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

Unit 7: Why did Henry VIII marry six times?
Section 7: Why did Henry marry Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr?

Objectives

Children should learn:

to recall knowledge of Henry's character
to give reasons for descriptions and points of view
to find out answers to specific questions using sources of information

Activities

Outcomes

Children:

Brainstorm what the children already know about Henry VIII. Ask them to write statement cards about Henry VIII that can be pinned to a wall display. Discuss with the children what they know and their evidence for their statements.

Ask the children to decide what else they would like to find out. Produce structured questions for them to answer, eg Who looked after Henry's children? Who else did Henry marry? What did Henry's children look like?

Give them a range of information sources and ask them to find the answers. Develop further statement cards to add to the display.

Tell the stories of Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, explaining why Henry married them. Develop statement cards about these marriages for the display.

make statements that identify key characteristics of Henry VIII
discuss the historical sources they have used as a basis for their statements

Points to note

This activity reinforces children's knowledge and understanding. In the first part, no new knowledge is introduced. In the second, they fill in any gaps they have identified. The research questions need to be sufficiently open-ended to ensure that the children will find an answer while structured enough to reduce the chance of them copying text.

Telling the story of the remaining two wives rounds off the history of Henry's marriages. It is important to stress that by marrying Catherine Howard, Henry allied himself with Catholic nobles, and by marrying Catherine Parr, with Protestant ones.

The children could complete a Tudor family tree.

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?