KS2 HISTORY YEAR 6 TERM 1: STUDY BOOK ANSWERS 1

Year Six Term One: The Anglo-Saxons CGP History Activity Book Answers

Lesson One: The fall of the Roman Empire (pg 2-3)

 The Western Roman Empire collapsed because it was too big for the Roman Army to defend.

 Nomads are groups of people who don’t live in one area, but travel from place to place.

 It is up to your child about what choice they make. They may choose Romans because of nice housing but they may choose Nomads because it meant a lot of travel, for example.

 True, Vandals and Huns invaded the Roman Empire.

 False, the Huns actually came from Asia.

 False, the invaders did not like the way the Romans lived.

 True, the invaders might have wanted more space to live in.

 Romans would have used negative words such as violent, dangerous and scary.

 I think the invaders probably didn’t match the Romans’ description because the Romans would have made them look scarier on purpose.

Lesson Two: The Romans leave Britain (pg 4-5)

 If you were a Roman in 410 you would probably be very scared of being attacked.

 Allow your child to use their imagination here but encourage them to justify why they would choose this.

 It is unfair that Romans called the Vandals barbarians because civilised can be measured in different ways and they also made lovely jewellery!

 There are very few written records about what life was like in Britain between AD400 and 600 because people did not write down their history.

 True, Constantinople was a city in Turkey.

 False, Constantinople was not conquered by the barbarians. KS2 HISTORY YEAR 6 TERM 1: STUDY BOOK ANSWERS 2

 True, Constantinople helped to keep Christianity alive in Britain.

 True, Christian monks wrote about British History.

 You can trade anything as long as it is historically accurate from the time period. 

Lesson Five: Writing about Britain (pg 6-7)

 Gildas: Was born around AD500.  Bede: Was writing in AD730 and used lots of sources from Europe.  Both: Were monks and wrote about British history.

 Gildas thought bad things happened to people in Britain becayse it was a punishment from God.

 Bede tried to make his work more reliable by using a number of sources and matching the facts.

 It is up to your child which dates they choose.

Lesson Six: Life after the Romans (pg 8-9)

 Please use your discretion here as long as it is accurate for the time period.

 Answers can include jewellery, food, cloth etc.

 New coins stopped being made in Britain after the Romans had gone because they was no one to organise the quarrying on metals.

 The building is made of stone.

 After the Romans left, buildings would be made of wood because stone was not available.

 False, Roman magistrates were not in Britain by 600AD.

 True, law and justice struggled to survive after the Romans left Britain.

 False, Christianity did not stop.

 True, Chritianity kept Roman culture going in Britain.

KS2 HISTORY YEAR 6 TERM 1: STUDY BOOK ANSWERS 3

Lesson Seven: The First Invasions (pg 10-11)

 Scots came from Ireland, Picts came from Scotland and Saxons came from Germany.

 You child should include points about land and money in their letter to Hengist and Horsa.

 Your child can provide either answer. Potentially ‘no’ because you might not be able to trust them, or ‘yes’ because Vortigern needed help.

 I rebelled against the Britons because the British were weak and/or Vortigern was not a good leader.

 Gildas may have written that the Saxons were violent because they were enemies and he wanted the British to hate them even more.

Lesson Nine: Britain fights back (pg 12-13)

 The poster needs to use persuasive language so encourage your child to do this.

 The Britons defeated the Saxons.

 We don’t know about battles that happened at this time because we don’t have many written texts and there is a lack of archeological evidence because the wood they mainly used rotted. Also, some sources were not reliable as they were written by Chistians with a motive.

 False, we don’t know whether he existed.

 True, King Arthur is not mentioned in the Chronicle.

 True, some people do think that Arthur fought at Badon Hill.

 False, Gildas and Bede did not write about King Arthur.

 True, the stories were written long after AD 500.

KS2 HISTORY YEAR 6 TERM 1: STUDY BOOK ANSWERS 4

Lesson Ten: Becoming Anglo-Saxon (pg 14-15)

 Please check the map against the Study Book.

 The Scots actually came from Ireland.

 The Anglo-Saxon tribes would have moved further west.

 Altrincham would have been a town that used to be a village.

 Padstow is a town that used to be a holy place.

 Oakley wuld have been a clearing in an oak wood.

 Oxford would have been a place where Oxen crossed (forded) a river.

 I want to settle in Britain because there is lots of fertile land for farming. Also, the climate is much better!