The scop
© Museum of London 2011
KS2 Anglo-Saxon storyteller
Contents
National Curriculum links and session description
1
Timetable
2
Practical guidelines
3
Pre-visit activities
4
Follow-up activities
5
Gallery plan
6
Planning your journey
7
© Museum of London 2011
Curriculum links
the Vikings and successful negotiation of the
Dane Law.
This session has been designed to support
the teaching of History and Literacy at KS2.
The last story is a dramatic extract from
Beowulf, in which the great hero fights the
monster Grendel. The pupils help dramatise
the story. The scop reflects that everyone
will see Beowulf’s heroic attributes as
representing King Alfred’s heroism.
The session will support the teaching of
History QCA Unit 6b: Why have people
invaded and settled in Britain in the past? An
Anglo-Saxon case study. Pupils will learn
about Saxon invasion and settlement, plus
aspects of Anglo-Saxon life, including the
life and job of a scop and how to place the
Anglo-Saxon period in a chronological
framework.
This session also supports teaching of
Literacy, exploring oral storytelling traditions
including adapting stories to please the
particular audience, and the mythologizing
of history. In addition it will encourage
discussion of pupils’ personal responses,
and reasons for preferences.
Session descriptions
The session runs for 30 minutes in the
atmospheric recreated Anglo-Saxon house.
The scop (story teller) will ask pupils to help
him decide which story would be best to
entertain King Alfred. He will tell 3 stories
and ask the pupils which they prefer. The
stories are:
Hengist and Horsa: a story of the first
Saxon invasion of Britain in which King
Vortigen didn’t keep his side of a bargain to
give the Saxon warriors land and payment in
return for fighting for him, so what had been
an invitation became an invasion.
Gallery time
Your class will be allocated 1 hour of selfdirected gallery exploration. The Medieval
London gallery at Museum of London spans
the years AD 410 – AD 1558, from the
withdrawal of the Romans and beginning of
the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England, to
the accession of Elizabeth I. The ‘middle
ages’ are therefore interpreted as the
centuries between the end of the classical
age and beginning of the Renaissance.
Displays relating to the Anglo-Saxon period
can be found at the beginning of the gallery.
The gallery activity sheets are offered in
Microsoft Word format so that teachers can
adapt them to the needs of their own class if
they wish. You will need to photocopy
enough for each group prior to your visit,
and provide clipboards and pencils. We
recommend teachers make a preparation
visit to the Museum.
The guide sheets are designed to help
supporting adults to encourage discussion
and investigation by pupils.
King Alfred and the cakes: the scop tells
how Alfred burnt the cakes while in hiding
from the Vikings, in a peasant’s hovel. The
scop is anxious that the King might not enjoy
being the target of this comic story, and
represents the event as a test of Alfred’s
Christian humility, which led to victory over
© Museum of London 2011
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Timetable
The scop – Anglo-Saxon storyteller
You will meet the storyteller in the Medieval London gallery. The session will last 30 minutes.
Your group has been allocated ONE of the following session times; please check your confirmation letter.
Group 1
10.15am
Arrival
10.45 – 11.15am
Storytelling session
11.15am – 12.15pm
Visit to the Medieval London gallery
12.30 – 1pm
Lunch
Group 2
10am
Arrival
10.30 – 11.30am
Visit to the Medieval London gallery
11.30am – 12.15pm
Storytelling session
12.30 – 1pm
Lunch
Group 3
11am
Arrival
11.30am – 12pm
Lunch
12.30 – 1pm
Storytelling session
1 – 2pm
Visit to the Medieval London gallery
Group 4
11am
Arrival
11.30am – 12pm
Lunch
12.30 – 1.30pm
Visit to the Medieval London gallery
1.30 – 2pm
Storytelling session.
© Museum of London 2011
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Practical guidelines
Arrival, cloakroom and toilets
When you arrive at the Museum please check in and show your confirmation form at the information desk at
the main entrance. You will be directed to the Clore Learning Centre where you will be able to leave your
coats and bags and go to the toilet before entering the galleries. Please do not leave valuables in the
cloakroom area.
Lunch
You will be allocated a 30 minute slot when you arrive at the Museum. There is no eating or drinking in the
galleries, so please ensure that all food stuffs are left in the Lunch Space.
SEN provision
The Museum is fully accessible. Parking is available for SEN groups. Please contact our SEN Officer to
discuss any specific needs on 020 7814 5549 or at [email protected]
Shop
The shop sells a variety of books and products to support learning, as well as pocket money items. Please
request a time slot in the shop by calling 0870 444 3850 and quoting your reference number. If you would
prefer the shop offer a time saving goody bag service at great value. For further details contact the shop by
email at [email protected] or call 020 7814 5600.
