Who was Offa?

Topics Year 2/3
This unit is part of Invaders and Settlers: Anglo-Saxons Kings and Laws

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Objectives

History

Understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain.
Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, and cause and consequence.
Gain historical perspective by understanding the connections between local and national history, and between short- and long-term timescales.
Understand how Britain has been influenced by the wider world.

English

Discuss and record ideas.
Compose and rehearse sentences orally.
Organise paragraphs around a theme.

Art

Improve their mastery of art and design techniques including drawing.

Lesson Planning

Children will learn about King Offa of Mercia, his dyke and his coinage. They will retell the story of the founding of Hereford Cathedral.

Teaching Outcomes:

To find out about King Offa of Mercia and appreciate that the major earthwork that he built can still be seen today.
To create a comic strip about the death of King Ethelbert of East Angles and the founding of Hereford Cathedral.
To design an Anglo-Saxon coin & to illustrate the founding of Hereford Cathedral, (using no anachronisms).

Children will:

Talk about King Offa of Mercia.
Describe Offa’s Dyke when it was built and what remains of it today.
Design a coin like Offa’s.
Retell the story of the founding of Hereford Cathedral.

Planning

Provided Resources

Map of Offa’s Dyke
Offa’s coins
Coin design template
Comic strip templates

Unit Resources

You Will Need

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Weblinks

Anglo-Saxon Coins facts and game from bbc.co.uk
Information about Anglo-Saxon life from bbc.co.uk