Local Landmarks: Then and NowActivities & Teaching Strategies
Active learning immerses children in their immediate environment, making history tangible and relevant. By stepping outside the classroom to observe and compare local landmarks, pupils connect abstract concepts like change over time to concrete experiences they can see and touch.
Learning Objectives
- 1Identify significant buildings or natural features in the local area.
- 2Compare visual representations of a local landmark from different time periods.
- 3Describe changes or similarities observed in a local landmark over time.
- 4Predict potential future changes to a local landmark based on current observations.
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Field Trip: Landmark Spotting Walk
Plan a safe walk around school and nearby areas to identify 3-4 landmarks. Provide clipboards for pupils to sketch or note features. Back in class, discuss observations and match to prepared modern photos.
Prepare & details
What important places can you spot in our local area?
Facilitation Tip: During the Landmark Spotting Walk, give each pair a simple checklist with pictures of landmarks to locate, ensuring all children have a role in spotting key features.
Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter
Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback
Pairs: Then and Now Photo Match
Print pairs of old and new images of local landmarks. Pupils in pairs describe similarities and differences using sentence stems like 'Before, it was... Now, it is...' Share findings with the class.
Prepare & details
What do you notice when you compare an old picture of a local landmark with what it looks like today?
Facilitation Tip: For the Then and Now Photo Match activity, provide magnifying glasses to help pupils closely examine details in the photographs before pairing them with current views.
Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter
Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback
Small Groups: Future Landmark Designs
Show current landmark photos. Groups discuss and draw how it might look in 50 years, adding features like new shops or trees. Present drawings and explain reasons for changes.
Prepare & details
How do you think this local place might look different in the future?
Facilitation Tip: In the Future Landmark Designs task, give small groups a set of blank cards to record ideas before sketching, so all voices contribute to the final design.
Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter
Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback
Whole Class: Timeline Sorting
Prepare cards with images and labels for a landmark's past, present, and predicted future. Class sorts them into order on a large timeline, discussing evidence for positions.
Prepare & details
What important places can you spot in our local area?
Facilitation Tip: During Timeline Sorting, use large, durable cards that pupils can physically move and rearrange to reinforce chronological thinking.
Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter
Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback
Teaching This Topic
Teachers should model close observation by narrating what they notice in old and new photographs, then guide pupils to do the same. Avoid assuming pupils will automatically see differences—explicitly teach comparison strategies like side-by-side analysis. Research suggests young children grasp chronological concepts better through concrete, visual timelines than abstract explanations, so prioritize hands-on sorting over verbal explanations of dates.
What to Expect
Successful learning looks like pupils confidently identifying landmarks, describing differences between past and present views, and explaining simple reasons for these changes. They should use vocabulary like 'then,' 'now,' 'before,' and 'after' accurately during discussions and activities.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring the Then and Now Photo Match activity, pupils may assume landmarks always looked identical.
What to Teach Instead
Guide paired discussions by asking pupils to highlight three differences and three similarities between the old and new photographs. Use questioning like, 'What do you see in the background that wasn’t there before?' to direct attention to changes such as added roads or new buildings.
Common MisconceptionDuring the Then and Now Photo Match activity, children think past life lacked colour.
What to Teach Instead
Provide a mix of black-and-white and coloured photographs or drawings. Ask groups to sort them into 'old' and 'new,' then discuss why some old images are black-and-white. Compare a black-and-white photo with a coloured version of the same landmark to clarify the difference.
Common MisconceptionDuring the Landmark Spotting Walk, pupils overlook local relevance of history.
What to Teach Instead
Before the walk, ask pupils to interview family members about local landmarks they remember. During the walk, invite them to share these stories and connect them to what they observe, linking personal experiences to community changes.
Assessment Ideas
After the Then and Now Photo Match activity, provide each student with two pictures of a local landmark, one old and one new. Ask them to draw one thing that looks the same and one thing that looks different between the two pictures, then label their drawings.
During the Landmark Spotting Walk, show the class an old photograph of a well-known local building. Ask: 'What do you notice about this building compared to how it looks now? What might have caused these changes?' Listen for pupils using comparative language and reasoning.
After the Timeline Sorting activity, display a simple timeline with pictures of landmarks. Ask students to point to one landmark and describe one thing they remember about it from the Landmark Spotting Walk or Photo Match activity.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: Ask early finishers to create a 'Then and Now' comic strip of a local landmark using photographs and captions.
- Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters for comparisons, such as 'In the past, the building had... but now it has...'.
- Deeper exploration: Invite a local historian or elderly resident to share stories about the landmarks, connecting personal experiences to the photographs.
Key Vocabulary
| Landmark | A noticeable or recognizable feature of a place, such as a building or a natural feature. |
| Chronology | The arrangement of events or dates in the order in which they happened. |
| Visible | Able to be seen; not hidden. |
| Similar | Resembling without being identical; having characteristics in common. |
| Change | To become different; to make or become different. |
Suggested Methodologies
Planning templates for History
5E Model
The 5E Model structures lessons through five phases (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), guiding students from curiosity to deep understanding through inquiry-based learning.
Unit PlannerThematic Unit
Organize a multi-week unit around a central theme or essential question that cuts across topics, texts, and disciplines, helping students see connections and build deeper understanding.
RubricSingle-Point Rubric
Build a single-point rubric that defines only the "meets standard" level, leaving space for teachers to document what exceeded and what fell short. Simple to create, easy for students to understand.
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