Great Fire of London Planning

Aims of the topic:

Substantive knowledge – to know that the fire started on 2nd September 1666 and burned for 3 days. That the fire is thought to have started in Pudding Lane, London. To name other landmarks in London (including River Thames, Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, the city wall) and be able to discuss how they were affected by, or altered, the course of the fire. To name key people alive in 1666 (including Thomas Farriner, King Charles II, Samuel Pepys/John Evelyn) and what part they played in the events.

Second order knowledge – to discuss how the fire could have started and what factors made it spread. To discuss the effects of the fire on the City of London and the impact it had on the people who lived and worked there. To compare and contrast London before and after the fire. To discuss the development of firefighting as a consequence of the fire.

Learning Objectives /

Teaching Activities

/

Vocabulary

/ Learning Outcomes
Lesson 1
Why is the Great Fire of London significant?
To discuss and understand the significance of the Great Fire of London
  • to locate London, think about our location in relation to London (distance and size) and name London as the capital city of England.
  • To explain why it is an important event when the capital city is devastated as London was
  • to compare images of London now and in 1666 and discuss the consequences of the fire
/ Introduce the children to the topic by teaching them the old rhyme:
“In sixteen hundred and sixty-six,
London burnt like rotten sticks.”
Use powerpoint Why is the Great Fire of London significant?
What does "significant" mean?
Where is London and where are we?
London was the capital city of England.
What was in London that made it important/significant?
How did the fire change London?
What was it like before the fire? How was it different after the fire?
Make notes on the differences on flipchart to refer to later
[Discuss landmarks, buildings, streets including materials, lighting etc]
The fire was significant because of where it was, but also because of how huge it was:
Use Map of London - grid work (available on TES)
This is a map of London in 1666 - the grid allows us to mark key points.
Explain how to use the grid to mark things on the map.
Compare maps and check if you have marked the same areas.
Big Question:
Did more good things or bad things come out of the Great Fire of London?
Eg think about the danger and destruction, but weighed again the improvements after the fire and whether you would rather live in houses in 1666 or now?
Emphasise that there is no right or wrong answer to this and it might be a mixture of both. Use discussion in pairs, groups and possibly finish with a "conscience alley" where children choose a side and each whisper their arguments to someone (eg teacher) walks between them down the alley. / significant
continuity and change
cause and consequence
similarity and difference
Parliament
Royal Court
“The fire was significant because…”
Language when using map:
next to
between
across
near to / Children have an understanding of London's importance as a centre of government and communication in 17th century
Children understand how destructive the fire was and can name ways in which it changed the city.
Lessons 2
When was the Great Fire of London and what happened?
  • to place 1666 on a long-term timeline and understand it as part of our long-term chronological history
  • to order the events of the Great Fire
/ Explain a timeline:
Use Timeline activity resource on TES
Dates are numbers and you can put them in order. Like a number line we start with the smallest number on the left and put numbers/years further along the line as they get bigger (model).
Give groups a set of cards (big timeline on TES) and piece of string. Ask children to put the cards in order using the dates at the top.
Compare the order of different groups by making a human timeline at the front with groups contributing by placing them correctly and checking their table timeline.
Fine tune the timeline by grouping and spacing events to reflect different gaps in the timeframe ie 1665 is directly before 1666 but there is a larger gap between 1666 and 2012.
Big Question: why do we need to put events in history into order? Discuss how one event might cause another. Relate events 1665 and 1666. Some people believe that the fire stopped the plague spreading. Why do they think that? Are there other events on the timeline that relate to each eg creation of a working computer was reliant on electricity source to work.
Teach the sequence of events of the Great Fire
Read Vlad and the Great Fire of London or use an interactive resource eg Museum of London (see useful websites at the end of this document for full listings of websites). Ensure dates and order of events are clearly noted and refer to them during the telling.
Use Great Fire timeline resource on TES. All the events happened in 1666 but the principle is the same to put the first on the left and work towards the right.
Differentiation:
AA: Put events in order. Add the end date and other details you have found out eg Samuel Pepys burying the cheese, Charles II visiting the firefighters. Write at least one sentence beneath each picture describing what is happening at that moment.
A: Put events in order. Add additional information including the date when the fire was finally out. Add at least one sentence to three of the pictures.
BA: Put the events in order and add the date when the fire was finally out. / Timeline
Order (chronological order)
more recent
longer ago
between
years
century
x happened because of……. / Children understand what a timeline is.
Children can place events in the correct order on a timeline. More able children can make judgements about how far apart events were.
Children can relate events that are related through cause and consequence.
Lesson 3
How can we describe fire?
  • To have seen a flame and recognise how to describe it using the correct vocabulary
/ On each table put a tea light candle. Explain that big fires are dangerous, but we can look at a small version of it by watching the flame on a candle. Set rules about not touching the flame.
Children draw a flame in the centre of their page and brainstorm words using all senses. Share ideas on table using a different coloured pencil to put shared ideas down. Share with class recording new class ideas in new colour (you will then see their own ideas and all children will have a resource for their writing)
  • Is the flame the same colour at the top and bottom?
  • What happens if you blow gently across the flame (without blowing it out)
  • When you do blow it out what happens to the wick of the candle? What can you smell?
Alternatively create a larger poster on each table and put up on the wall
Using a large picture of the Great Fire of London children write in the first person about what they can see/hear/smell/feel around them. Leave candles on the table during the writing and put up a Youtube film of a fireplace burning eg

