2: Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London - Part 2

BBC Teach > School Radio > History > The Great Fire of London

Music 1 - Music 2 - Music 3 - Dance 1 - Dance 2 - Dance 3 - Drama 1 - Drama 2 - History 1

During the programme the children will:

Check their chronometers are set to 1666 at the City of London to travel back in time once again.
Repeat the baking actions from ‘Loaves of bread and puddings and pies’ (sifting, stirring and clapping with a neighbour).
Hear about the start of The Great Fire of London in Thomas Farrynor’s bakery.
Listen to snippets from Samuel Pepys’ diary.
Join in with a sound-picture about the start of The Great Fire of London using body-percussion and mouth sounds.
Sing the famous tune ‘London’s burning!’ with adapted words about ‘buckets’ and ‘fire-hooks’, focusing on gradually rising then falling.
With the class split into two groups, sing the 'London's burning!' song as a round in two parts (in canon), cued by blowing instruments (Group 1) and bell sounds (Group 2, starting a few moments afterwards).
Listen to more extracts from Samuel Pepys’ diary.
Join in in with another sound-picture about fire-fighting The Great Fire (using varied clapping and voice sounds) as it reaches its peak, then begins to die down.
Tap a repeating drum-rhythm and hum sad notes with the sad ‘Funeral music’ from last time (based on music by Purcell).
Think about health and safety at home and at school and how to avoid accidents.
Sing the whole of ‘London’s burning!’, once through the tune together, then dividing into two groups to sing the tune twice as a round (as above); then repeating ‘Pour on water...’ at the end, getting quieter and quieter.
Use the additional music files on the website to practise the song and appraise the music.