Lesson video

Hi everybody, it's Ms. Gardner.

Welcome to your next lesson from our unit, Stone Age, a non-chronological report.

Thank you so much for joining in on today's lesson.

I'm really excited and I hope you are too, so let's get going.

So in today's lesson from our unit, the non-chronological report on the Stone Age, we are going to be doing some more planning.

So your learning outcome is, I can plan the houses paragraph for a non-chronological report about the Stone Age.

So let's start with looking at some key words.

Our keywords today, we'll do my turn, your turn, are, subject-specific vocabulary, plan, notes, subheading and nomadic.

Let's have a look at what these mean.

Subject-specific vocabulary is vocabulary used when writing about a particular subject.

So in our case, we'll be thinking about subject-specific vocabulary about the Stone Age.

A plan is a framework that writers create before they write a section or a whole text.

Notes are written out of full sentences.

We don't need full sentences in our notes.

A subheading is a word, phrase, or sentence used to introduce part of a text.

And nomadic means when you travel from one place to another, rather than settling somewhere, so it's an adjective to describe people who move around.

So there are two sections of our learning today.

In the first we'll be preparing to plan, so we're gonna gather information about the houses, and then we'll be writing the plan.

So let's start it with preparing to plan.

So a non-chronological report can be structured into five sections.

An introduction, section one, about the diet, section two about houses, and then section three about artefacts, and then finally our conclusion.

We've written the introduction and section one.

Today we are planning section two.

So subject-specific vocabulary is words that are specifically related to the historical period, culture and society of the Stone Age.

So a period is a certain time in the past.

So the Stone Age is a prehistoric period of time, so a period of time really, really, really long ago.

Culture is the way we do things that make us special and unique, so the Stone Age culture was very different to our culture.

The way they lived, the way they ate, the way they worked.

It was a very different culture to the modern day culture.

So it's really interesting, as historians, to study those cultures and different cultures.

And a society is a large group of people who live together in a community or country.

So we're gonna be looking at the Mesolithic communities and the Neolithic community.

So let's think about some of the subject-specific vocabulary we might include in our writing or our planning today of the section about housing.

So which of these words are subject-specific vocabulary? We have animals, nomadic, bed, drink, humans, tent and stone.

So nomadic is one of our key words.

We learned that it's about people who move around from place to place.

This is specific to our section today about housing in the Stone Age, so we can definitely say that's subject-specific.

Tent is also, you'll learn about that in a minute, and so is stone, because of the material that they used to make their houses.

So these are all subject-specific vocabulary for this section.

Animals, bed, drink, humans, they might come up but they're not subject-specific to this section.

So now it's time to check your understanding on this.

Which of these words are subject-specific vocabulary for this section of our non-chronological report about the houses? Settlement, objects, Skara Brae, clothes, home or caves.

If you're not sure, just have a guess and have a think, because a couple of those words might be a bit unfamiliar.

But have a think about what you think might be subject-specific to this section.

Pause the video now.

Okay, let's go through it.

So settlement, that is a place where people move to and settle and stay put, so that is subject-specific to this section.

Skara Brae, we're gonna learn about this.

This is a Neolithic settlement.

And caves, we'll also learn about this.

This is where the Mesolithic people lived.

Really well done everybody.

Let's move on.

So in this non-chronological report, we are focusing on the changes that took place between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic period.

So the Mesolithic came before the Neolithic.

So we are looking about the developments and the changes that took place in their housing.

Let's start with the Mesolithic.

So the Mesolithic people lived in caves and tents.

Why did they live in caves? Well, caves offered shelter from the wind and the rain and extreme temperatures.

So you can see in the picture there, the cave, it's almost like a room.

It has a roof and an entrance, and that offered protection from the cold winds and rains.

They also provided security from predators and other human groups as the entrance was a natural barrier, so they could hide in the caves, it would be less exposing.

So caves were a natural home for them, they didn't have to make them themselves, they just had to find them, and because they were nomadic, they were always moving around, and when they would find a cave, they would stay put for a while and set up shelter there.

The Mesolithic people were nomadic, they moved around and when they moved around, they carried tents with them as kind of portable homes.

Tents were made out of animal skin and wood, so they were not very durable.