Combine activity with a visit from a safety officer from your local Fire Brigade or possibly a Fire Engine visit (although this is more risky as they are on call and may not arrive or have to leave suddenly) / Fire, flame, smoke, ash
It looks…
It smells…
It feels….
I can hear…..
Questions for visitors using root question words. / Children can use a range of vocabulary to describe fire
Lesson 4
How did the fire start and why did London burn?
  • To understand how the fire started
  • To understand what factors made the fire spread
Teacher note:Because of frequent fires there had been a law passed that roofs should be tiled not thatched. However, people could not afford to rip off good roofs so, unless they were damaged, there were still likely to be a mixture, and many thatched roofs still existed. / Recap on what we found out about London before the Fire of London. Refer to flipchart on ‘How London was different’ from lesson 1. What factors might have anything to do with a fire? What might cause a fire? What might make it spread? What does and doesn’t burn?
Share pictures now and in 1666.
use pictures of 1660s and now: wooden vs. brick housing, candle vs. electric light, open fire vs modern cooker, fire brigade then and now. Children to sort out into which would you find in the 1660s and which would you find in a modern house. (Provide frame for sticking or draw in books). Discuss which are safer and why.
Share information on why fire started and why it burnt for so long. Teacher scribe.
Discuss whether some factors are more important than others when discussing how the fire started. What factors were more important when talking about how the fire spread?
Big Question: Looking at the where the fire started and where it spread, why isn’t the start in the middle of the fire?
Discuss wind, places that soldiers wanted to protect (Tower of London which contained huge quantities of explosives) / Wooden walls
Wattle and daub
Thatched roofs
Open fires
Wood burning ovens
Candles
The fire started because….
Past tense verbs:
Burned
Spread
Started
Caused / Children can explain how the fire probably started with a clear understanding of cause and effect.
Children can give reasons why the fire spread. They understand which materials are more flammable and why most houses are now made from bricks and tiles.
Some children can discuss which factors were more impactful (eg close wooden houses over winds blowing from the East).
Lessons 5
How do we know what happened?
  • to understand different sources of information written and visual
  • to consider eye witness accounts
/ Recap on what we have learnt about the Great Fire. How do we know what happened? In talk partners discuss how we find out about news events today - tv, radio newspapers etc. In talk partners: What about for events from past? - books, photos, artifacts etc. Introduce idea of eye-witness. (Demonstrate by sending 2 ch to another class to be eye witnesses. They observe and come and report what happened.) Show picture of Samuel Pepys on IWB. Who might he be? When did he live? Talk about diaries. Are they fiction or non-fiction? Read some of his diary and show extract on IWB, (following link has good game and links, the photos show pictures of the diary and what he wrote in it)

For quotes from the diary:

