Spring 2- Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons 

The Anglo-Saxons came to England after the Romans in the year 410. Nobody was really ruling all of England at the time – there were a lot of little kingdoms ruled by Anglo-Saxons that eventually came together as one country.
 

We debated what it was that made the Saxon invade England. We asked were they pushed? Influenced by factors in their home lands such as flooding and a poor climate. Or were they pulled? Influenced and enticed by factors such as a chance of power, rich fertile land or were they simply invited over? 
Pushed or pulled- what do you think?

This week in history the children were tasked in testing some simple hypotheses about where the early Anglo-Saxons settled. We debated some statements  whilst reading a map and a map key to observe where there is evidence of burial sites.  The children used this information to make a hypothesis of their own. We also used their iPads, to explore maps whilst using prefixes and suffixes of root place names to explore Anglo-Saxon language and place influences.

Who was Alfred the Great and why was he deemed ‘great’? 
That is the question we are starting to investigate in history. As historians we have started to research and develop critical thinking skills about King Alfred- we want to know just how great he was and why he was one of only two kings to be bestowed the title- The Great.