Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.

Key questions in this lesson were:

• What did the Vikings value? 
• What can we discover from sagas and poetry?

(These resources are attached below)

Learning objectives:

• To introduce the class to another facet of Viking culture - their literature, in the form of sagas and poetry.
• For the children to appreciate the value the Vikings placed on poetry, on fame and reputation, on prowess in battle, and on material rewards.

Literacy:

• To introduce the children to the beauties and intricacies of Viking poetry and to provide a model for their own writing. 

Background information

Who were the Vikings (and what made them tick)? We had five afternoons to explore this with our year 5/6 class.

We taught this lesson, dealing with Viking sagas and poetry, and Viking values, in Week 4. This was after the class had 'excavated' a Viking burial mound, conducted group investigations of aspects of Viking life, and discovered what place names could tell us about Viking settlement patterns.

Background information for teachers
Vikings: a brief history