John Muir Elementary School

The Viking explorers of the New World and their countries of origin are outlined for you below:

Bjarni Herjulfsson:

Country of Origin: Iceland

Major Accomplishment: Discovered North America while searching for Greenland

Interesting Facts: Blown off course by an Arctic storm and accidently found North America. Never searched the land because he knew it wasn't Greenland (no glaciers).

Eric the Red:

• Country of Origin: Scandinavia .

  Major Accomplishment: Discovered and settled Greenland.

  Interesting Facts: Heard sagas of Bjarni Herjulfsson's discovery of North America. Decided to find this land with his son, Leif Ericson. Unfortunately, Eric the Red injured his leg and never made the journey.

Leif Ericson:

• Country of Origin: Greenland

  Major Accomplishment: Found the land that Bjarni Herjulfsson described. Called this land Vinland, which became Newfoundland, a Viking settlement in Canada.

  Interesting Facts: Leif Ericson hoped to find lumber in the New World to bring to Greenland for house and boat building.

Check out this cool web site: You can read the journals of a crew of people from the 20th Century. This crew recreated the voyage of the Vikings!

Just for TEACHERS!

Here is a complete mini-unit on writing Viking sagas for your intermediate grade classroom!

• Grades: 4-6
• Length of Unit: 4 days (One for introduction, one for research, one to write, and one to present)
• OBJECTIVES:
  • 1. The student will find at a minimum of five facts about a Viking explorer using the Internet.
  • 2. In a small group of 2 or 3 students, each group will write a Viking saga about their imaginary trip with their Viking explorer, including the facts learned from their Internet search.
• MATERIALS:
  • 1. Any tall tale picture book (such as Paul Bunyan).
  • 2. Access to one PC for each group of 2 or 3 students.
  • 3. Television with connection to Teacher PC.
  • 4. Handout of directions for the assignment.
• PROCEDURES:
  • 1. Read the tall tale to the class. Conduct a discussion about tall tales that includes:
    • How tall tales were shared (Oral tradition)
    • Their basic characteristics (Fiction, Main Character is a Local Hero, Exaggeration, Some Facts)
  • 2. Use the Teacher PC to include notes from the discussion on a Word Processing document that students can view on the television screen.
  • 3. Type the word SAGA in bold lettering on the PC. Ask students if they know the word. Discuss their answers. Lead children to the idea that sagas are much like tall tales, but that they were stories told by the Vikings. Be sure to include the ideas of Oral Tradition and Exaggeration, but show the contrast with tall tales in that sagas were more factual and slightly less fictitious.
  • 4. Explain that the Local Heroes in sagas were often Viking Explorers. Have class initiate a list of Viking Explorers that they have been studying in social studies.
  • 5. List the explorers on the PC. (Be sure it includes Leif Ericson, Eric the Red, and Bjarni Herjulfsson.)
  • 6. Explain to the class that they will be starting a project that will ask them to write their own sagas of a Viking voyage, as if they were Vikings traveling with one of the famous explorers on the list.
  • 7. List the following items on the teacher PC and discuss as needed (all info. is on the handout):
    • Choose a group of 2-3 people.
    • Choose a Viking explorer you would like to include in your saga.
    • Create a PREWRITING list of facts you know about this explorer.
    • Go to a PC and search the Internet for information on this person. Your goal is to find at least 5 facts about their explorer that you didn't already know. Try the following for help:
      • http://encarta.msn.com/encartahome.asp?br=0&vs=x99&z=1&pg=2&ti=011CB000&view=contents
      • http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/1b/01b1b000.htm
      • http://www.mnc.net/norway/LeifErikson.htm
      • http://www.oakview.fcps.k12.va.us./~smith/97-98/sixthhome/leif.html
      • http://csis.pace.edu/~cs552/barrera/LeifEricson.html
      • http://www.mnc.net/norway/ericson.htm
    • Use the facts you find to write a saga of your group's travels with this explorer. You may "make up" the story, but it must be based on (and include) the facts you find in your research. It must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should be at least one full page when finished.
  • 8. Discuss any questions as needed.
  • 9. Have groups complete over the next 3 days. On Day 4, groups can read aloud to the class and turn in the paper for a grade.
• EVALUATION: Students will be evaluated on the completion of a written saga (presented orally as well) with the following criteria met:
  • 1. A one-page written paper (or typed/computer-generated)
  • 2. Inclusion of at least 5 factual pieces of information about the chosen Viking explorer
  • 3. Characteristics of a saga must be present (Embellishing the factual information, writing about a Viking hero, oral presentation)
  This web page designed by: Denise McAreavey and Paula Stadalsky Grade 5 Teachers
  Animated star and earth graphics used by permission from