How To Write Jokes & Rhymes Horrible-Histories-Styley
HOW TO GUIDE - Write Jokes & Rhymes Horrible-Histories-Styley
Henri Ward, Researcher at Historyworks and CBBC's Horrible Histories, is shown in this film working alongside Dave Cohen, the chief lyric writer for CBBC's Horrible Histories songs. Henri describes how important it is to have fun with the past, and shows through his leading a class to find the funny stuff in Cromwell, how it helps to make up narrative for children to retain a sense of playfulness whilst learning factoids about their history, and consolidating learning. As the local history subject may be quite broad, assign different parts to different groups. Allow the opportunity for groups to write and recite simple jokes as well instead of, or as well as sketches. ‘Knock knock’, ‘why did ___ cross the road’ or ‘Doctor Doctor’ jokes will be familiar to the pupils, and allow them to condense pertinent facts into an easily digestible – and rather silly – format. Lesson plan and top tips from Henri for joke writing as group work in class pasted below the film !!
LESSON PLAN FROM HENRI WARD OF CBBC'S HORRIBLE HISTORIES FOR CREATIVE WRITING CLASS ON JOKE WRITING FOR YEARS 4 TO YEARS 6 USING LOCAL HISTORY AS INSPIRATION
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Teacher: |
Year: 5/6 |
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Subject: History/Literacy Unit: TA: |
Date:
Time: double lesson |
No. of children in class: |
Notes: |
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Learning Objective: To engage children in historical narratives through writing jokes in groups, encouraging wider historical contexts and group learning. |
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Vocabulary: History, comedy, humour, narrative, performance, role-play, re-enactment |
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Key Questions: What is the importance of this historical event or character? What is the funniest part of the story? |
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Resources: CBBC iPlayer Horrible Histories interactive |
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Learning Activities |
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Starter: Get the children to watch re-enact a clip from Horrible Histories that has some relevance to the period you are teaching. Similarly, allow the children to perform their own sketch based on the subject and the jokes they have written. |
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Teaching: This activity is a great way to consolidate knowledge that the pupils may already have. Ask the children what they have learnt about the subject so far, and write key points up on the board. Draw out the humour from the historical event, whether the folly of the people involved or practices from the time that the children may find quirky. If the children are working from a worksheet, encourage them to underline or highlight some of the key points. As the subject may be quite broad, assign different parts to different groups. Allow the opportunity for groups to write and recite simple jokes as well instead of, or as well as sketches. ‘Knock knock’, ‘why did ___ cross the road’ or ‘Doctor Doctor’ jokes will be familiar to the pupils, and allow them to condense pertinent facts into an easily digestible – and rather silly – format. Plenary: Allow children to give positive feedback on the sketches and jokes they have heard from other groups, what the funniest bits were, and what historical facts they have learned. |
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Differentiation: Children can chose to perform longer form sketches or simple jokes as matches their skillsets.
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Support:
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Core:
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Extension: Incorporate peer feedback into their sketches, or use the positive comments to write a further sketch to perform in front of parents at home. |
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Success Criteria: Was the History communicated clearly? Did pupils make themselves and each other laugh?
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Assessment Opportunities: History Creative Writing Summarising information Performance |
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