The Shang Dynasty

Shang Dynasty KS2 lesson planning pack – six lessons packed with everything you need to teach your Year 5 or Year 6 children about this fascinating and pivotal era in Chinese history, full of innovation and advances.

Your KS2 class will find out what the Bronze Age was like in China, consulting ancient history books and archaeological finds to compare evidence and draw conclusions about a wide range of features, meaning that your class can not only improve their historical knowledge but also their historical enquiry skills.

With lesson plans, informative slides for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas, worksheets, picture cards, challenges and many other printable resources, this Shang Dynasty KS2 planning pack contains all you need to guide your class to an understanding of this fascinating period in ancient Chinese history. It's all planned and ready to deliver, meaning you can teach a series of great Shang Dynasty lessons without having to spend hours of your own time researching and planning.

You may also like our China Topic Bundle with four ready-to-teach China-themed schemes of work for History, Geography, Art and DT.

A Knowledge Organiser is available to support the learning in this scheme. It is included in the Complete Series download or can be purchased individually.

 

Where and When

When did the Shang dynasty start? When did it end? Where in the world was the Shang dynasty in power? Your KS2 class will find out the answers to all these questions and more in the first lesson of this Shang Dynasty scheme of work as they are introduced to this important period in ancient Chinese history. Your Year 5 or Year 6 class will explore what a dynasty is, and where and when the Shang Dynasty were in power, before looking at the differences between what the history books written circa 200 B.C. say about the Shang Dynasty and the more recent archaeological evidence.

This detailed lesson comes fully prepared and ready to teach to your class. There's a lesson plan with differentiated activities, a slideshow for the teaching input and a range of printable resources to support and challenge your children as they work independently.

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Shang Dynasty Kings

In this Shang Dynasty Kings KS2 History lesson, your Year 5 or Year 6 class will get the chance to do some historical detective work as they look at the evidence surrounding the first ten Shang Dynasty kings. The history books and the archaeological evidence present two different pictures but which source is more reliable? Give them the chance to explore as they attempt to put the kings in order according to the evidence.

This lesson is perfect for helping to develop your children's historical enquiry and critical thinking skills, and comes completely ready to deliver. There's an easy-to-follow lesson plan, differentiated activity ideas, a slideshow for the teaching input, and a range of printable resources to support your class in their independent learning activities.

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The Tomb of Fu Hao

This lesson unearths some of the historical gems that have been found in the Shang Dynasty tombs of royalty, in particular the tomb of Fu Hao. The included slideshow presentation goes through some information about different objects that have been found in Shang Dynasty tombs and challenges your class to consider what we can learn from them.

During their independent learning tasks, your class can then look in more detail at the tomb of Fu Hao, which was discovered untouched in the 1970s. Alternatively, there is also the opportunity to make their own Shang 'ding' out of clay.

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Daily Life

In this Shang Dynasty Daily Life lesson for KS2 children, your class will explore what life was like for the ordinary people of the Shang Dynasty era. They will discover what towns, cities and homes were like, as well as looking at some of the ways in which people earned a living through farming and craftsmanship. They will also find out about societal structure, looking at which type of people had most and least power and influence.

This Shang Dynasty Daily Life planning pack comes fully prepared and ready to teach, including a lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support children as they learn about the daily lives of people living during the Shang dynasty.

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Oracle Bones

This Oracle Bones KS2 History lesson explores how the Shang Dynasty was the first civilisation in China to leave written evidence of its existence on oracle bones, as well as how they were the first people in China to develop a calendar.

The included slideshow for the teaching input starts by exploring what the oracle bones were, how they were used and what we can learn of the Shang Dynasty from them. Your class can then have a go at deciphering and writing Shang pictographs for themselves during their independent learning activities!

This lesson comes fully planned and ready to teach with a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activities and a range of printable resources.

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End of the Dynasty

The final lesson in this series explores how the end of the Shang Dynasty came about. Your KS2 class will read the story of how the Zhou army attacked and took over the Shang palace, ending the Shang Dynasty. Your class will read some evidence in the oldest Chinese poetry book and think about its reliability as a historical source, before expressing the story in a variety of ways.

This End of the Shang Dynasty lesson comes completely planned and ready to teach, including a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support children during their independent learning.

View Lesson 6

This Year 5/6 History Knowledge Organiser has been created to complement our History 'Early Civilisations' strand. It is designed to support your children’s understanding of key vocabulary linked to this scheme of work. Enquiry questions have been included to encourage your children to think like a historian within this topic.

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