That means that they didn't last a very long time.

You can see there in the picture, the tents were made of animal skins.

These are not authentic tents from the Stone Age.

These would've been recreated to show people what they might have looked like.

But yes, you can see they're made of animal skin and wooden sticks.

And they carried their tents around with them, depending on the seasons and where the animals went, because we know they were hunter gatherers.

So they had to hunt the animals to eat, and they had to gather berries depending on their surroundings.

And so they had to move around because the seasons changed, and so that meant that the animals would move as well.

So they would follow them, follow the animals, follow the seasons, to make sure that they got fed.

So let's check for understanding.

What were Mesolithic people's tents made out of? A, stone.

B, wooden sticks.

C, plastic, or D, animal skin.

Pause the video now.

Okay, what were the tents made out of? Wooden sticks and animal skin.

Definitely not plastic.

Plastic hadn't been invented then, and stone houses came a little bit later and they wouldn't want to make tents out of stone because they wouldn't be able to carry them around with them.

Well done, everyone.

So let's move on now to the Neolithic housing.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Skara Brae.

So Skara Brae is one of the most well-preserved Neolithic sites, and it was uncovered in the Orkney Islands in 1850 after a storm.

So years and years later, because it dates back to 3,100 BCE, so archaeologists only discovered it about 170 years ago.

And Skara Brae is evidence of a tight-knit community of people who lived and worked together.

You can't see it in this picture, but there was more than one dwelling, more than one house in Skara Brae, which shows that it was community for lots of different people to live in.

The dwellings or the houses were close to each other.

And they were linked with these interconnected passageways, which indicates that they worked really closely with the other people in the settlement.

Now the design of the dwellings at Skara Brae was highly sophisticated.

It might not look at from these pictures in comparison to what we live in now, but these were really high sophisticated for the time in the Stone Age.

They were made from long lasting stones, so much more durable, which mean they could settle there for a really long time, instead of having to move around like the Mesolithic people.

And the structures included features, such as stone-built furniture.

They had these stone dressers in the middle of their dwellings, furnaces, or hearths to keep them warm.

And they even had a primitive form of indoor plumbing, so one of the first plumbing systems in houses in British history, so that's very impressive.

What's also interesting is that Skara Brae is a subterranean site.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Subterranean.

That means it's underground.

And you can see that, that the grass covers is on the top of the stone.

And this would protect them from the harsh climates, the Orkney islands would get really, and still do, get really extreme wind and rain, so they needed to be underground to be able to protect themselves from that, a bit like the caves in the Mesolithic period.

So you can see that here, the grass is on the top, which made sure that the dwellings were subterranean, so underground.

Let's check for understanding.

True or false? The Neolithic people moved around depending on the seasons.

Pause the video now.

That's right.

It is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the Neolithic people settled in small communities and built long-lasting houses out of stone.

B.

The Neolithic people settled in communities and built houses out of wood and animal skin.

Pause the video now.

That's right.

It is A.

It couldn't be B, because houses built out of wood and animal skin wouldn't be very long lasting, so they wouldn't be able to settle there for a really long time.

So the fact that their houses were made out of stone, meant that they could settle, because stone is a really durable material.

Well done, everyone.

So it's time for task A.

You need to sort the following into whether they are a feature of the Mesolithic period or the Neolithic period.

So you have sophisticated design, stone houses, animal skin tents, settled in small communities, nomadic and caves.

Just a reminder that sophisticated design means a really advanced design.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, welcome back everybody.

Let's go through these.

So animal skin tents was part of the Mesolithic period, because they would make the tents out of animal skin so they could carry them on their backs.

Nomadic, the Mesolithic people were nomadic because they moved around depending on the seasons and where the animals went, and caves, Mesolithic people lived in caves.

These were a natural home for them, part of the natural environment.

And then in the Neolithic period, houses were made out of stone.

Then sophisticated design, we saw that in Skara Brae.

They even had a plumbing system which was very sophisticated and advanced and they settled in small communities, so they started to stay put, rather than moving around all the time.

Really well done, everybody.

Okay, it's time for the second section of our learning, where we are going to be writing the plan, which we'll be able to use in the next lesson when it comes to writing this section, so we need to make sure we keep it safe, the plan.

