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

Unit 7: Why did Henry VIII marry six times?
Section 2: What was Henry VIII like as a person?

Objectives

Children should learn:

to ask and answer questions using a portrait as a source
about the appearance and character of Henry VIII
what information can be gathered about Henry VIII from portraits and written sources

Activities

Outcomes

Children:

Give the children a written description of Henry and ask them to underline the key descriptive words. Ask them to compare these words with what they have already heard about Henry VIII.

Give the children portraits of Henry VIII. Tell them to use the portraits to ask and answer as many questions as they can about the king's appearance.

Give the children some words describing Henry's character, eg dignified, fierce. Encourage them to add their own words. Ask the children to decide whether they think the portrait suggests the king had these attributes.

Use questions and answers to recap. Ask the children to write a brief description of Henry or annotate a picture to show his character.

identify features and characteristics from portraits
identify characteristics of Henry VIII from written sources
write about Henry VIII's character

Points to note

This activity draws on work done by the National Portrait Gallery Education Service.

Children's learning will need to be reinforced by whole-class discussions and by summarising points on the board or flip chart.

There are several contemporary descriptions of Henry that could be used for this activity. However, the language may need to be adapted to suit the children's reading level.

The children could be taught to use a 'frame' of suggested headings or a repeated introductory phrase to support the writing of descriptions of Henry VIII. The activity could be used to reinforce note-making skills and teaching how to expand notes into connected prose.

This activity could be extended by asking children to give their views, eg 'I think Henry was... because...'.

It could also be extended by looking at present-day interpretations.

Work on using portraits can be linked to art.

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. How many times did Henry VIII marry?
	2. What was Henry VIII like as a person?
	3. What did Henry VIII do all day?
	4. Why did Henry divorce Catherine of Aragon?
	5. Did marrying Anne Boleyn or Jane Seymour solve Henry's problems?
	6. Why did the marriage to Anne of Cleves fail?
	7. Why did Henry marry Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr?
	8. Why did Henry marry six times?