Tag Archives: Social studies

Viking Shields

Vikings were famous for raids & fighting. We have been learning about the weapons and tactics they used during these fights and the various aids they used to protect themselves in combat.  Shields were important to the Vikings as protection and were also displayed on the walls of houses and along the sides of boats.

We looked at Viking shield designs and discussed the colours and patterns. We imagined that we were fierce Viking warriors and thought about what our shield would look like, what colours we would use and whether it would have a symmetrical design or pattern on it.

We designed our shield on paper and then used cardboard, paint and paper to create a Viking style shield.

Have a look at our designs below🛡⚔️🪖

 

Viking jewellery

Following on from our lesson on Viking clothing, we learned about the popularity of jewellery and its role in showing a person’s status and wealth during the Viking times. The more intricate and detailed, the wealthier the wearer. We made our own Viking jewellery using pasta, cardboard, tin foil, string and paint. Some of us challenged ourselves to create a pattern in Elder Futhark Runes, the viking alphabet. We love how these turned out. Have a look at the step by step photos below. 💎

Viking clothing

We have been learning about how men and women dressed during the Viking period. Viking clothing was not just made to survive in harsh climates but was also worn to show status, appearance and to be comfortable. Different clothing was worn for different occasions. Sometimes it was worn to show off wealth while other times it was worn for practicality.

We worked in groups to research Viking fashion and design our own Viking clothes. We had to consider their role within society and which clothes would be appropriate for them. We also had to consider where the materials used were sourced from and whether we still use them today.

We used a range of materials including silk, leather and wool. We cut them out in the shape of clothes and glued them onto the body outline on paper.
Have a look at our finished designs below. 🩳🥻🧥👞🪖

Viking homes

We learned about the features of Viking homes, the materials used to build them, the layout and the furniture. We discussed the similarities and differences between Viking homes and our homes such as the doors, windows, rooms, cooking areas, lighting, sleeping arrangements, keeping warm (temperature), levels and materials used.
We created an advertisement for a Viking home and then worked in trios to take part in a quiz all about Viking homes. We had to use the passage to find the answer to each question.

The vikings

We are thoroughly enjoying our Vikings topic this term. To begin with we didn’t have much previous knowledge about the vikings but over the course of the last few weeks we have enjoyed learning lots of interesting information.

For those of you who don’t know, the Vikings were people who lived in Northern Europe during the Middle Ages. They originally settled in the Scandinavian lands that are today the countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Vikings were also known as the Norsemen. Norsemen means ‘people from the North’ They were great travellers and sailed to other parts of Europe, where they traded, raided, and often settled.

The Vikings made longships for exploration and raiding. Longships were long, narrow boats designed for speed. We followed step by step instructions on how to draw longships. We used pastels and pens to colour the ship , sea and sky.

We worked together to create a huge Viking longship for our class display and love how this turned out! 🛶🛡⚔️

Burns Day

On Tuesday we celebrated Burns Day. Five years after Robert Burns died, a group of his friends got together to remember him and his poetry. The tradition became established and now, every year on his birthday, 25th January, Scots all round the world celebrate Burns Night with a Burns Supper.

We had a Burns themed afternoon in class where we took part in all things Robert Burns.
Activity 1: We read the story of Robert Burns and his life. Our task was to sequence the story by cutting out each sentence and putting it in the correct order.
Activity 2: We followed step by step instructions to draw a portrait of Robert Burns.
Activity 3: We used the chrome books to research a typical Burns supper menu and created our own.
Activity 4: We translated Scots words to English.
We listened to Auld Lang Syne and practised some Scottish country dancing. 👯‍♂️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧆🍽🎶

Rainforest Layers

We have been learning to identify the layers of the rainforest. Just like a cake, the rainforest has different layers. These layers include: forest floor, understory, canopy, and emergent. We worked in groups to choose a layer of the rainforest to focus on. We used the internet and books to research information about the layer, what it looks like and what plants and animals can be found there. We recorded our research on a poster and presented this to the rest of the class. 🌳🐾🐍

Location of the rainforest

As part of our rainforest topic we have been using maps and atlases to locate the rainforests around the world. We can identify the equator, an imaginary line around the planet, where many of the rainforest lie due to the hot climate here. We also learned about the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer and highlighted these on our maps. We have enjoyed reading the rainforest books which have been added to our class library this term. 🌲🍃