The Story of Print
Teacher's Notes
The typewriter is a mechanical hand operated device
that prints on paper. It is now obsolete having been
superseded by the computer. What came before the
typewriter and when was print first used to produce the
written word?
out 10 things about Caxton and early printing. They
can present the ten findings as a Caxton fact file. A
Fact File template is available as a download 'Caxton
Fact File'.
Milestones in printing
Letter punch and cylinder seals were the first evidence
of printing by the Sumerians around 300BC. In
200AD, with the invention of paper in China, woodblocks were used to print on paper and textiles. By the
11th century moveable type was in use in China. The
printing press was first used by Johannes Gutenberg
in Mainz in 1454. It was further developed by William
Caxton who operated the first printing press in London
in 1476. The Caxton press printed the first books in
English and this made books available to a wide
audience for the first time.
Caxton Jackdaw
Activity 2 John Bull printing set
The resources include a John Bull printing set and
tweezers for making up type. You will need an ink pad.
During the 19th century there was a rapid expansion in
printing with the development of the rotary press and
the offset litho. Newspapers were printed using hot
metal typesetting for a mass audience. The latter half
of the last century saw the development of digital
printing and the availability of cheap printers for
everyone.
Activity 1 Caxton and the printing press
The resources provided with the typewriter include a
Jackdaw collection of documents about Caxton and
printing. Provide the group of children with the Caxton
documents and ask them to use the documents to find
Pupil Downloads:
Teacher Downloads:
Caxton Fact File Download
Evaluation Downloads:
Evaluation ‘I Can Do’ Record Sheet
Link: Caxton : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caxton
Link: Story of printing : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing
The Story of Print
continued...
Children can select moveable type and make up their
own words or sentences to print using the John Bull
resource. They can make headed notepaper for
themselves or the class for use in the typewriter.
The final printed materials can be used in the classroom displays about the story of print.
Download: Caxton Fact File
Link: Caxton : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caxton
Link: Story of printing :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing
Download
Evaluation I can do record sheet.