Topic plan: Journeys and transport (KS2)

Journeys and transport

A topic-based plan by Andy Brooke, offering six weeks of activities across the KS2 curriculum to integrate Song Bank songs with everyday classroom delivery.

A Chinese proverb says, “The journey, not the destination, is the reward.” This topic plan focuses on different types of journey, from the physical to the ‘inner’...

Take-off

Music, Speaking and Listening

• To launch the theme of ‘Transport and Journeys,’ explore a selection of these songs and use them to stimulate general discussion of different types of transport: Those magnificent men in their flying machines, Donkey riding (this is an interesting one, and does not actually relate to Equus africanus asinus!), Going over the sea, Life on board and Spaceship jam.
  
  

Inventing the wheel

History, Geography

• Brainstorm all the different types of transport the children can think of, then organise them according to historical or geographical criteria, foe example: pre-20th century and 20th century onwards.

• For children with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) or Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) in Literacy, use picture/word cards of each transport type.

• Produce a timeline of major developments in ‘transport,’ such as:

  3500 BC – Wheeled carts invented

  2000 – Horses domesticated and used for transport

  AD 770 – Iron horse-shoes invented

  1814 – George Stephenson invented first steam locomotive

  1885 – Karl Benz produced the first motor car

  1903 – The Wright brothers flew the first aeroplane

  1961 – Yuri Gagarin was the first man in outer space

  1969 – First manned mission to the Moon
  
  

Comparing journeys

History, English

Write non-fiction texts which highlight the differences.

• Compare a journey undertaken by a familiar or unfamiliar historical figure with the same journey as it would be made today. Brainstorm the mode of transport, the time needed to complete the journey, the living/travelling conditions, and the available equipment, for example. Younger children may have studied Florence Nightingale, including her journey to the Crimea. Other significant journeys might include:
  
  o Scott’s race for the South Pole
  o Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World
  o The journey of the Viking invaders
  
  
• Write non-fiction texts which highlight the differences.
  
  

Our own transport habits

Maths, ICT

• Discuss the journey to school. How many transport types are represented, and how many times does each feature in the class? Ask younger children to produce a tally and frequency chart to show this data, then convert the information into a bar graph. Older children could produce percentage figures or pie charts to illustrate their findings. Children will enjoy entering the information into a spreadsheet and producing graphs from there.

• Ask upper KS2 children to conduct a survey and find out which method of transport people have used in the last year: car, bus, tram/train, boat, ship/ferry/hovercraft, aeroplane, other. Ask them to organise their data and find the mode and challenge them to investigate the probability that a person has, say, travelled by aeroplane in the last year.
  
  

Personal and spiritual journeys

RE, SEAL

• Investigate different types of religious journey: physical travel, including pilgrimage and mission, and spiritual voyages, such as journeys of conscience, or of life and death. Pilgrim’s walking song can be used to promote discussion about the major pilgrimages for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists to suit your purposes – change the lyrics of Part C accordingly. Focusing on Christianity, use We three kings to investigate the journey undertaken by the Wise Men who followed the Star of Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus. Spirituals Swing low, sweet chariot and This train liken life to a journey which does not end in death but in Heaven; escape from slavery to freedom.

• Tie this in to the SEAL agenda, particularly the ‘Changes’ theme. Discuss the idea of adapting to change as a personal journey – brainstorm big changes that have occurred already, eg. starting school, and look ahead to changes in the future such as moving to high school and leaving school altogether. Ask children to think about unexpected changes, ensuring that this is handled sensitively. Can they think of any examples of when their behaviour has been affected by a change which has occurred? Is it normal to feel worried or nervous about expected and unexpected changes? Use the song Believe to support this work.
  
  

Journey for water

Geography, Citizenship/PSHE

• Sing I turn on the tap and discuss the lyrics, noting the two contrasting viewpoints. Ask children to make a list of the difficulties encountered by people in some less-developed countries who have to travel to collect stream water. How does this relate to the rights of children in the West? Look at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (download a summary from the Unicef website). Article 24 of this document states:
  
  Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that children can stay healthy. Richer countries must help poorer countries achieve this.

• Visit the WaterAid website. Set up a charity fundraising event in school, such as Walk for Water, to support people in poorer countries who have to journey daily for long distances to fetch water.
  
  

Use the force

Science, DT

• Sing Use the force and brainstorm what children already know about forces from their work in KS1. Investigate the effect of friction on a toy car by allowing it to roll down a slope covered in different surface textures. Discuss this in terms of real cars, and lead onto questions such as: when is friction desirable (eg. when applying brakes), and when is it detrimental (eg. when trying to move quickly)? What are some of the factors which affect the amount of friction (eg. weight of car, angle of slope, amount of ‘push,’ texture of surface)?

• Use the song Spaceship jam to stimulate discussion of space travel. Look at pictures of the Lunar Roving Buggy (nicknamed ‘moon buggy’) – there are thousands of images and videos on the internet. Introduce the idea of the children designing and constructing their own battery-powered model lunar buggies!
  
  

Creative Journeys

Art, Music , PE

• Use classroom percussion to create musical journeys – these could be as dramatic as a roller-coaster ride or as sublime as the journey of a river, from its source to the sea. How will the musical elements, such as texture, timbre and dynamics be used to describe the journey? Create a graphic score and add movement or dance for a more striking effect.
  
  

Other ‘Transport and journeys’ songs in the Song Bank include:

• Canoe song

• I do like to be beside the seaside

• She’ll be coming round the mountain

• Skye boat song

• Song train

• Where on earth is Rutland?