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Year 4 · The Romans in Britain

Putting the Romans on a timeline

Develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study

25 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study

Key learning points

  • • BC counts backwards
  • • Centuries can trick you
  • • The Roman story in order
  • • Why order matters

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 20 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

chronologicallysecureknowledgebritishhistory

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 20 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 20

Watch first

Putting the Romans on a timeline

Find out how a small city by a river grew into a mighty empire.

In a nutshell

Develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 20

Before we start

What you already know

You can order numbers and count back past zero.

Recap: y4-maths-7Recap: y4-history-1
3

Key words

Part 3 of 20

Key words

Words you'll need today

timeline
A line with dates in order, earliest first.
century
A hundred years.
BC
Years counted backwards from about two thousand years ago.
period
A named stretch of time, like 'Roman Britain'.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 20

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Reading a timeline

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 20

Learn

BC counts backwards

Dates before AD 1 are called BC, and they count backwards, exactly like negative numbers. 55 BC is earlier than 27 BC. To work out how long between 55 BC and AD 43, count the years to zero (55) then the years forwards (43), which gives 98 years.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 20

Learn

Centuries can trick you

The years 100 to 199 are the second century, because the first hundred years are the first century. So AD 122, when Hadrian's Wall was begun, is in the second century. Say it out loud a few times — it catches out adults too.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 20

Quick check

Which is earlier?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 20

Quick check

How many years from AD 43 to AD 410?

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 20

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 20

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Roman Britain in order

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 20

Learn

The Roman story in order

55 BC Caesar raids. AD 43 Claudius invades. AD 60 Boudica's rising. AD 122 Hadrian's Wall begun. Around AD 410 Roman soldiers and officials leave for good. That is nearly four hundred years of Roman Britain — longer than the time from the first Queen Elizabeth to now.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 20

Learn

Why order matters

If you get the order wrong, causes stop making sense. Boudica could not have burned a Roman town before the Romans arrived. When you write history, you check the order first and then ask what led to what.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 20

Quick check

AD 122 is in which century?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 20

Quick check

Put these in order: Boudica's rising, Claudius invades, Caesar raids.

15

Investigate evidence

Part 15 of 20

Evidence 1 of 1

object

Roman objects from Britain

People living in Roman Britain, 1st–4th century AD

Coins, pottery, jewellery, writing tablets and tools found across Britain and now catalogued in museum collections.

Objects are dated by where they were found and what they were found with. That dating is what lets historians build a timeline at all.

Think like a historian

A coin has an emperor's head on it. How could that single object help you date everything found next to it?

Source: The British Museum, online collection

View the archive record ↗
16

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 20

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Thinking 55 BC is later than 27 BC because 55 is bigger.
  • Calling AD 122 the first century.
  • Assuming Roman Britain was short. It lasted nearly 400 years.
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 20

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 20

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

When you write ____, you check the order first and then ask what led to what.

19

Mastery quiz

Part 19 of 20

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

20

Lesson round-up

Part 20 of 20

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
  2. What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
  3. How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

Roman objects from Britain

object

People living in Roman Britain, 1st–4th century AD

Coins, pottery, jewellery, writing tablets and tools found across Britain and now catalogued in museum collections.

Objects are dated by where they were found and what they were found with. That dating is what lets historians build a timeline at all.

Source: The British Museum, online collection

View the original record ↗

  • Source work

    Reading

    Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.

    2 paragraphs

  • Essay answer

    Writing

    Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.

    300–400 words

  • Timeline

    Diagram

    Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.

    6–8 events

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 20 · Watch & discover

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