Objectives: To suggest reason/s why Pocahontas helped the English settlers in America; to suggest reason/s why the King of England wanted to see Pocahontas when she came to England.
National Curriculum: Offer reasons why some people did particular things; ask and answer questions about people, events and life at different times; recall some details about the life of a famous person; describe what stories can tell them about the past; suggest some simple types of evidence that would tell them about a given person.
Resources required: The online story of Pocahontas; prepared worksheets 1) picture of Pocahontas with speech bubble 2) picture of King James I with speech bubble.
Teaching Activities: Introduction: discussion with children to explore the concept of 'motivation'. Why do you come to school? Why do you like to play with your friends? If, whilst you were playing, someone fell down, what would you do? Why would you do that? Has anyone here seen the Queen? Where did you see her? Who do you think the Queen asks to see? [Hopefully some children will start to mention 'important people'; people who have done important things]. It would be useful to have a picture of the Queen talking to some people at Buckingham Palace e.g. investiture ceremony. Ask the children to recall the main events of the story of Pocahontas, drawing out some details about how Pocahontas helped the English settlers, and what happened when Pocahontas came to England.
Activities:
Each child is given a photograph of a woman today, placed on A3 paper; write words on the A3 sheet to identify the clothes she is wearing. Talk about outcomes, and words you could use to describe the items.
Introduce one of the worksheets.
Children pretend they are Pocahontas - why did you help the English settlers? or King James - why did you want to see Pocahontas? and write reason/s why inside the speech bubble.
Some children could record their answers on a tape recorder. They could interview each other like newspaper reporters.
Plenary: Share outcomes. What reasons have children given? Compare and consider which ones are most appropriate.