In groups: Look at extracts and note how Samuel Pepys felt during the fire. Look at different entries and refer to the timeline to ensure children understand how far into the fire different statements were made. Write feelings on a group sheet to refer to.
Children take another character from the events eg the baker, a firefighter, and write a diary entry from their perspective about what they saw and did.
For a fictional character narrating the events use Vlad and the Great Fire of London.
How and why did the Fire end? Read extract from Pepys diary.
Big Question:
Can we always trust eye-witness accounts? Why might they not tell all the story? Do people always remember everything they see? [discuss whether one person would see all the events when it is such a big fire] Would the story written in 1666 be more likely to be accurate than someone writing about it 50 years later? Why? / Eye witness
Diary
Proclamation
Maps
First person, present tense for diary written at the time of the fire / Children understand that we can use different sources to find out about events such as pictures, maps and written records.
Some children will be able to make judgements about different sources and whether they are reliable.
Lessons 6
How did they try to stop the fire?
  • To understand what equipment people used to fight the fire and how effective it was
  • To understand how the modern fire service works and how this has impacted on fighting fires now
Teacher note: In 1666 firefighting relied on volunteers who collected equipment from a local central point eg church or hall. In big situations like this soldiers became involved under the orders of King Charles II. The organisation would have been unco-ordinated between different areas as communication would have relied on runners taking messages. / Depending on whether you have had a visit relating to modern firefighting you may need to alter the focus of the activity.
Look at pictures of firefighters in 1666 including woodcut pictures, re-enactments or illustrations eg Vlad and the Great Fire of London spread.
Look at Great Fire of London wordmat on TES and ensure children understand terms: leather bucket/water pump or water squirter/fire hook. Practise the actions needed for each: reaching up and pulling for fire hook; filling, passing and throwing for leather bucket; in pairs holding and one pushing and pulling pump to squirt water.
Teacher in role as seventeenth century firefighter.
Ask children to work in pairs to think of questions to ask the teacher/firefighter about the firefighting. If you have children who are confident they could take firefighter role for a few questions.
Watch a video about modern firefighting eg:

[Please watch and check content before showing]
In groups discuss similarities and differences between firefighters now and then. / Leather buckets
Fire hooks
Water squirters
Fire breaks
Gunpowder
Volunteers
Explosion
Question words
Fire engines
Hoses
Air cylinders
Ladders / Children understand how people combated the fire in 1666
Children understand that we now have a professional modern service to fight fires. Many children also understand that it was the devastation of fires like the Great Fire that caused the development of new equipment and fire service.
Lesson 7
What happened to the people who lost their homes in London?
  • to consider the consequences of the fire, both immediately after and in the following years
  • to contrast the impact of disasters now and in the past
/ Look at the resources Great Fire of London and refugees after the fire.
Children look at what happened to Londoners who had to leave their homes.
Refer back to the timeline and the things that have been invented and have happened since 1666. Would someone have taken their phone when escaping the Great Fire of London? Discuss why this would not have been possible. This activity is really useful for identifying misconceptions and checking if children have a good understanding of what life in 1666 was like.
Use differentiated sheets from TES that record similarities and differences between refugees in 1666 and now. / Fields
Refugees
Escape
Rescue
Need / want
Similarities
Differences / Children understand the impact that the fire had on people’s lives and businesses.
Children understand that it was a long-term issue and it took many years for London to be rebuilt.
Children empathise with populations that have had to leave their homes, whether separated by history or geography.

Useful resources and websites for Great Fire of London

My website with free resources that can be used with or without this plan. Information about storytelling visits where I come into school to read Vlad and the Great Fire of London and do activities with the children.

images of original maps, documents and records with ideas how to use them

animation of London in 1666 before the fire (also available on vimeo if you cannot access youtube at school).

an interactive website developed by Museum of London, London Metropolitan Archives, Guildhall Art Gallery, The Monument, Arts Council England and City of London Corporation.

Museum of London website with specific link through to the Fire, fire exhibition and linked information.

BBC website with images, links and games relating to Samuel Pepys

quotes from Samuel Pepys’ diary

day in the life of Nigel who is a firefighter with Derbyshire fire service

daily Pepys entry in his diary (be careful using extracts from the diary and always check them – Pepys diary was not written for children and often featured adult content)