Vikings Lesson 4: Raiders or Traders?

One complete lesson from the Little Historians Vikings unit.

Big Question: Were the Vikings only raiders?

A small lead weight with Arabic letters copied onto it by someone who could not read them. Pupils follow the silver from Baghdad to Lancashire and decide whether raiding is the whole story.

Pupils work two sources. The class investigates a trader’s weight stamped with copied Arabic writing together on the slides, in three steps: what can you see, what does it tell us, what can it not tell us. Pupils then take the same three steps on their own in the journal, on silver from the Cuerdale Hoard.

The lesson follows the Little Historians six-stage framework: Time Travellers,
Big Question, Evidence Detectives, Discover, Prove It! and History Check.

Learning intention: To investigate Viking trade and decide whether raiding is the whole story.

WHAT IS INCLUDED

Lesson plan: the unit overview plus the one-page plan for this lesson
PowerPoint lesson, with a PDF copy for phones and tablets
Journal pages, including the unit Knowledge Organiser
Teacher answer sheet
Start Here guide
The Little Historians Framework, explained in full.

Lesson 1 of this unit is free. Search for Little Historians Vikings free lesson.
The complete eight-lesson unit is in the Little Historians shop.

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