History at key stages 1 and 2 (Year 3/4)

Unit 6A: Why have people invaded and settled in Britain in the past? A Roman case study
Section 7: How did the Romans change Britain when they settled here?

Objectives

Children should learn:

about evidence that tells us about life in Roman Britain
ask and answer questions about what survived from the Roman settlement of Britain

Activities

Outcomes

Children:

Arrange a visit to a Roman site. Before the visit, tell the children that many Romans settled in Britain and introduced some of their customs and ways of life, eg towns, baths, new forms of religion and farming methods. Tell them that the Celts responded by building villas and adapting Roman styles of pottery and dress.

Ask the children to suggest what they would like to find out about on their visit. Develop a list of questions for them to use at the site. Take the children to the site and look for evidence of Roman lifestyles. Help the children to answer the prepared questions.

After the visit, ask the children to create a classroom display, or produce a child's guide to the site they visited.

select information about life in Roman Britain from a range of sources
present information to show understanding of the impact of Roman settlement on Britain

Points to note

It may be helpful to discuss with the children what happens to buildings when they are not used - that they might be demolished, or become decayed and eventually buried. Encourage them to think about which materials survive over long periods and which decay, and to suggest why more Roman buildings survive than Celtic ones.

These activities could be developed into a local study if there are Roman remains close to the school. Where a site visit is not possible, children could be asked to work from a variety of picture sources, texts and publications, for example those produced about a major Roman site.

To help with this part of the activity children could be given pictures of Roman artefacts from the site they will visit. Ask them to annotate the pictures, using different colours to show what they know, can guess at, or would like to know about each object.

Sections in this unit

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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.


	1. Why do people move away from where they were born?
	2. Who invaded and settled in Britain a long time ago?
	3. Who were the Celts and who were the Romans?
	4. Who was Boudica?
	5. What happened in AD 60?
	6. What were the short-term and long-term results of Boudica's revolt?
	7. How did the Romans change Britain when they settled here?