In History, Year Two have been learning about Henry VIII and Elizabeth II.
To begin, the children learned all about the Henry’s family tree. The children learned that Henry VIII was never meant to be king. His older brother Arthur died in battle, so Henry became the next king of England. Next, the children learned that Henry had six wives. However, he wasn’t always a very nice husband. The children completed a fact file for each wife to show how their marriage to Henry ended. The boys and girls learned a rhyme to help them remember – divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. The children couldn’t believe that Henry was allowed to chop off their heads. After that, the children learned about the types of food Henry liked to eat. They compared Henry’s diet to that of his servants. Henry enjoyed delicious food, including jelly and game pie. However, his servants ate mutton and bread. The children decided that Henry VIII was very unhealthy because he ate food containing lots of fat and sugar.
The children also completed a family tree for Elizabeth II. They learned that she had four children – King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Price Edward. Then, the boys and girls found out what happened at Elizabeth’s coronation. Did you know a coronation is a special ceremony when a monarch is crowned? They watched part of the coronation from 1953. From this, they identified some key features, including the crown, orb and sceptre. The children drew and labelled these features on a mindmap. Year Two were very interested in King Charles III’s upcoming coronation and are looking forward to spotting some of the things they saw at Elizabeth II’s. The boys and girls also learned about Elizabeth II’s funeral. The children could remember that this happened very recently. Interestingly, they noticed that lots of things seen at her coronation were also seen at her funeral. However, there were some differences. When the National Anthem was sung at Elizabeth’s funeral, everybody sang “God save the King!” This was because our new monarch is a king, not a queen. Also, there was a two minute silence to remember our longest reigning monarch.
