SOTW Vol 1 - Introduction Archaeology

Introduction - Story of the World Volume 1 we are told what History and what Archaeology is.

This is how we did the lesson: First I read the introduction on what is History, Historian, Archaeology and an Archaeologist. Our home language is not English so I also explain to the kids what I have read in our native tongue even though they do understand.

On another day we looked at the videos below, did some writing in the little booklet I made further down and did some fun activities.
 
In this video clip you can see what an Archaeologist do as a career guideline.

In the next video you can see a full episode of Bill Nye the Science guy on Archaeology. The kids loved this video.

I made these little booklets. You can download it here.

In this little booklet they need to write the meaning of what is History, a Historian, Acheaology and what is an Archaeologist. They had to write where they made their discovery. After each activity they had to draw what they found. On the first drawing page they had to draw their findings from their hard 'stone' dig. The second drawing page, what they found in the soil. They only brushed the top part of the soil from the item and had to leave it in place and draw it out. Normally a real Archaeologist would also draw out in which grid he found what. The last drawing page they had the draw the items in more details after it was cleaned. In the last two pages they had to list their items and also explain what they learned about the people or place where they made the discovery.  

Below is just an example of what the kids did. Their books are in our home language which is Afrikaans.

Now lets have a look at some fun activities - time for the big dig.

Their first excavation was done from this hard 'stone'. Hubby made two forms for each. You mix some Crack Filler or Plaster of Paris into a nice thick consistency.  Put your items inside, leave it to dry. It need to become really hard.

This is what our hard stones looked like.

This is what they discovered inside.

The next dig was in the garden. We visted my folks and the garden soil space were very limited. (My dad got the most beautiful garden, so could not venture in there) I buried the items not too deep and made a grid with some yarn/rope.

Here is what they have found in their excavation. I would have loved to add some broken pottery pieces, but did not have any on hand. The idea would be for them to put it back together again. Maybe next time ;)

The kids had to work in their booklet after each activity before they moved on. They absolutely loved doing this. 

While the kids do their dig, you can explain to them what conclusions one can make when certain type of objects are found.

Happy learning.

Blessings

Maryna