Prehistoric Trade
Level V 

About the Book 

Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 24
Word Count: 2,008 

Book Summary
Prehistoric Trade explains how ancient people traded objects over long distances and demonstrates the continued importance of trade today. Through studying archaeological sites and finding ancient artifacts, scientists can determine the types of objects traded, their age, and where they came from. Photographs, maps, and illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson                                         

Targeted Reading Strategy

  • Summarize

Objectives

  • Identify the main idea and supporting details
  • Use the reading strategy of summarizing to understand the text
  • Identify and use complex sentences
  • Identify and use homophones

Materials

  • Book -- Prehistoric Trade (copy for each student)
  • Chalkboard or dry erase board
  • Index cards
  • Main idea and details/summary, complex sentences, homophones worksheets

   Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

  • Content words: archeological sites, archaeology, artifacts, commodity, exotic, generation, native copper, obsidian, oral tradition, ore, prehistoric, smelting, trade, transatlantic trade

Before Reading 

Build Background

  • Write the word trade on the board. Ask students to explain the meaning of the word. Ask students if they have ever traded with a friend or relative, giving exchanging something of theirs for something different that they wanted. Provide opportunities for students to discuss things of value that could be traded for something different.
  • Cut out and post the Stop & Think boxes from pages 12 and 18. Read them aloud and give students time to discuss the questions. Brainstorm with students to create a list of possible answers to the questions posed.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

  • Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is and what it might be about.
  • Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title, author's name).
  • Preview the table of contents on page 3. Remind students that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Ask students what they expect to read about in the book based on what they see in the table of contents. (Accept any answers students can justify.)

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

  • Write the following list of words on the board: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, boysenberries, blackberries. Ask students to describe what these words refer to (different types of berries). Point out that the description of these words help to identify the main idea. (There are many different types of berries.) The words raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, boysenberries, and blackberries are details that support this main idea.
  • Explain to students that sometimes the amount of information about a topic is so large that it is grouped into sections, and each section has its own main idea.
  • Read page 4 aloud to students. Model identifying the main idea and details from page 4.
    Think-aloud: As I read this section of the book, most of the sentences mention trading cards between friends. The sentences also mention a new student from Japan who trades his Japanese cards, which they wouldn't be able to get in their hometown. I will underline this information. Based on what I've read, I think the main idea of this section is: Trade allowed a group of friends to get objects they wanted and to enjoy products from other places.
  • Write the main idea on the board. Ask students to identify the details from the book that support this main idea (William got cards from California, Rudolfo got cards from a downtown shop, the friends traded cards with Haruki from Japan, and so on). Write these details on the board.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Summarize

  • Explain to students that one way to understand and remember information in a book is to write a summary, or a brief overview of the most important information in the text. Point out that a summary includes the main idea and one or two supporting details. It often answers the questions who, what, when, where, and why.
  • Model summarizing the main idea and details from page 4 on the board.
    Think-aloud: To summarize, I decide which information is most important to the meaning of the chapter that would be important to remember. To do this, I can identify the main idea and important details, and then organize that information into a few sentences. When I look at the main idea and details on the board, a summary of this chapter so far might be: Trade allowed a group of friends to get objects they wanted and to enjoy products from other places. Through people they knew, the friends traded cards from a downtown shop and from California. When a student from Japan moved to their neighborhood, the friends traded cards that none of them would find in their hometown.
  • Write the summary on the board. Have students identify the main idea and details within the summary. Discuss how you used your own words to create the summary.
  • As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

  • Introduce the following words from the content vocabulary and write them on the board: archaeology, prehistoric, commodity, artifacts.
  • Ask students how they know about certain events in history (they read about them in books, they saw a television show, and so on). Explain that in prehistoric times, written records were not kept. Ask students to share how people might learn about individuals who lived during these prehistoric times.
  • Explain to students that archaeology is the study of people through the things they leave behind. Divide students into groups. Provide each group with the following bag of artifacts: shells/shell jewelry, fishing hooks, fishing line; animal skins, arrowheads, baskets; seeds, cloth, stone tools. Explain that each bag contains artifacts, or objects shaped or changed by people. Ask each group to examine the items and draw a conclusion about the people to which each group of items belongs. Ask questions such as: What kind of society did these people belong to? What kinds of food did they eat? Where might they have lived? Invite them to share reasons supporting their conclusion.
  • Discuss with students the objects each type of society might place value on. Explain the definition of trade (the exchange of one thing for another. Point out that people often trade for things they value and/or feel there is a need for, and that money is often exchanged for the things people want and need. Ask students to identify the examples of commodities, or things that are traded, in the world.
  • Ask students to think about the types of commodities in their community. Invite them to share what types of artifacts an archaeologist might find in their community in 200 years.
  • For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

  • Have students read the book to find out more about prehistoric trade. Encourage them to underline or write on a separate piece of paper the important details in each section.

During Reading 

Student Reading

  • Guide the reading: Have students read from page 5 to the end of page 8. Encourage those who finish before others to reread the text. When students are ready, discuss the important information they identified.
  • Model identifying the main idea and details.
    Think-aloud: As I read the section titled "Long-Distance Trade," most of the sentences mentioned something about trading valuable objects over long distances. During prehistoric times, people used to spend months traveling between places. People know about types of prehistoric trade through oral tradition and archaeology. The sentences also mention how everyday objects can come from anywhere in the world, and that if people didn't trade, every family would have to grow its own food and sew its own clothes. I will underline this information. However based on what I've read so far, I think the main idea of the chapter is: Trade is the exchange of one thing for another, and is done every day around the world.
  • Write the main idea on the board. Ask students to identify details that support this main idea (everyday objects come from anywhere in the world, trade is a basic human activity, and so on). Write these details on the board.
  • Review with students how to create a summary from the main idea and details. Refer them back to the summary created during the introduction to the skill. Discuss the summary as a class and write it on the board. (Trade is the exchange of one thing for another, and is done every day around the world. Many types of commodities have been traded in the past. People know about prehistoric trade through oral tradition and archaeology.)
  • Check for understanding: Have students read from page 9 to the end of page 15. Invite them to share the important details they underlined in each section. Write these details on the board. Divide students into groups and assign each group a section. Have students work with their group to identify the main idea from the details of their section. Discuss their responses as a class and write a main idea for each section on the board.
  • Ask each group to use the main idea and details of their section to write a brief summary on a separate piece of paper. Have them share what they wrote.
  • Ask students to read the remainder of the book. Remind them to underline important details in the book as they read.

    Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read each word and figure out its meaning.

After Reading 

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

  • Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
  • Discussion: Invite students to share what they think the author's purpose was for writing this book. Discuss with them how stopping to review the important details helped them learn about trade. Ask students to share whether thinking about the details helped them to reflect more on the types of objects they value and trade, and why.
  • Independent practice: Introduce and explain to students the main idea and details/ summary worksheet. Have students write a main idea and supporting details for one of the remaining sections of the book. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

  • Review with students how the main idea and details from each section can be used to develop a summary. Discuss with them the benefits of summarizing information they read (to understand the main point of a larger piece of writing). Invite students to share instances of when summarizing might be helpful.
  • Independent practice: Have students write a summary using the information they wrote on their main idea and details/summary worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.
  • Enduring understanding: In this book, you learned about some of the commodities that people find valuable and that have been traded. Now that you know this information, what things have you found valuable that you traded, what did you trade them for, and what does this tell you about how people assign value to things?

Build Skills 

Grammar and Mechanics: Complex sentences

  • Write the following sentence on the board: You may realize all of the things that have been traded ________ you return from a trip.
  • Have students read the sentence and suggest words that belong in the blank to complete the sentence (after, once, when).
  • Review or explain to students that a conjunction is a word that joins together two parts of a sentence. Point to the examples students suggested to complete the sentence on the board. Explain that these conjunctions join parts of sentences together to form a complex sentence.
  • List the following examples of conjunctions on the board (after, although, as, because, before, if, once, since, than, though, unless, until, when, while).
  • Reread the sentence on the board, including a conjunction in the sentence. (You may realize all of the things that have been traded once you return from a trip.) Underline You may realize all of the things that have been traded. Explain that this part of the sentence is called the independent clause because it is a complete thought. Circle once you return from a trip. Explain that the part of the sentence that includes and follows the conjunction is called the dependent clause. Point out that even though both sentence parts contain a subject and verb, the dependent clause does not express a complete thought and is not a sentence that can stand alone.
  • Have students read the sentence again, placing the dependent clause at the beginning. (Once you return from a trip, you may realize all of the things that have been traded.) Point out that either sentence is correct. However, when the dependent clause is at the beginning of the sentence, a comma often separates the clauses.
  • Write the following sentence on the board: If people didn't trade, every family would have to grow its own food.
  • Have students identify the conjunction (if), the dependent clause (If people didn't trade), and the independent clause (every family would have to grow its own food). Point out that in this example, the dependent clause is at the beginning of the sentence.

    Check for understanding: Have students highlight the following sentence from page 13 in their book: Obsidian is much better for making sharp edges than regular rock because it has been through a heating process. Have students underline the dependent clause (because it has been through a heating process) and circle the independent clause (Obsidian is much better for making sharp edges than regular rock). Ask students to identify the conjunction (because).

  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the complex sentences worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Homophones

  • Have students turn to page 5. Read the following sentence aloud: Trade can involve doing work in return for an object, or trading valuable items, just like William and Haruki traded game cards. Write the word or on the board. Ask students to explain what the word or means (a conjunction used to link two or more words).
  • Have students turn to page 9. Read the following sentence aloud: To get the metal out of the ore, people have to get it really hot. Write the word ore on the board. Ask students to explain what the word means (rock with metal in it).
  • Ask students to identify which words in the sentences sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings (or, ore). Write these words on the board. Explain to students that words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings are called homophones.
  • Repeat the process above for their (page 9: evidence of their lives) and there (page 10: there were very large deposits).
  • Write the homophones here/hear and where/wear on the board. Have students use each word in a sentence on a separate piece of paper. Invite them to share their sentences aloud.

    Point out to students the word one in the second sentence on page 7. Instruct them to circle the word one and to write its homophone pair, won, in the margin to the left. Ask students to use each word in oral sentences.

  • Check for understanding: Write the homophones here/hear and where/wear on the board. Have students use each word in a sentence on a separate piece of paper. Invite them to share their sentences aloud.
  • Independent practice: Introduce and explain the homophones worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Build Fluency 

Independent Reading

  • Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

  • Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students discuss with someone at home how to summarize a chapter using the main idea and details of the chapter.

Extend the Reading 

Expository Writing Connection
Assign the Stop & Think box from page 5 as homework. Have students take notes in two columns, writing the objects in the left-hand column and where they were manufactured in the right-hand column. As an in-class writing assignment, have them report their findings in paragraph form.

Science Connection
Have students research the science of archaeology using books and Internet resources. Ask them to learn about some of the most famous archaeological digs and where scientists have found some of their most prized artifacts. Have them find out what kind of schooling is necessary to become an archaeologist.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

  • identify the main idea and supporting details to better understand the text through discussion and on a worksheet
  • accurately use main idea statements and supporting details to write a summary in their own words
  • correctly identify the parts of complex sentences; write complex sentences during discussion and on a worksheet
  • accurately identify and understand the use of homophones during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks



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