Year 4 create Viking kennings

This week Year 4 have been creating their own kennings poems to describe Viking objects, such as swords and shields. This is particularly appropriate for our topic this term, since kennings originated in Anglo- Saxon and Norse language. In a kenning, an object is described in a two word phrase which is linked with a hyphen, such as ‘whale-road’ for ‘sea’. Some kennings can be more obscure than others, almost becoming a riddle. When the children developed a series of kennings to create a poem, they thought carefully about how to order these. They soon realised that the most obvious clues were best left until last, in order to keep the reader thinking and engaged. Discussing ideas and acting out movements helped the children to think of powerful verbs to show what a shield could do. Below are some examples of the great kennings they created.

Ship- decorator

Round-facer

Damage-taker

Army-ambusher

Rival- ruiner

Opponent-crusher

Body-obstructor

Arrow- interceptor

Sword-deflector

Please ensure that the children practise their ESB poem, talk and reading at home this weekend, so that they feel confident next week. They need to check that they have their book and any objects/props in school. The exam will take place on Monday 18th June for 4JC and Wednesday 20th June for 4EF and 4RW. Thank you for your support with this.