Subject: History, Social Studies

Lesson Length: 35 - 40 mins

Topic: Transition to Agriculture

Grade Level: 6

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will understand the impact agriculture had on culture and daily life of peoples living during the Neolithic Era.

Know Before You Start: Students should have an understanding of the daily life of peoples living during the Paleolithic Era.

Hook:

  • Look at the meaning of the “root” words, eg.,  “Paleo” from the Paleolithic Age and “Neo” from the Neolithic Age.
  • Make predictions about why there was the distinction of “old” and “new” between the two eras. 

Activity:

  • Have students research the reasons for the change from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Era (Agricultural Revolution).
  • Have students create a two-panel comic depicting life during the Paleolithic Era and the Neolithic Era.
    • Panel 1: Have students illustrate a scene that depicts the life of someone living during the Paleolithic Era.
    • Panel 2: Have students illustrate a scene that depicts the life of someone living during the Neolithic Era.
    • Have students include details that are specific to each time period. For example, stone tools, fire, hunting, farming, wild animals, domesticated animals, etc.

Closure:

  • Have students display their comics in print or a gallery walk and identify details that make the depictions true or false.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
  • Provide definitions of paleo and neo.

  • Allow students to work with a peer model.

  • Provide sentence starters.

  • Preteach vocabulary.

  • Use graphic organizers as needed.

Resources:

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