What Is a Historical Recount?

A historical recount is a text that retells past events in the order they happened, using factual information to inform readers about significant people, places or moments in history. As students move through primary school, they are often expected to read and write historical recounts in both English and Humanities lessons, making this a valuable cross-curricular skill.

This 15-slide teaching presentation will help you explain all the fundamental features of historical recounts to your students. The slideshow contains authentic examples for you to read and analyse with your class, as well as several review activities to make sure your students are grasping the concepts presented. Links to additional Teach Starter resources are also included in the presentation, offering opportunities for deeper learning and extended practice.

By engaging with this PowerPoint presentation, your students will be writing detailed historical recounts in no time!

The Benefits of Exploring Historical Recounts for Students

Learning about historical recounts helps students develop a range of literacy skills that extend beyond a single writing unit. By engaging with the content contained in this slide deck, your students will:

• Identify why historical recounts are written and who their intended audience might be.
• Develop an understanding of sequencing and cause-and-effect in historical events.
• Identify the orientation, events and conclusion within a historical recount.
• Explore language such as past tense, time connectives and historical vocabulary.
• Build confidence in writing about significant events, people and historical periods.

These skills support both literacy and inquiry-based learning, helping students become more capable writers, readers and historians. 

Download and Use This Historical Recount PowerPoint

This slideshow downloads as either a Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation. Use the dropdown menu on the Download button to access your preferred version. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides presentation before accessing it.)

Use the presentation as a whole-class teaching tool in your history and English integration lessons. The editable, teacher-friendly format allows you to deliver high-quality instruction without spending hours creating materials from scratch, giving you more time to focus on supporting students as they develop their writing skills!

More Resources for Teaching Historical Recounts

Click below to explore more teacher-created, curriculum-aligned resources to use when exploring historical nonfiction with your students.

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Historical Recount Structure Sorting Task – The Moon Landing

Teach your students about historical recount structure with this cut-and-paste sequencing worksheet.

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5 Historical Recount Stimulus Sheets

Use this set of 5 historical recount writing prompts to assess your students’ writing skills.

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Historical Recounts Examples – Comparison Task

Explore historical recounts examples through a detailed comparison of two accounts of the RMS Titanic disaster, helping students analyse how historical events can be represented in different ways in texts.