Week 7: Vikings (700 AD)

We talked about the Vikings and their amazing ability to sail far distances. This allowed them to travel all the way to the New World ... almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus!  Did you know that the longship had a completely open deck? There were no separate sleeping areas or any place to go when it rained or snowed. Vikings were tough! 

Archaeologists have been able to partner with shipbuilders to recreate Viking longships, which worked by sailing as well as rowing. Check out this link!

We played a game to learn lots of cool things about the Vikings -- everyone had a chance to guess the answer to a question or to use their creativity to act like a Viking. Here are some things we learned:

• The Vikings named the days of the week after their gods, including Thor's Day (after the god of thunder). We still use this name today: It's Thursday!
• Vikings had unusual table settings -- a flat wooden board instead of a plate, an animal horn for a cup, and a knife!
• Our term "going berserk," which means acting crazy, comes from a special type of Viking warrior who would dress in animal skins and run screaming into battle.
• Vikings were very fond of nicknames. They based nicknames on physical traits (Eric the Red), accomplishments (Ingvar the Far-Traveled), or personality (Thorfinn the Brave).
• Eric the Red was sent to live on a cold, treeless island. He named it "Greenland" to try to trick others into settling there. (And, it worked! There was a Viking settlement in southern Greenland until the 15th century.) 
• Vikings did not write down stories or history. Instead, special storytellers called "skalds" remembered and retold these tales. They also wrote poems about history called "sagas."
• The word "Vikings" means "pirates" in the Old Norse language.
• Despite their reputation, most Vikings were ordinary farmers!

We ended our class with a game where we decoded a message written in Viking runes. The answer led us to a hidden (chocolate) treasure.