Pre History
We are using Story of the World for History. Because History starts
MUCH further back in time than the book starts we started with a Pre
History unit.
*****{To determine if this unit is of interest to you:
This is from an OLD earth
creationist perspective. We also acknowledge
that MICRO evolution (within species) is a fact, but not MACRO (between
species)}.*****
I could not really find a great unit out
there for this. Most everything is either strictly secular evolutionary
process or young earth. Neither of which we adhere to. So I put together
my own from various sources. We did a
fly over without a lot of detail. This is elementary after all. If you
are also a homeschooling family who is Old Earth Creationist then this
section is for you! Let's share, send me your thoughts and ideas. I am
sure we will be doing this again and will need better stuff!
For
this we are using a modified Note booking concept in which we keep
everything in a three ring binder. Each activity is recorded in a
picture or writing or both and placed in the binder. This is organized for elementary age.
Here is what I did:
Pre Historic Life and
Early Man and Ice Age Unit:
1.
Earth/Creation:
Basic Concepts to
teach:
The
earth is old
God
made the earth and all that is in it
Layers
of the earth tell its age
Dinosaurs
Pangea
Primary
text:
Usborne
encyclopedia of World History,
Usborne
Rocks & Fossils,
Bible
Library:
Fossils
tell of long ago,
My
visit to the dinosaurs,
Digging
up dinosaurs,
DK
fossils,
Fossils-
clues to ancient life,
Who Was Charles Darwin?
By Deborah Hopkinson
Usborne dinosaur dictionary
Internet
Activities:
Egg, layers jar of brownies, edible
earth and fossil cookies
A. Earth:
o Our earth is made of rocks and
minerals. Inside the earth there is a liquid core of molten rock and on the
outside there is a hard crust. The earth is like an egg, and the shell on an
egg is like the crust on the earth.
o Read how earth was created in the
Bible, and also in Usborne encyclopedia of World History.
o Read a few creation stories from around
the world.
Create several Ven diagrams of how they are similar and different.
Looking for how things are
similar and different to the Bible.
o Egg activity
Our Earth is Like an Egg Activity:
Boil eggs and decorate the eggs to look like our
planet earth. You can use food dye painted on or
crayon or marker or any combination.
A fun idea is to use crayons to color the
continents first, then dip the eggs in the blue dye.
As you eat the egg talk about the parts of the earth. Have them draw a diagram and label it. Put it in the Notebook.
Our earth is made of rocks and minerals. Inside the earth there is a liquid
core of molten rock and on the outside there is a hard crust. The earth is like
an egg, and the shell on an egg is like the crust on the earth.
- The earth's crust
is made up of rocks and minerals.
- The earth's mantle
is made out of silicon, aluminum, oxygen, and iron. The mantle is like the
egg white.
- The earth's core
is made up of iron and nickel. It is like the egg's yoke.
B. The Earth's Layers:
This is a good place to read Story of the World chapter 1
Read
about the layers of the crust of the Earth in a Science book or an
archeology book for kids. The library has several good ones. Sediment collects on the ground, and then another layer, and
then another layer. Over millions of years, the layers get very deep and very
compacted, or pressed together. Scientists can tell when certain animals lived
based on which layer their fossils are found
in. The surface of our Earth has changed through the years, but its
layers have stayed the same.
This activity helps kids visualize the layers of the crust where we find bones, fossils and other archeological evidence.
Layers of the Earth activity: Brownies in a jar gift.
Measure out each of
the ingredients one at a time and pour them into their jars. The ingredients
should be poured in one at a time alternating between light and dark
ingredients so that each layer is visible. Remember to talk about how the
Earth and its dirt and rocks all have layers too. The M&Ms are like fossils
hidden between all the dirt and rocks. Close up the jars once all the
ingredients have been added.
Attach a small note saying
To:
From:
Instructions: Empty mix into large bowl. Use your hands to mix thoroughly. Add
3/4 cup of butter or margarine and 4 slightly beaten eggs. Mix until completely
blended. Spread batter into a lightly greased or sprayed 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake
at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pan. Cut into 2 inch
squares. Enjoy!
Supplies you will need for each jar:
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup
unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup M&Ms
- 1 cup brown
sugar
- 1 1/4 cups
all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon
baking powder
- mason jar for
each brownie jar made
This image was very useful for us in understanding time and layers of fossils and creation.
C. Pangea:
What is it?
How did it break
apart?
Read in
_________________________________
Draw Pangaea
Plate Tectonics (we got a kids book on this from the library, there are many).
