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Making Monuments Learn About Megalithic Tombs by Making Models 119 Module 6 Making Monuments Learn about megalithic tombs by making models Curriculum Linkages and Integration See Teacher Guidelines for additional information SESE History INFANT CLASSES 1st & 2nd CLASSES STRAND: Story STRAND: Change and continuity Strand Unit: Stories Strand Unit: Change and continuity in the local environment STRAND: Story Strand Unit: Stories 3rd & 4th CLASSES 5th & 6th CLASSES STRAND: Local Studies STRAND: Local Studies Strand Unit: Buildings, sites and ruins in my locality Strand Unit: Buildings, sites and ruins in my locality Strand Unit: My locality through the ages Strand Unit: My locality through the ages STRAND: Story STRAND: Story Strand Unit: Stories from the lives of people in the past Strand Unit: Stories from the lives of peoples in the past STRAND: Early peoples and ancient societies STRAND: Early peoples and ancient societies Strand Unit: Stone Age peoples Strand Unit: Stone Age peoples Strand Unit: Bronze Age peoples STRAND: Continuity and change over time Strand Unit: Homes and houses STRAND: Continuity and change over time Strand Unit: Homes and houses LINKAGES INTEGRATION SESE Geography Mathematics Visual Arts Drama - Human environments - Shape and space - Construction - Exploring and making drama - Natural environments - Early mathematical activities - Fabric and fibre - Co-operating and - Environmental awareness - Measures - Paint and colour communicating in making and care - Number drama - Data SESE Science SP&HE Gaeilge English - Energy and forces - Myself - Éisteacht - Receptiveness to language - Materials - Myself and others - Labhairt - Competence and confidence - Environmental awareness - Myself and the wider world - Scríbhneoireacht - Developing cognitive abilities and care - Léitheoireacht through language - Emotional and imaginative development through language “I made a tomb It was fun It was the Stone Age ” 2nd Class Pupil Module 6: Making Monuments 121 OBJECTIVE The pupils learn about megalithic tombs by making models of them in a sand tray. AGE APPROPRIATENESS This module is suitable for all classes. To manage the module for each age group see Teacher Guidelines MATERIALS REQUIRED • Square or rectangular box or tray: approx. 30cm x Activity Sheets (AS) 40cm, depth c. 10cm (e.g. cat litter tray) • Play-sand • Making Megaliths 1 (AS1) • Lots of small flat stones and some larger ones • Making Megaliths 2 (AS2) • Building a Tomb (AS3) • Megalithic Art (AS4). Prompt: same trays/boxes can be used for Module 3. PREPARATION Familiarise the pupils with Stone Age farmers (Neolithic) (see Module 5). These people built sophisticated stone tombs, called megalithic tombs. Four types of megalithic tombs were built in Ireland: • Passage Tombs • Court Tombs • Portal Tombs • Wedge Tombs Prompt: Enlarge Activity Sheets 1 and 2 from A4 to A3, cut out the individual plans and distribute them to the pupils as required. The passage tomb at Newgrange in Co Meath is a World Heritage Site 122 Module 6: Making Monuments Let’s get started! Setting the Scene You are living in Ireland about 3000 BC, during the Stone Age (Neolithic) period. The chief of your tribe has died and a great tomb must be built. What type of tomb will you build? Discuss why these Stone Age people took such great trouble to build ‘houses for the dead’ using great stones, whilst the ‘houses for the living’ were much simpler structures made of wood. The Activity • Demonstrate in the tray, or draw on the board, the type of tomb you wish to build. Point out the main features of the tomb (entrance; passage; chamber; capstones; kerbstones; corbelled roof; cairn etc.) • Divide the class into teams of two and give each a sand tray and some stones. • Hand out the plan of a tomb (AS1 and AS2) and ask them to build it in the sand tray. • If it is a Passage Tomb, some of the stones can be decorated with chalk (see AS4). Portal Tomb in tray Passage Tomb in tray Prompt: Other archaeological monuments can be built in a similar fashion, e.g. ringfort, stone circle, stone row. Art Some of the stones in Passage Tombs are decorated with spirals, curved and linear zigzag lines etc. This is the earliest type of art to survive in Ireland. Use AS4 to explore the designs used to decorate these stones. Module 6: Making Monuments 123 Closing Activity Discuss how the tombs were built, how the stones were moved and erected, using AS1. and/or Write a story or draw a picture describing a day in the life of a Neolithic boy/girl during the building of a megalithic tomb. Weblinks Knowth www.knowth.com A brief guide to Irish archaeological monuments www.iol.ie/~sec/sites.htm Key Terms • Megaltihic Tomb “The pupils see first • Chamber hand how tombs • Kerb stone were made. This • Capstone helped them • Cairn understand how tombs were made in the Stone Age”. 