Year 5 Early Islamic civilisation: what connected Baghdad to the wider world? worksheet

“Connected empires, 800 CE” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 history unit “Early Islamic civilisation: what connected Baghdad to the wider world?”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 24 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 13 to 18 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Connected empires, 800 CE

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · History · about 24 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain how the empires of the early 9th century were linked.

A Look back3 min

1.
On a timeline, do BC years count up or down towards the year 1? Circle the word that fits.
updown
2.
How many years are there from 800 BC to 500 BC?
3.
Put these years in order, earliest first: 806 CE, 790 CE, 812 CE.

B Watch me, then you4 min

Harun al-Rashid became caliph in 786 CE and died in 809 CE. How many years did he rule?

A tall brass water clock on a plain background, with bronze balls above a small cymbal.

Watch me

He ruled from 786 CE to 809 CE.

809 - 786 = 23

He ruled for 23 years.

Now you

1.
Harun al-Rashid sent a water clock to Charlemagne. It arrived in 807 CE. How many years after 800 CE was that?

C Your turn8 min

Use the timeline to help. Find the gap between two years, or count on to find a new year.

1.
The Tang Dynasty ruled China from 618 CE to 907 CE. How many years did it rule?
2.
Harun al-Rashid became caliph in 786 CE. How many years had passed by 800 CE?
3.
The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in the east in 750 CE. Harun al-Rashid became caliph in 786 CE. How many years lie between these?
4.
Harun al-Rashid sent an elephant from Baghdad to Charlemagne. It arrived in 802 CE and died eight years later. In what year did it die?

Say it out loud: Did you count along the line, or take the smaller year from the bigger one? Which way was quicker, and why?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “Baghdad and Charlemagne's empire were cut off from each other in 800 CE, so they never had any contact.”

1.
Is Kit right? Explain in one sentence.

E Think deeper4 min

Harun al-Rashid and Charlemagne never met, and their lands were far apart.

A long road crossing a desert towards mountains, with a small caravan of camels far in the distance

1.
Give two reasons why these two rulers might still send each other gifts.

How did it feel?2 min

Think about one thing you found surprising today. Tell your grown-up why it surprised you.

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Connected empires, 800 CE · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. down your child may think bigger numbers come later, as they do with CE years. Point to 300 BC and 100 BC and ask which is closer to 1.

2. 300 your child has added 800 and 500 to get 1300. Both years are BC, so take the smaller number from the bigger: 800 - 500. Count down from 800 BC to 500 BC in hundreds to check.

3. 790, 806, 812 your child may be reading only the last two digits, so 06, 90 and 12 get sorted. Ask them to read each year as a whole number and find the smallest first.

B

1. 7

C

1. 289 your child has written 290. That counts both the start year and the end year, so it is one too many. Take the start year from the end year, then check by counting along the line.

2. 14 your child has written 1586, which is 800 + 786. Adding the two years gives a number far too big for a gap. Count the steps from 786 up to 800 on the line.

3. 36 your child has written 1536, which is 750 + 786. Adding the two years gives a number far too big for a gap. Years between two dates are found by taking the smaller year away from the larger.

4. 810 your child has written 794, which is 802 - 8. That puts its death before it arrived. Ask whether eight years later is earlier or later, then add eight.

D

1. Look for: says Kit is wrong and gives the elephant or water clock gifts, or trade routes, as evidence of contact If your child agrees with Kit, they may picture the empires as far apart with no link. Point to the elephant on the timeline and ask who sent it and why.

E

1. Look for: gives two sensible reasons, such as a shared enemy like the Byzantines or wanting an ally against a rival like the Umayyads

Words to use

Say“Which two dates did you use? Did you count along the line, or take the smaller year from the bigger one?”

Instead of“Tell them the answer straight away, without looking at the dates together.”

After the sheet

Make a timeline of your own birthday year and this year, with three family events marked in between. Count the gaps together, then order the events from earliest to latest.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Ideas from the East(with a plan)
Baghdad and the West(with a plan)
Ideas on the move(with a plan)
Two cities, one golden age(with a plan)
Baghdad's links to the world(with a plan)

Every Year 5 history worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

Get the worksheets Try the full plan free

Both start with a free account; you choose the plan when you sign up.