D. Dinosaurs:
245
million years
ago, dinosaurs walked the earth. Our world was very different back then.
Talk about how the earth was different and climate was different.
o
Read
books about dinosaurs
o Great
resources for a Field Trip for this section are: Morrison dinosaur
print cliffs and museum. Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park.
Denver Museum of Nature and History Pre History/Dinosaur exhibit. There
are dinosaur prints in Eastern Colorado. Dinosaur National Park in
North-Western Colorado.
Do a report on one particular dinosaur.
We
also discussed how the dinosaurs went extinct. We combined the logical
ideas of a Meteor hitting the earth potentially causing the already
shifting plates to shift and create volcanoes and a climate change
causing the earth to become inhospitable to dinosaurs over time.
E. Fossilization
Dinosaurs are part of
the earth's history. Scientists study fossil remains to learn not only about
dinosaurs, but also about the earth itself.
Paleontologists are
the scientists that specialize in discovering fossils. They spend a lot of
their time carefully digging to find fossils. If they are not careful they will
miss or destroy fossils
o
Read
books on Fossils, Usborn Rocks and Fossils and library books. Books on actual digs are really neat too.
o Activity:
Jello
Layers of the Earth with fossils
Serve
the layered Jell-O that we made on Monday. Point out the "fossils"
embedded in the layers. Discuss with the children how the earth sets up at
different rates, and how earthquakes can mess up the even layering of
sediments. Encourage the children to examine their layers and to count their
woolly mammoths!
This morning (and throughout the day, we are going to make layered jello, to
help us visualize what the layers of the earth are like. We will eat this treat
at "Food for Thought" on Wednesday.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Whipped
topping
- One box of each
Jello color: Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Purple
- crumbled vanilla
wafers, oreos
- raisins
- chopped fruit
- Clear a spot in
your refrigerator large enough to accommodate the a large jello pan.
- Start with red
(or purple) Jello. Prepare the Jello according to the directions on the
packet. See warnings. If there is a "quick chill" method
involving ice cubes, use that method. Use the jigglers recipe / use half
the water for a firm finger jello.
- Fill the bottom
of the pan with half of the jello and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes
to set.
- Take the
leftover Jello of the color you just poured and mix in a couple of
tablespoons of whipped topping.
- Pour the
"opaque" jello over the first layer.
- Before the
layers have time to completely set up, sprinkled the crumbs on one of the
layers. The crumbs will stick on some layers, and sink to the bottom in
other places. Discuss with the children how the earth sets up at different
rates, and how earthquakes can mess up the even layering of sediments.
Shake the bowl to see what happens!
- Repeat the steps
above for each color, allowing approximately 15 minutes of refrigerator
time between every layer.
- Add raisins to
the last layer, to be woolly mammoths.
F. Finding Fossils
Dinosaur fossils are found in embedded in rock. Often, the whole rock is
carried to a museum, where scientists can work on it using special tools. Paleontologists
have to be very careful and patient when they look for fossils, or they could
accidentally break the fragile bones. Today the kids will practice their
paleontology skills. Give each child a chocolate chip cookie, ( or layered bar
with various treats hidden in it), some toothpicks and a napkin, IN a bowl.
Show the kids how to use the toothpick to get the chocolate chips out of the
cookies without breaking the chips. What are the difficulties the kids faced
while digging for the chips.
- chocolate chip
cookies
- toothpicks
- napkins
also put in things they have to find in
the cookie bars as a surprise.
2.
Ice age:
Basic
Concepts to teach:
Beringia
Ice
age animals
Why
did the ice melt?
Primary
text:
Usborne
History of the World, Kingfisher, timeline books,
Library:
Frozen
Man
by David Getz, Maroo of the winter caves, you wouldn’t want to be a
mammoth
hunter, boy of the painted cave, In the Ice Age,
Four Seasons,
Eye Know: Water DK, Snomastadon, also look up other kids books about the
Ice Age, Ice Age Animals, Bering Straight Land Bridge, Etc.
Activities:
make
cave paint and use it, paint a paper bag animal hide vest, make a spear, make and eat Paleo
cookies, stew. Have jerky, nuts, berries for snack. Hide them around and the kids can "hunt" for them.
A.
Glaciers and
Melting Ice
o During
the Ice Age much of the Earth was covered in thick sheets of ice called
glaciers. During an Ice Age land and water forms are not as clearly defined as
they are now during an "interglacial" period. The Ice Age was a time
of drastic change for our planet. The land and water forms changed along with
the inhabitants on the Earth. Much of the vegetation and life on the planet
became extinct during this time of environmental change. During the Ice Age our
Earth changed drastically. The land and water forms changed along with the
inhabitants on the Earth. The Ice Age helped determine what our world today
would be like.