Photography
Photography is included as part of this session. You are also welcome to take photographs within the
Museum galleries without flash or tripod use. These images may only be reproduced for personal or
educational purposes, which include reproducing the image as a classroom teaching aid or as part of a
school project. Any publication of the image for any other purpose is forbidden, which includes
publication on any website. As an alternative pictures of many of our key objects are available to
download from the Picture Bank on our website, www.museumoflondon.org.uk/picturebank. Postcards
and posters can be purchased from the shop and prints may be purchased from our on demand print
website www.museumoflondonprints.com
Risk assessments
It is the responsibility of the group leader to carry out a risk assessment and teachers are encouraged to
make a planning visit and to carry out their own assessment. The Museum makes regular assessments of
sessions and public spaces and this document is available on request, but this is only for teachers’
information and does not constitute an official risk assessment.
Organising your group
Split your class into small groups for working in the galleries and visiting the shop. Please ensure that you
have at least one adult for every six pupils and that the adults accompany them at all times. Please ensure
the children know the following information:
work quietly – other groups and members of the public will be using the Museum
please do not lean on the glass cases
only use pencils in the galleries.
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Pre-visit activities
We highly recommend doing one or more of these activities before the session.
•
Discuss experiences of moving home now and in the past, and the different reasons
people have for moving. Take opportunities to use and explain words like immigration,
emigration, refugee and settlement. Look at maps and discuss differences, such as
climate and lifestyle, experienced by people who move country.
•
Ask children to look up dictionary definitions for the words ‘invasion’ and ‘settlement’.
Develop understanding of these terms by sorting words and phrases e.g. conquer,
land, visit. Discuss the lifestyles of invaders and settlers and ask pupils to suggest
occupations for each e.g. fight, march, farm, trade, build.
•
Find the Anglo-Saxons on a timeline: why has this has been called the dark ages?
•
Tell your pupils the stories of the two great archaeological discoveries at Sutton Hoo
(1939) and the Staffordshire Hoard (2009): Ask pupils to search for further information
on these archaeological discoveries. Discuss how it would have felt to make these
discoveries.
•
Ask pupils why they think there is so little evidence about life in Saxon times and why
there is more evidence about the Roman period, although this was even longer ago.
Discuss what materials survive and which deteriorate. Now discuss what the
archaeological evidence can tell us about the Saxons and what things about Saxon life
we still don’t know.
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Follow-up activities for the classroom
These activities are designed to extend knowledge gained from your visit.
Creative writing
Using the notes they made in the gallery (activity sheet 5), ask pupils to write their own
story set in Anglo-Saxon times. Will it be a story of heroic deeds and adventures, a funny
story, or a love story? Would you like to make your readers frightened or make them
laugh or cry? Remind pupils that a story needs a strong beginning, to make the reader
want to read on, and should build up to some sort of climax or turning point. How will it
end? Perhaps pupils can practice reading their own stories aloud and then the class can
hold their own storytelling session.
Discuss how little archaeological evidence we have about Saxon London. Now ask pupils
to write an imaginary story about finding some new archaeological evidence. They should
draw the imagined object and describe what it was used for and what it would tell us about
Saxon life?
Re-tell the story
Remind pupils of the different stories told by the storyteller. Which did they like best?
Why? Ask pupils to re-tell their favourite story, either by drawing a storyboard or writing it
in their own words. If they are feeling brave they could make it into a song. A scop would
have sung many of his stories.
Poetry writing
Ask pupils to write a poem based on the notes they made about one of the objects in the
gallery (activity sheet 4). Suggest to pupils that their poem should aim to make the reader
see the object in a vivid, imaginative and original way. Remind them that poems don’t
have to rhyme!
Word origins
Ask pupils, working in groups, to use dictionaries, reference books and the internet to
research the origins of a short list of words. This could be a list of place names in your
local area, or of objects related by a theme e.g. items of clothing. How many of the words
are from Old English? How many have come from different languages? Perhaps the
words could be compiled in a class dictionary.
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Gallery plan
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Planning your journey
Museum of London
Free admission
Open
Mon to Sat 10am - 5.50pm
Sun 12 - 5.50pm
Last admission 5.30pm
Museum of London
London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN
0870 444 3851
www.musuemoflondon.org.uk
[email protected]
Free travel
All schools within the Greater London area can take advantage of Transport for London’s
School Party Travel Scheme. See www.tfl.gov.uk/schoolparty or call London Underground
Customer Services on 0845 330 9881 for details.
Getting to the Museum
By tube - St Paul’s, Barbican
By rail - Moorgate, Liverpool St, City Thameslink
By bus - 4, 8, 25, 56, 100, 172, 242, 501, 521
Travel by coach
The Museum does not have a coach park. Coaches may stop briefly to drop-off and pick
up at bus stops on London Wall (travelling towards Moorgate) and Aldersgate Street
(travelling towards the Museum). Please note that coaches must move on if requested to
do so by a traffic manager/parking warden.
Cancellation charges
More than 8 weeks
£30
8-4 weeks
£50
Less than 4 weeks
£100
On the day
£150
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