Grade 6 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 5, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A Message of Ancient Days

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 5, Lesson 1: Learning to Farm (pp. 120-126)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change Domesticating plants and animals changed the way humans lived their daily lives.

Outline the steps taken by humans from hunting-gathering to planting seeds and domesticating animals. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of farming compared with hunting-gathering.

Discuss the benefits and changes that having a surplus of food brings about. Encourage students to understand the advantages of having people freed from farming to do other occupations.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ask students to write a one page journal entry as though they were members of a hunter-gatherer group who have just begun farming. Ask students to contrast the two ways of living, including how food is obtained, how time is spent, and how people's activities are organized.
Have small groups of students draw pictures showing a farming settlement in the Middle East during the period of about 8000 to 5000 B.C. Encourage students to include domesticated plants and animals, people making and using tools, permanent living structures, and a variety of activities.

Social Studies Center | Houghton Mifflin Social Studies | Grade 6 Home
Education Place | Site Index

You may download, print, and make copies of Lesson at a Glance pages for use in your classroom, provided that you include the copyright notice shown below on all such copies.