Ice Age: Some of the characteristics of an Ice Age are the
same as a typical winter. As the environment cools down many plants and insects
die. In some ways an Ice Age is an extreme extended winter.
o
Activity: Ice Age Pops
Fill the popsicle molds with lemonade, add some gummy dinosaurs and then
freeze. The kids will now have a pre-historic treat and will have fun
discovering the dinosaurs when they get to the middle.
- Gummy Dinosaurs/ worms
- Lemonade
- Ice pop Molds
B.
Beringia·
Prepared for the Yukon Heritage Branch,
Department of Tourism.
These sections are provided in
Adobe PDF format.
Printed
pages
C. The People
o Early people were
hunter-gatherers. All their food came from what they could hunt and find
growing naturally around them. Most cavemen were nomads, moving around all the
time, following food sources. When cavemen ate animals, they ate every bit of
the animal except the bones. They even ate the inside of the bones, which is
called marrow. Some scientists believe that eating the high-density fat helped
human brains grow larger, making us smarter.
o
Read
about early people and how they lived in one of the books.
o
Activity:
Making Broth
Ingredients
- soup bones
- water
- carrots
- onions
- celery
- peppercorns
- 1.5 teaspoons
salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to
450 degrees F.
- Put the soup
bones in a large, shallow roasting pan.
- Bake bones about
30 minutes, turning at the 15-minute mark.
- Put soup bones
in a large pot. Pour 1/2 c. water into the roasting pan and scrape up any
crusty browned bits. Add water mixture to pot.
- Add carrots,
onions, celery, black peppercorns, and 1 1/2 tsp. salt to pot.
- Add 10 c. water
to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 3 1/2 hours.
Remove soup bones.
Did cavemen eat soup? No one knows for sure, but we know that they ate bone
marrow. We know this because we have found the remains of bones that have been
smashed to get the marrow out. This marrow was very nutritious and full of
healthy fats that gave the cavemen calories that they needed to survive the ice
age.
Serve the soup that we made early in the day. But also serve the
bones. Work with the children to extract the marrow, and have the children
taste small pieces of it. Do they like the flavor? How does it feel in their
mouths? If they were cavemen, would they eat lots of marrow?
D.
Cave art and clothing
- Read about cave art and look at photos
- You can get several books about cave art from the library. Including several children's books.
- Using
Animal Skins
When early man hunted an animal; he used every part of that animal for
something. Mostly animals were used for food. But their bones made good tools,
and their skins made warm clothes. They may even have used skins to
"write" on.
Have the children each take a grocery
bag and cut it open so it is large and flat. Show them how to scoop-trim the
edges so it has the shape of an animal skin. Then give the children an
opportunity to paint with the "prehistoric paint" that they made.
Long ago people painted pictures to remember important things. Discuss why this
animal is important to them. Why do you think the bulls in Hall of Bulls at the
Lascaux Cave are important? Encourage the children to paint the most important
animal in their life.
Supplies you will need:
- brown paper
grocery bags
- scissors
- prehistoric
paint made yesterday
- paintbrushes/
yucca stems
- smocks
For Paint:
- vegetable shortening
- dirt in as many colors and textures as you can find
- charcol from a fire
- small zip-lock bags
Place
a Tablespoon of shortening in each bag along with 1-2 Tablespoons of
one type of dirt. Massage the bag with your fingers until mixed. The
kids can do this, it is fun. Use the paint on the vests or on outdoor
rocks on private property where you have permission to paint. Or the
sidewalk or driveway. It might leave a grease stain, so be sure it's
somewhere that is ok.
Wear the
vests with painted prints to do more cave art or hunt for snacks.
E.
Ice Age Animals and Extinction
o
Supplies
you will need:
o What
animals were there? What are they like that we have now?
o Why
did they go extinct?
o Read
books about the animals and extinction
o Watch
a show on the Ice Age animals. There are actually a few out there that are NOT the Ice Age movie series.
Do a report on one Ice Age animal.
F.
Stone age:
Basic
Concepts to teach:
There
were people everywhere
They
were intelligent
How
they lived
Where
they lived
What
they may have believed
How
does this fit with the Bible?
Otzi
Ice Man
Primary
text: Bible references for people everywhere, Usborne, Kingfisher,
timeline books.
Library:
Otzi the Ice Man
other books about Ice Age animals
Activities:
G. Tool, homes, food,
animals
The Stone Age is part of our history,
before we could write. During this time, people used stone tools and moved to
live all over the world.
