Thursday

LC: Explore what the Stone Age was and identify similarities and differences in the way that humans lived.

What is the Stone Age? Speak to your talk partners and discuss.

The Stone Age began around 2 million years ago. This was 60 million years after the dinosaurs became extinct. In the Stone Age, humans lived alongside animals like the woolly mammoth, elephants, giant oxen, hippos and cave lions. 

We are going to read a story about The Stone Age Boy...

Stone Age Boy

An amazing thing happened to me. I was wandering in the wood when I tripped and found myself falling down, down, down.

When I woke up, I was in a cold, dark place. I could see day light and I stumbled towards it. Outside, everything was different. I realised I was lost. Completely lost.  So I walked and walked and walked.....

Then, to my relief, I saw someone – a girl. She was about my age, but she didn’t look like any of the girls I knew. And I don’t think I looked like any of the boys she knew.

She took me home to meet her family – and what a family it was! They looked very strange, but they were kind to me and gave me some stew. I couldn’t understand anything they were saying, though I worked out my new friend’s name was Om. Then I must have fallen asleep.

The next morning, Om showed me round the camp. Everyone seemed busy and had a job to do.

Over the next few days I saw so much I’d never seen before. Om’s people had no knives and forks, no plastic, no metal even. Everything they had was made of wood, stone, animal skins or bones. I saw them.....making tools, using tools, preparing and cooking food.

One afternoon we went to the river. The little ones picked berries and nuts, but Om and I watched the men fishing. They held their pointed spears high and stood as still as trees. Then, suddenly, swoosh! Their spears dropped like lightning and came up again spiking wriggling fish.

Suddenly a boy ran up, shouting and pointing to the hills. At once several people grabbed their spears and followed him. Om and I followed them. Slowly, slowly, we crept forwards until we saw – a reindeer! It was standing alone, munching the grass. At a signal, the others ran towards it, yelling and throwing their spears. Om and I didn’t have spears, but we yelled anyway. It was so exciting! A spear caught the reindeer in its side, and it fell to the ground. That night we had a party to celebrate. We cooked the reindeer over a great fire and there was music and dancing. I joined in on the air guitar.

As the days became weeks, Om and her people taught me many things. I was very happy. Then one day Om took me to a special place. We walked a long way until we came to the mouth of a cave. Om struck flint stones together to make fire. She lit a torch and we went in. WOW! It took me a moment to realise the animals were only painting. In the flickering light of the torch they looked real, as if they were running all around us. Om went over to the tools and paints the artists had left and began to draw. Suddenly, I saw something move in the darkness. It was a bear, a big furious cave bear! I shouted at Om to run and turned to face the bear with my spear...

Talk to your friends and discuss how Om's way of living is different to the way that we live today.

Let's discuss 3 things and make a mind map:

• Houses
• Food
• Tools

Can you write some sentences about the 3 things that we have just discussed. Remember to label the boxes as Then and Now.

          Then                                                                Now