Shropshire Routes to Roots

Ideas and resources for teachers

Introduction

The Desperate times theme has been written for teachers to use with a Key Stage 2 class, online using an interactive whiteboard. With the help of the images, and perhaps the The Workhouse: Glossary page (Opens in a new window), pupils should be able to understand the basic concepts in the story.

National Curriculum

In particular, the theme is related to the DFES Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2, Unit 11: 'What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain?'. Through following the story of the Davies family, pupils should get some idea of the hardships facing families in poverty.

Worksheets

Although the interactive story is intended to be used online, it could be followed up by a paper exercise:

• A Victorian diary (Opens in a new window).
  Children write a diary based on the choices they made in the story. Print out the 'printer-friendly' Diary worksheet and distribute it to the class.

You could then move on to look at the Workhouse theme, and do an extended piece of writing based on the ideas and story within it.

Alternative approaches

This theme could be combined with other parts of the Routes to Roots website, in order to create your own lesson ideas. In particular, you might want to look at:

• The Victorian crime and detection Timeline (Opens in a new window) to provide a simple background chronology.
• Industrial development: Exploring industrialisation takes sources such as a census and diary to illustrate what life was like in the industrial area of Wrockwardine in the nineteenth century.
• The Transport and communication: The day the canal came theme shows how life changed with the arrival of the canal in Market Drayton.

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