6th Class Teacher Module 6 Making Megaliths 1 Activity Sheet 1 125 Name Pa ssage Tomb ✃ Court Tomb Module 6 126 Activity Sheet 2 Making Megaliths 2 Name P ortal Tomb ortal Tomb ✃ W edge Tomb edge Tomb Module 6 Building a Tomb Activity Sheet 3 127 Name Describe what is happening in the picture. Module 6 128 Activity Sheet 4 Megalithic Art Name Decorate this stone with some megalithic art Examples Module 6: Making Monuments 129 GUIDELINES CONTENTS • Managing the Module • Background Information • Skills Development • Strands Linkages Integration SESE Geography Mathematics Visual Arts Drama eacher Guidelines eacher SESE Science SPHE Gaeilge English T Module 6: Making Monuments 131 Managing the Module: Senior Classes This is a practical way to show pupils how megalithic tombs were built and what their basic features are. Megalithic tombs are often called dolmens or some other local name, but it is better to use the correct terminology. Become familiar with the megalithic tomb you wish to teach before introducing them to the class. Use the Resources: Brief Guide to Monuments and Artefacts for some background information on each tomb type. Once built- and if the model is large enough- the pupils could place certain objects in the tomb- e.g. clay pot (from Module 5), arrowhead (from Module 4), or a toy figure to represent a burial. Items like this placed in a tomb are referred to as ‘grave goods’. Use AS3 to stimulate a discussion of how big stones were moved and erected. Other monuments can be made in the sand tray e.g. stone circles, stone rows, single standing stone, ringforts, Early Christian monastery (see Resources: Brief Guide to Monuments and Artefacts). Other mediums could be used to make models e.g. clay, papier-mâché, plaster. Prompt: Megalithic tombs were covered by a cairn of stones or a mound of earth. One cannot see the tomb’s construction if it is covered in this way in the sand tray. However, if the model is covered by sand (like a cairn) and some grave goods are placed inside it, the pupils could exchange trays and excavate the tomb in the manner outlined in Module 3. Managing the Module: Junior Classes Infants The simplest type of tomb- the Portal Tomb- can be demonstrated to the pupils. They can observe how the side stones support the capstone to create a space or chamber. Use AS3 to stimulate a discussion of how big stones were erected. They could also arrange the stones to form certain shapes, like a circle or a straight line. 1st and 2nd The pupils can make the simpler type of tomb- the Portal Tomb, and become familiar eacher Guidelines: Module 6 eacher with basic construction concepts- how the side stones support the capstones to create a space or chamber. Use AS3 to stimulate a discussion of how big stones were T moved and erected. 132 Module 6: Making Monuments Skills and Concepts Development: Working as a Historian INFANT CLASSES Time and Chronology: • The pupils become aware of and discuss the making of monuments in the sand tray as a simple story about an event that happened in the past. Using Evidence: • The pupils encounter the monuments in the sand tray as evidence for an event that happened in the past. Communication: • The monuments in the sand tray can be used as a means of communicating a story from the past- using artwork (making the monument in the tray) and information (how these monuments were made). 1ST AND 2ND CLASSES Time and Chronology: • The pupils can begin to distinguish between past, present and future events by seeing the making of the monument in the sand tray as a demonstration of how an event happened in the past. Change and Continuity: • Using the making of the monument in the sand tray, the pupils can explore ideas of change (how things were built long ago) and continuity (the need for places of burial). Cause and Effect: • Using the making of the monument in the sand tray, the pupils can relate the event with a consequence- the construction of a monument. Using Evidence: • The pupils encounter the making of the monument in the tray as evidence for an event that happened in the past- the building of a tomb. Synthesis and Communication: • The making of the monument in the sand tray can be used as a means of communicating a story from the past- using art work (the making of the tomb in the sand tray) and writing (write an account of how the large monuments were built in the Stone Age). Empathy: • Using the making of the monument in the sand tray the pupils can imagine and discuss the event- the building of a Stone Age tomb- and the feelings of characters in the past who built such tombs. 3RD AND 4TH CLASSES Time and Chronology: • The pupils can begin to distinguish between past, present and future events by seeing the making of the monument in the sand tray as a demonstration of how an event happened in the past.
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