Year 5 Anglo-Saxon Topic

Year 5 Anglo-Saxon Topic Unit — Enquiry-Based History (10 Lessons)

This complete Anglo-Saxon teaching unit gives Year 5 pupils a structured, enquiry-led journey through one of the most significant periods in British history. Spanning 10 lessons across two central enquiry questions, the unit moves from historical sources and settlement patterns through to Anglo-Saxon daily life, language, and lasting influence on modern Britain.

What’s included:

• 10 complete lesson teaching presentations (PowerPoint)
• Differentiated jigsaw activity (Lesson 2 — Anglo-Saxon migration and settlement)
• Cartoon strip activity sheets (Lesson 3 — consolidating Anglo-Saxon origins)
• Anglo-Saxon social hierarchy text analysis resources (Lesson 4)
• Crime and punishment vocabulary and case study activity (Lesson 5)
• Carousel activity resources: Beowulf storytelling, Anglo-Saxon Tafl game, and historical riddles (Lesson 6 — extendable to a full Anglo-Saxon day)
• Battle summary card activity with reading comprehension (Lesson 7)
• UK map activity — tracing Anglo-Saxon place name influences in your local area (Lesson 8)
• Burh (fortified town) design task (Lesson 9)
• Knowledge consolidation activity (Lesson 10)

Curriculum alignment:

Meets the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum for England History requirement to teach ‘Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots’ as part of the study of British history. The unit also addresses KS2 historical skills objectives: understanding evidence and sources, chronological knowledge, and asking historically valid questions.

Differentiation:

The unit includes differentiated activities to support mixed-ability Year 5 classes, including a structured jigsaw task for the settlement lesson and open-ended creative tasks (cartoon strips, burh design) that allow higher-ability pupils to extend their thinking independently.

The carousel lesson (Lesson 6) is easily adaptable as a full Anglo-Saxon enrichment day for additional challenge.

How to use this resource:

Designed as a self-contained half-term unit for Year 5, delivering one lesson per week across a half term or used as a blocked history fortnight. All ten lessons follow the same two enquiry questions, building cumulative knowledge that pupils draw on in the final consolidation lesson. Lesson 6 works equally well as a standalone Anglo-Saxon enrichment afternoon.

For teachers delivering a cross-curricular approach, the Beowulf carousel activity (Lesson 6) pairs naturally with KS2 narrative writing units.

This enquiry based Anglo-Saxon topic contains teaching resources and PPTs, structured around answering two enquiry questions. This ten lesson topic contains complete lessons with engaging teaching PPTs and fun activities including: a version of Anglo-Saxon Tafl, a comprehension activity where students create ‘battle cards’ for key Anglo-Saxon battles and using maps of the UK to locate place names influenced by the Anglo-Saxons. Available as a topic for £18 or for purchase individually.

For more detailed summaries of each lesson, please see individual lesson descriptions.

Enquiry Question One: Who were the Anglo-Saxons and how do we know about them?

Lesson 1: Who were the Anglo-Saxons? 

Lesson 2: Where did the Anglo-Saxons come from?

Lesson 3: Enquiry summary.

Enquiry Question 2: How did the Anglo-Saxons live and how have they influenced modern day Britain?

Lesson 4: Anglo-Saxon society.

Lesson 5: How did the Anglo-Saxons punish crimes?

Lesson 6: What were the Anglo-Saxon pastimes?

Lesson 7: Anglo-Saxon battles.

Lesson 8: What did the Anglo-Saxons influence? Focussing on language and place names.

Lesson 9: Anglo-Saxon defences.

Lesson 10: Enquiry summary.