Grade 7 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 15, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Across the Centuries

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 15, Lesson 1: Origins (pp. 396-399)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Technology Historians believe the earliest Americans were hunter-gatherers who probably migrated to the Americas across the Bering land bridge and who learned to adapt their technology as conditions changed over time.

As a class, work to find out what conditions were like in your area before the end of the last ice age. Did a glacier cover your region? Did mammoths, giant sloths, and saber-toothed tigers roam the area? Describe the conditions to students and ask them to suggest what life might have been like during that period. Having only the resources at hand, what kinds of tools, shelters, and weapons might people have constructed? Discuss how the end of the ice age would have changed life and forced people to make new adaptations in order to survive.

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

Have students reread the description of the boy on his first mammoth hunt on page 396. Then ask them to choose a different event from the lesson, such as following game across the Bering land bridge or participating in an ancient harvest, and write a description of the experience.
Have students create a pair of drawings to compare and contrast the lives of hunter-gatherers with those of sedentary villagers. Suggest that they use the chart "Life in the Americas" on page 399 to help them choose images for their drawings.

Social Studies Center | Houghton Mifflin Social Studies | Grade 7 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.