We call it The Stone Age because people primarily used stone
for tools. Rocks were sharpened into knives and weapons. Other stones were used
for grinding tools. People also made tools from wood, bone, shell, and antler.
Animals
were very important to people during the stone age. People began to have dogs
as pets and helpers. Dogs were the first domesticated animals. Read Jan Brett, The First Dog
In the stone age, people didn't have refrigeration. In fact, they had very
little ability to save food for later. One way that they could preserve food
was by drying it. Offer the children several types of jerky, such as beef jerky
and turkey jerky. Dried gathered –type fruits.
The Stone Age, man began changing the
earth to suit his needs. He began to build homes where he wanted, rather than
living in the caves that already existed. Lean to, etc.
H. Art/storytelling
People who lived during the Stone Age
did not know how to write. Instead, they painted pictures and told stories to
help them to remember the important events in their lives.
Stone Age Boy by Satoshi
Kitamura
- Why do we write
things down?
- Have people
always written things down?
- How can we
remember things without writing?
- Look at a
picture of cave art. Have them write what they think was going on.
Storytelling
Sit in a circle with the children. Tell a story (simple) and have each child
improve on the story. That’s how they did. One person would tell their story
and the next would improve on it to give more detail, feeling or meaning. Each
telling would enlarge or change the story from the original. **That’s how myths
work too. Tall Tales
3.
Agricultural age:
Basic
Concepts to teach:
People
learned to farm.
This
changed them for the better
Primary
text:
Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
Story of the World chapters 1,2
Activities: bake corn bread on a griddle over a camp fire. Baked potatoes in a fire pit. Mancala. Make a early hut.
1. Civilization began when people started
farming. When people started growing their own food instead of searching for it
daily, important changes happened in their lives. They could settle down and
create a home. They built villages, towns and even cities.
Play a Game:
Mancala, the game board consists of
two rows of 6 small pits (or "houses"), with a large storage pit at
each end. Picture an egg carton with a bowl at each end. At the beginning of
the game, you and your opponent sit on opposite sides of the game board. The
row in front of you is your row. The storage pit to your right is your storage
pit. Four seeds are placed in each of the 12 houses. And then play begins:
- The first player takes all the
seeds from one of his houses. He sows the seeds, moving counter-clockwise.
If he gets as far as his own storage pit, he drops a seed there, too. If
the last seed in his hand goes in his storage pit, he gets another turn.
Otherwise, his turn ends.
- The second player repeats the
""sowing" maneuver described in #1.
- Players don't drop seeds in each
other's storage pits
- If, during a turn, a player's last
seed lands in one of his empty pits, and there are seeds in the pit
immediately opposite it, the player gets to capture both his last seed and
the seeds opposite.
- The game ends when a player runs
out of seeds on his side of the board. The opponent gets to capture any
seeds remaining on his side, and the player with the most captured seeds
wins.
- mancala board,
or egg cartons
- seeds or beans for
sowing
2. Having a home changed people's lives.
They no longer had to carry everything they owned with them. Which meant that
they could collect more stuff and save for the future, but they could collect
things that weren't absolutely necessary to survive. They started to create
arts and crafts that enhanced their lives.
FOOD Look at several types of grain. Make corn cakes and have for lunch.
Bake bread with wheat and make lentil
stew for dinner. Things that are grown in a garden.
Eat oatmeal at breakfast to show grains
we now have thanks to early farmers who discovered what could be eaten.
As man learned to farm better, they started having extra food. This food could
be stored and traded for other things. This meant that not everyone needed to
be a farmer. So some people could become teachers or potters or other
tradesmen.
People began to keep animals, so that they always had milk, leather, wool, and
even fertilizer for their crops. They kept sheep, goats, cows, and pigs. The
animals could also help with work, like ploughing fields.
Having enough food made it possible for people to create a lot of other things.
Now that they lived in one place, they needed to build homes and markets and
public areas. They created cities and societies.
4. Archeology
Primary Text:
Archeology For Kids
Really all you need is to go through this book and pick what you want to
highlight and what activities you want to do. It is complete and has
everything you could want. It is too much so you have to narrow it down.
But, it is very cool!
Library:
Archeologists Dig for Clues
Look for a book that talks about an actual dig and has photos. These
are very interesting to look at the pictures and read the captions if
not other parts of the book as well.
Some of our fun times:
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Cave Art
Fossil Dig indoors with Dr Cool fossil dig kit
The impromptu imaginary fossil dig out side turned into a mud pit. Boys was that fun!
The earth is like an egg activity.
