Introduction
The history of our localities, towns and cities can shed light on the changes, movements and developments seen by society over time. The collections held by Salford Local History Library can help you get to grips with using your locality to teach insightful history to your pupils. These activities are designed to be used alongside a range of local history resources, such as those available through the Digital Salford website www.salford.photos. You can also arrange a visit to Salford Local History Library, where you can access other fascinating material including census records, trade directories, books, newspaper articles and much more. These activities provide a starting point for lesson planning, and can be adapted to suit Key Stages 1-4 as appropriate. They can also be adapted to suit different abilities, themes and geographical areas.
Activities
Starter Activity - Local Knowledge
All the activities would be enhanced by the pupils having the chance to speak to someone who has lived in the area and talking about changes in their lifetime.
- The person could be asked to come into school for a ‘question and answer’ session – pupils could compile a list of questions after looking at the resources.
- The person could lead the walk around an area – pointing out changes.
- Pupils could be asked to consider how ‘memories’ can be backed up with information from other sources.
Plenary Activity - Using photographs as historical evidence
This activity will help pupils develop an understanding of the pros and cons of using photographs as historical evidence.