station plans. Then share your ideas with your group.

Class challenge:

Now it’s time to put all your ideas together, and to create your own Transport Museum! Discuss with the class how you want to organise your museum. By time? By vehicle? By place? It’s up to you! Be sure to talk about the pros and cons of each display idea.

Once you’ve decided as a class how to organise all of your materials, arrange them in a way that your visitors will understand. Give each team a different job in constructing the museum.

When it’s ready, invite your friends from other classrooms and teachers to come and learn about the amazing history of transportation! And don’t forget to share your Transport Museums with us on Twitter at @KidsBloomsbury …

Rudolf Diesel

John Dunlop George

Stephenson

The Wright Brothers

Isambard Kingdom

Brunel

Leonardo da Vinci


REFLECTION ACTIVITIES

Take a moment to think about the work that you have completed.

In your groups, take turns to complete the following sentences:

• Some modes of transportation are .................................................................................................................................

• One way transportation has changed is ..........................................................................................................................

• Some people who changed transportation are...............................................................................................................

• I have enjoyed the book Amazing Transport because ....................................................................................................

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lesson ideas for ks2

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