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Teacher Notes

KS2 vikings 9 Chronological understanding 1 Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past 2 Historical interpretation 3 Historical enquiry 4 Organisation and communication 5

This activity involves the children reading for information of the past and then answering various questions to enable them to interpret what they have learnt.

Viking Homes

Viking homes had a central hall or a living room. This was the same for all vikings around the world. In the centre of this room would be an open hearth which was a fireplace that let smoke out through a hole in the ceiling.

The floor was made up of stamped down earth. The vikings slept on raised platforms. To keep themselves comfortable they stuffed cushions with chicken and duck feathers.

The well-off vikings had a few bits of wooden furniture.

Either side of the main room houses often had smaller rooms for cooking or spinning.

Some of the buildings had low floors dug out of the ground and were used as workshops, weaving sheds or animal barns.

The chieftain would have a hall lined with wall carving and painted wooden panels.

What did vikings have in the centre of their living rooms?

How did the smoke escape from the fireplace?

On what did vikings sleep?

What were the cushions stuffed with?

What were the smaller rooms used for?

The buildings with low floors were used for weaving and as workshops and for keeping what?

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