Twinkl PlanIt is my go-to resource for History lessons. Today, we used a PlanIt lesson pack to learn about Skara Brae and its archaeological significance.
Revision & Fact Finding
To begin, we briefly revised our previous Stone Age knowledge – particularly the different types of houses. The kids remembered the transition from caves (Palaeolithic) to portable tents (Mesolithic) to permanent structures (Neolithic). Discussing Neolithic homes naturally led into talking about Skara Brae, and the houses that were found there.
The first part of the official lesson was reading a newspaper style article, about the discovery of the Skara Brae settlement by William Watt. (This was a novelty in itself, as the digital era means we don’t tend to buy physical newspapers anymore.) The kids took turns to read the paragraphs out loud. After that, we resumed the presentation and learned more key facts about Skara Brae. (My children decided that the most fascinating points were: early humans were much shorter than modern humans, and house 7 had a door that could only be locked from the outside.)
Skara Brae Journalism
We watched the presentation’s linked video, to see how a news reporter would conduct an interview. Then, we used the news report worksheets to note some interesting facts about Skara Brae.
I was the audience, while the kids took turns being the reporter and the interviewed archaeologist. They didn’t particularly enjoy doing the news report worksheets but their lovely news reports made up for it. (I loved the funny names they invented for their newspapers and TV channels.)
Finally, we went through the success criteria as a sort of pop quiz summary.
To round off today’s Skara Brae fest, we also did a short PrimaryLeap comprehension worksheet, and a Stone Age themed word search from Twinkl. We love word searches; they’re always a fun way to focus on topical vocabulary, without the pressure of formal spelling tests.