We are all well and truly on the Topic train now. This half term our Topic is all about History and in particular, The Great Fire Of London.
We started our History journey thinking about timelines. We looked at the timeline for the day which we have in our classrooms. Using this, we learnt how important it is for events to be plotted in chronological order.
In class we discussed similarities between houses now and houses in the past. We sorted some of their features into a Venn diagram.
After learning how long ago The Great Fire Of London happened, we began to unpick some of the events that occurred during that time and ordered them in our groups. We wondered why people call it the Great Fire Of London because it doesn’t sound very great! We learnt that the word ‘great’ can also mean big.
This week we have begun to learn about Samuel Pepys and why he is such an important historic figure.
Here are some facts that we have learnt so far:
- We know that The Great Fire Of London happened in 1666
- We know it started on the 2nd of September.
- We know the fire blazed for three days.
- We know that the fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane.
- We know it was Thomas Farrinar’s bakery.
- We know that the fire spread quickly because the houses had been built from wood. They had also been built very close together.
- We know that houses today have been built in a much safer way!
- We know that 87 churches were destroyed.
- We know that there were no telephones or a Fire Brigade back then so people could not have called 999 for help.
Help at home: Discuss the facts around The Great Fire Of London with your child. Can you find out any more interesting or unusual facts? You could visit your local library to find out more.