So when we write a plan, we use notes.

Notes are concise and capture key vocabulary and information.

The purpose of notes is to help the writer to organise information easily for future use, so that when it comes to writing, it's much more easy to do so because you have an idea, you have your plan in front of you to help you.

We use bullet points when note-taking and they look like this.

So you have a subheading and then a bullet point, and then your note, a bullet point, and then your note.

And we use subheadings to organise our bullet points, and they're a really important part of our organising notes.

What will our subheading be today? Well, our section's all about the housing in the Stone Age, so probably our subheading will be housing or houses.

So let's check for understanding.

What is in a plan? A, bullet points for notes.

B, full sentences with capital letters and full stops.

C, subject-specific vocabulary, or D, unnecessary information.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so in a plan, we have bullet points for notes and subject-specific vocabulary.

Well done, everyone.

It's time for task B.

We are going to be writing the plan.

So the first thing you need to do is write your subheading, housing.

Then you need to write four main facts about the Mesolithic housing with subject-specific vocabulary.

So some of your subject-specific vocabulary that you might include are nomadic, caves, tents, animal skin and wood.

So in this section you're just writing and in this moment of the plan you are just writing about the Mesolithic, the fact that they were moving around, following the seasons, following the animals and carrying their houses with them.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, welcome back, everybody.

Well done.

I'm going to go through my bullet point notes.

Don't worry if your notes don't look exactly the same as these.

I'm sure that they look a little bit different and that's completely okay.

But if there is something that I've written down that you think would be useful to include in your plan, make sure you jot it down yourself.

So my subheading was housing.

First fact, Mesolithic people were nomadic, moved around depending on the seasons, where the animals went.

This is not a full sentence, this is just a note.

Then carried tents with them when moving.

Tents were made from animal skin and wood.

Caves protected them from extreme weather and predators.

If you want to add any of these to your plan, go for it and pause the video.

Otherwise, let's move on to the next part.

Because now you need to write four main facts about the Neolithic housing with subject-specific vocabulary.

So your subject-specific vocabulary is settled or settlement, stone, Skara Brae, communities and design, making sure when you write Skara Brae, you use capital letters because that is a proper noun.

It's the name of a place.

So pause the video now and off you go, writing three to four facts about Neolithic housing.

Off you go.

Welcome back, everybody.

I'm gonna go through my bullet point notes.

And just like last time, if you want to add them to your plan, you absolutely can do.

And don't worry if they don't look exactly the same as mine, that's not a problem.

So Neolithic people settled in small communities, houses built from long-lasting stone and were subterranean.

Subterranean wasn't one of my subject-specific vocabulary, but I thought it was really important to show that it was underground for protection from the weather, so subterranean.

Skara Brae is evidence of their tight-knit communities that lived and worked together.

Sophisticated design, including a plumbing system.

So as I said, if you want to add any of these to your plan, pause the video now and you can do that.

Otherwise, let's move on to the next part of our plan.

So now in task C, you need to fill in the table with the following.

Four formal fronted adverbials and two viewpoint fronted adverbials.

So just a reminder of what they are, you have in addition, amazingly, also, however, in contrast and interestingly.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, welcome back, everybody.

So our formal fronted adverbials, we use at the start of a sentence, in addition and also, they build on a point from the previous sentence.

And then however and in contrast, offer a contrasting idea from the previous sentence.

And then our viewpoint fronted adverbials, they show the point of view or the opinion of the writer about the point they're about to make.

So interestingly, I think this point is really interesting, or amazingly, this fact is gonna make you think, "Wow." Okay, if you need to make any edits to this table now, you can pause the video and do that.

Otherwise, really well done everyone.

It is the end of the lesson.

Here is a summary of everything we have learned.

Plans are written in note form with bullet points.

Full sentences are not needed in plans.

Key vocabulary and linguistic features should be logged in a plan.

The Mesolithic people were nomadic, which meant they moved around depending on the seasons and where the animals went and the Neolithic people settled in small communities in houses made of stone.

Make sure you keep your plans safely for the next lesson as we'll need them when it comes to writing this section.

Really well done, everybody.