30 Mar Anglo Saxon Workshop
Year 5 have been studying Anglo Saxons. Today, the children were fortunate enough to have a visit from a time-warped Anglo-Saxon farmer who travelled all the way from Northumbria! The children began sharing their knowledge about when they Anglo Saxons arrived in Britain; where they came from; where they settled and the kingdoms in which they formed. The children then made a ham. A ham was the word for an Anglo-Saxon village. Forming a ham, the children made structures out of ‘wood’ and then used a lattice effect to strengthen their ‘homes’. As you can see in some of the pictures, the children had to ensure that their roof was stable enough to withstand the wind and rain. They used ‘animal faeces’ as cement to ensure they had insulated walls. Once they made their hut, they started to learn about what life was like inside of them. The children freeze framed some of their ideas: cooking; being smiths making weapons; weaving clothes; carving wool; making cloth; wood workers carving plates and spoons or creating farming tools. Then, the children went out to work. They started to harvest, and pick up the grains they harvested as well as make bread. The children then had the role of providing the king with bread, chickens that had their neck’s rung, sheep, a wheel of cheese, dead slippery eels and honey. The Anglo-Saxon farmer then showed us some ancient symbols used by the Saxons and the Vikings. To finish the workshop, the children heard snippets of the legend Beowulf which we will further explore later on in the year.