Grade 6 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 4, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A Message of Ancient Days

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 4, Lesson 2: The Development of Culture (pp. 97-101)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Culture The ability to use tools and language was vital in the development of early human culture.

Review with students the development of tools by early humans. Discuss the changes in the use of tools, and the development of specific tools for specific tasks. Be sure students understand that early tools are a form of technology.

Talk with students about the importance of language in the development and maintenance of human culture. Review all the ways in which language was useful to early hunters and gatherers.

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

Arrange students in working groups. Have each group write a simple sentence expressing information that early humans might have shared, such as, "The deer is over that hill." or "Make the bottom edge sharper than the top," or "In the spring, the river will flood." Have groups exchange sentences, then work to communicate the new sentence to the rest of the class without using words. Afterwards, talk about the experience. Which ideas were best communicated with language? Which were hard without language?
Have each student draw a picture of a tool that he or she feels would have been useful to early humans.

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.