Word sorts - Great Fire of London

In a collaborative classroom activity, students are encouraged to work in pairs to explore the historical event of the Great Fire of London. They are presented with a list of words and tasked with identifying which six are related to this significant historical event. The exercise requires students to engage in discussion, use their knowledge of history, and apply critical thinking to distinguish relevant terms from unrelated ones. Each pair is given 10 minutes to circle the words they believe are associated with the Great Fire of London, with the aim of earning one point for each correct identification.

The list includes a mix of terms, some of which are directly linked to the Great Fire of London, such as 'Pudding Lane'—the street where the fire famously started—and '1666', the year the fire occurred. Other terms like 'Thomas Farynor', the name of the baker whose bakery is believed to have been the fire's starting point, and 'Leather buckets', which were used to fight the fire, are also pertinent. In contrast, words such as 'Rosa Parks', 'Victorian', and '2022' are unrelated and serve to challenge the students' understanding of the event. After circling the relevant words, the activity concludes with a discussion on the lessons learned from the Great Fire of London, encouraging students to reflect on the impact of historical events and their significance today.