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Lower Key Stage 2 Invaders and Settlers: Anglo-Saxons
Settlements

Learn about life in Anglo-Saxon times. Design settlements, make buildings, dye wool, weave material, research food, cook recipes and create and play board games. Research place names and use an online simulation of an archaeological dig. Share Anglo-Saxon expert knowledge with visitors to the classroom.

Block Outcomes

Session 1 A typical Anglo-Saxon village

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Objectives

History

  • Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
  • Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
  • Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

Geography

  • Describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including types of settlement and land use, and the distribution of natural resources.
  • Use sketch maps to record features.

Lesson Planning

Research the basic needs of an Anglo-Saxon settlement and design your own.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To understand how groups of Anglo-Saxons decided where to start settlements in Britain by considering both the local environment and the wider environment.
  • To take into account the needs of individuals and communities when planning a new settlement.

Children will:

  • List the basic needs that a new settlement should provide.
  • Understand how local resources can be used by a settlement.
  • Interpret and draw sketch maps.

Provided Resources

  • Initial ideas for settlement sheet
  • History of West Stow sheet
  • Settlement cards; Map of West Stow
  • Possible sites map
  • Our village template

You Will Need

  • Anglo-Saxon Village by Monica Stoppleman, is based on West Stow
  • A trip to West Stow site if possible

Session 2 Buildings

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Objectives

History

  • Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
  • Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
  • Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

Design and Technology

  • Generate, develop and communicate their ideas through talking and drawing.
  • Select from and use a wide range of materials, according to their characteristics.
  • Evaluate their products against design criteria.

Lesson Planning

Design and make an Anglo-Saxon building based on research into the materials and techniques they used.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To describe the materials and construction of Anglo-Saxon buildings.
  • To design, construct and evaluate a model of an Anglo-Saxon building.

Children will:

  • Describe the materials and techniques used by Anglo-Saxons for their buildings.
  • Design and make a model of an Anglo-Saxon building.

You Will Need

  • Wood in the form of, e.g. dowelling, lolly sticks, match sticks, pieces of flat balsa wood
  • Corrugated card
  • Thin card
  • Glue guns
  • Straw/reed-coloured wool or yarn or grass stalks/straw or Art Straws
  • Clay to use as ‘daub’
  • Pliable twigs to use as ‘wattle’
  • Thick card or pieces of wood to use as base for each group’s building
  • Tools including hacksaw, scissors, ruler

Session 3 Farming

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Objectives

History

  • Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
  • Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
  • Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

Science

  • Know that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and they cannot make their own food - they get nutrition from what they eat.
  • Construct & interpret a variety of food chains.

Lesson Planning

Investigate the food and drink of the Anglo-Saxons, design a week’s menu and cook some of their recipes.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To understand why many Anglo-Saxon settlers came to Britain and to describe their farming methods.
  • Contrast the diet of Anglo-Saxon settlers with what we eat today and design a meal for an Anglo-Saxon family.

Children will:

  • Describe the food and drink that the Anglo-Saxons grew, raised, hunted and prepared.
  • Explain some of the difficulties Anglo-Saxon farmers experienced.
  • Discuss how healthy the diet of Anglo-Saxons was.

Provided Resources

  • Farming year simulation
  • Chance cards
  • Claim form
  • Anglo-Saxon names
  • Anglo-Saxon recipe

You Will Need

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Session 4 Clothing

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Objectives

History

  • Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
  • Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
  • Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

Art and Design

  • Know about craft workers in history.
  • Improve their art and design techniques.

Lesson Planning

Having found out about the way the Anglo-Saxons made their own clothes, try your hand at dyeing with natural dyes and weaving some fabric.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To understand that Anglo-Saxons made their own clothes from wool & plant materials, including the use of natural dyes.
  • To use natural dyes and weave some fabric using a simple loom.

Children will:

  • Describe how Anglo-Saxons made their own clothes.
  • Use natural dyes to colour materials.
  • Weave some fabric.

You Will Need

  • Some white or pale brown wool or linen
  • Ingredients: onions, lichens, red cabbage, turmeric, blackcurrants, henna, tea bags, bracken, nettle, privet leaves, heather for use as dyes
  • Kettle, saucepan & means of heating it
  • Aprons & disposable plastic gloves
  • Salt to use as a fixative
  • Range of balls of fine wool
  • Metal washers to use for warp-weighted loom
  • Jelutong wood 10x10mm or similar
  • Large-eyed needles or plastic tea/coffee stirrers
  • Hacksaw
  • Materials, dyes
  • Looms sheets

Session 5 Jobs and leisure

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Objectives

History

  • Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
  • Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
  • Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

English

  • Use spoken language to explore ideas.
  • Discuss and record ideas.In non-narrative material, use simple organisational devices, e.g. numbered or bullet points.

Lesson Planning

Research the work and leisure of the Anglo-Saxon people, play their board games and make up your own.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To appreciate the different jobs and leisure activities of the Anglo-Saxons.
  • To describe a day in the life of an Anglo-Saxon man, woman or child and discuss and prepare a set of rules for an Anglo-Saxon board game.

Children will:

  • List and describe the typical jobs carried out by ordinary Anglo-Saxon men, women and children.
  • Describe Anglo-Saxon leisure activities.
  • Write rules for and play Anglo-Saxon board games.

Provided Resources

  • Taefl board and rules
  • Fox and Geese board and rules
  • Nine Men’s Morris board and rules

You Will Need

  • Thin card
  • Sets of counters of different colours
  • Dice
  • Black king chess piece if available
  • Laminator

Session 6 Local history

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Objectives

History

  • Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
  • Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
  • Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

Geography

  • Use maps.
  • Understand some aspects of human geography including place names that describe the settlement.

Lesson Planning

Consolidate your archaeological understanding of Anglo-Saxon evidence and place names. Carry out research into the meaning of local place names near you.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To find evidence in their locality about the Anglo-Saxons.
  • To understand that many places were named during Anglo-Saxon times, and that these names described the place in some way.

Children will:

  • Explain that most of our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons is based on archaeological finds.
  • Understand that place names are often very old and can tell us what the area was like many years ago.
  • Research local place names.

You Will Need

  • Local ordnance survey maps & town plans
  • Visit to local museum
  • Visit from archaeologist

Session 7 Visit to our Anglo-Saxon village

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Objectives

History

  • Continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of Britain, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study.
  • Know about changes in Britain from the Anglo-Saxon time to the modern era.

English

  • Identify the audience for and purpose of their role-play, noting and developing ideas.
  • Understand the value of speaking.

Lesson Planning

Review all that you have learned about the Anglo-Saxon people and then inform others through whole class role-play.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To explore the different daily tasks of the Anglo-Saxon people through research and role-play.
  • To answer questions and role-play an Anglo-Saxon scene set in a settlement.

Children will:

  • Have some empathy with what life was like in the time of the Anglo-Saxons.
  • Be confident in their knowledge of Anglo-Saxon life through presenting it to others.

Provided Resources

This session does not need any provided resources.

You Will Need

  • The models, maps and other learning outcomes from previous sessions
  • Additional card and paint for props
  • Possibly material for tunics/cloaks

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