Year 4 write creative kennings and design Viking settlements

This week, Year 4 have been learning all about kennings and creating their own versions. The children learned that kennings are Anglo-Saxon and Norse in origin and are two word phrases that describe an object, often using a metaphor. A kennings poem is a riddle made up of several lines of kennings to describe someone or something. After guessing what some of the kennings were describing from the epic poem ‘Beowulf’, the children wrote their own to describe a Viking shield. Wonderful noun-verb, noun-noun and adjective-noun variations were explored, the children coming up with kennings such as ‘Bone-crusher’, ‘Life-saver’, ‘Battle-circle’, ‘Skull-walloper’, ‘Arrow-umbrella’, ‘Sword crumpler’ and ‘Savage-destroyer’.

We also looked at Vikings as invaders and settlers this week. Each child got to decide if they wanted to be a Viking invader or settler and designed their own settlement. The ‘invaders’ designed the kind of settlement that would be easy to attack, looking for nearby places to hide, such as woodland, as well as riches that could be plundered. The ‘settlers’ looked at what made a settlement a place to be safe to live in, as well as having enough resources to survive. They realised high ground, a water source and fertile land were all very important.

Some children finished their fantastic Viking helmets in DT this week and the others are looking forward to starting theirs after half term.

The children should now be well on the way to knowing which poem they will be learning and which object they will be talking about for the ESB exams in June. We kindly ask that the children learn their poems and start to plan their talks over the half term break, ready to start sharing these with their class as soon as we’re back.