UKS2 Topic Overview: Earliest Civilisations: Ancient Sumer

Place the Ancient Sumer civilisation in the context of world history and compare it to Britain at the time of its existence. Learn about life in Ancient Sumer, how the people lived, what they did, how they worshipped and what they have left behind for us to discover.

Block / Key NC Objectives / Main creative outcomes
Block A
Introducing Ancient Sumer
(4 sessions) / History, English,Geography andArt
  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
  • Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’ and ‘civilisation’.
  • Understand historical concepts such as similarity, difference and significance.
  • Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between economic, military, political, religious and social history, and between short- and long-timescales.
  • Draw on reading and research where necessary.
  • Identify the audience for and purpose of writing, selecting the appropriate form.
  • Use further presentational devices to structure text.
  • Use other similar writing as models for their own.
  • Continue to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of poetry.
  • Make comparisons across texts.
  • Locate the world’s countries, using maps and focussing on their environmental regions and key physical characteristics.
  • Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features.
  • Describe and understand key aspects of physical and human geography.
  • Improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and working with clay.
/ Place the Ancient Sumer civilisation on a world history timeline and understand what Britain was like at the time. Learn about the rise and fall of the Sumerian civilisation and the invasion by the Akkadians. Read the legend of Sargon the Great, understand the revival and then further decline of Sumerian civilisation, including the invasion by the Elamites, read the Lament of Ur and write a lament of your own.
Block B
Ancient Sumerian Daily Life
(6 sessions) / History,English,Geography,Art andDT
  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
  • Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
  • Use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically.
  • Identify purpose of writing and select appropriate form.
  • Describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including types of settlement and land use.
  • Use maps to locate countries and describe features studied.
  • Describe and understand key aspects of economic activity including trade links.
  • Improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and working with clay.
  • Generate, develop and communicate their ideas through discussion and sketches.
/ Discover the lives of Ancient Sumerians and learn why they began to live in cities rather than villages. Learn how neighbourhoods were planned and discover how society was divided into different social classes. Learn about education, farming, clothing and much more as you explore daily life!
Block C
Ancient Sumerian Religion
(4 sessions) / History, Maths andEnglish
  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
  • Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
  • Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history, and between short- and long-timescales.
  • Identify 3D shapes from 2D representations.
  • Draw 2D shapes using given dimensions and angles.
  • Recognise, describe and build simple 3D shapes, including making nets.
  • Note and develop initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary.
  • Use further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader.
  • Participate in role play.
  • Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction.
  • Use devices to build cohesion.
/ Learn the significance of temples to the Ancient Sumerians as the homes of gods and goddesses. Discover the structure of a ziggurat and the significance of its shape.Learn about some of the main Ancient Sumerian gods and goddesses and priests. Discover beliefs about death and the afterlife and discuss the evidence we use to support our knowledge.
Block D
Inventions
(7 sessions) / History,Science,Art,MathsandEnglish
  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
  • Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history, and between short- and long-timescales.
  • Recognise that some mechanisms allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.
  • Identify the effects of friction that acts between moving surfaces.
  • Describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system.
  • Use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky.
  • Compare materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness and their melting temperature.
  • Understand and use mechanical systems in their products.
  • Generate, develop and communicate their ideas through discussion and cross-sectional and exploded diagrams.
  • Select from and use a range of materials and components.
  • Evaluate their products against their design criteria.
  • Improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing and sculpture with clay.
  • Record their observations.
  • Y5 Identify factors, including finding all factor pairs of a number.
  • Solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
  • Know angles are measured in degrees.
  • Identify angles.
  • Calculate areas of rectangles.
  • Calculate areas of triangles.
  • Recognise angles meeting at a point total 360°.
  • Continue to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of non-fiction.
  • Increase their familiarity with texts from other cultures.
  • Explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read.
  • Participate in performances.
  • Listen and respond appropriately to their peers.
  • Articulate and justify opinions.
  • Give well-structured explanations.
  • Participate actively in collaborative conversations.
  • Use spoken language to develop understanding.
  • Consider and evaluate different viewpoints.
/ The people of Ancient Sumer were amazing inventors. Be introduced to their greatest achievements, including the wheel, writing, astronomy and metal-working.
Block E
Literature
(4 sessions) / HistoryandEnglish
  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
  • Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history, and between short- and long-timescales.
  • Read an increasingly wide range of fiction and poetry.
  • Increase their familiarity with a wide range of books including myths, legends and traditional stories from other cultures and traditions.
  • Participate in discussion about books they have read.
  • Infer characters feelings, thoughts and motives.
  • Summarise the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph.
  • Make comparisons across books.
  • Identify themes and conventions in a range of writing.
  • Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
  • Select the appropriate form and use other similar writing as models for their own.
  • Note and develop initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary.
  • Describe settings, characters and atmosphere and integrate dialogue to convey character and advance the action.
  • Assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing.
  • Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors.
  • Perform others’ compositions.
/ Learn about the earliest recorded story; Gilgamesh and his battles with demons; compare to other flood myths including Noah’s ark and conclude this block by writing your own myth inspired by the ancient stories of this region.

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