Prehistory (Early Humankind)
WideHorizon Education Resources
The Lascaux Caves: We start with a story retelling the discovery of the Lascaux Caves in France. The narrative tells of a group of young boys and their dog who, on an expedition in the local woods, discover the caves with the wonderful prehistoric paintings.
The value of stories: The paintings of prehistoric people are introduced in the context 
of a narrative. This helps students to enter into the wonder and excitement of such a discovery. Students are led to appreciate the splendor of the prehistoric paintings. They also learn how the paintings have increased our knowledge of the prehistoric world.
Readability level: The readability level of the story in the WER Unit allows students to work with ease when using the narrative to work on the assignments. The assignments develop historical literacy, language skills, and critical thinking skills.
Outline Web: Why did Cro-Magnons create the cave paintings?Have your students organize the answers to this question into a graphic overview. This and many more activities for students can be found in Module 2, Lesson 2 of the WER Unit Prehistory.
Have your students:
a) use their imagination and prior knowledge to answer the question,”Why were the paintings created?”;
b) organize their suggested reasons into categories such as artistic, educational, social, and economic;
c) examine the story The Lascaux Caves for theme, setting, characters and plot;
d) write a similar story about the discovery of the caves at Altamira in Spain.
Sources: The WER story The Lascaux Caves is is based upon two articles published in The Illustrated London News. The first article, Lascaux Discovered (author unknown), was published on February 28, 1942, and the second, The Wall Paintings of the Lascaux Caves by Alan Brodrick, was published on April 12, 1947.
WideHorizon Education Resources-Prehistory/Early Humankind
Module 1: Understanding the Past
Module 2: Cro-Magnons and Neolithic Farmers
Example of content from Module 2 Lesson 2 Students are introduced to the cave paintings of Cro-Magnons through a story describing the discovery of the paintings in the Lascaux caves. The story is linked to a Guided Reading assignment that develops literacy and critical thinking skills, and encourages students to write creatively. Stories in all the Modules have controlled readability levels and Guided Reading assignments are linked to the stories.
Language Arts: Students study the theme, setting, characters and plot of the story. They also pay particular attention to the dialogue and compare direct and indirect quotation.
Creative Writing: Students create a similar story based on given facts about the discovery of cave paintings at Altamira.
Critical Thinking Skills: Students are given an outline web and are asked to provide possible explanations of why Cro-Magnons painted cave walls.
Prehistory/Early Humankind (2 Modules) includes 5 stories with readability levels, 3 guided reading assignments, 1 readers theatre, 13 activity sheets, 2 assignments targeted for monitoring and assessment, 1 map activity, 13 illustrated information sheets, 10 blackline masters, 2 review exercises, 2 colored reproductions, 10 teacher lesson guideline sheets, 2 monitoring and assessment guideline sheets.
Starter Packs
WideHorizon Education Resources (WER) material is in two formats. Firstly as a Starter Pack. Secondly as a Classroom Pack. Both Packs include a Teacher Guide containing all the material from the MLA Teaching Packs, with occasional refinements for the USA market. The ONLY difference between a Starter Pack and a Classroom Pack is that the Starter Pack contains just one Student Reference Book (SRB) while a Classroom Pack contains 35 (thirty-five) SRBs. The Starter Pack is available as a pdf (no postage or processing fee). A physical copy (postage/processing fees apply) can be provided at additional cost. Classroom Packs are ONLY available as physical copies and only for USA teachers. All physical copies are in USA and cost of sending abroad is prohibitive but please contact MLA if you have any queries (contact details at bottom of page).
WideHorizon Education Resources (WER) Teaching Packs are designed to appeal to the heart, head and hands. Original material is the Mollet Learning Academy (MLA) Teaching Packs (written initially for New Zealand teachers). On request from USA teachers, monitoring and assessment procedures were added and renamed WER Teaching Packs to distinguish them from MLA Teaching Packs.
Early Humankind, Ancient Israelites, Ancient India, Ancient China – USA $59.95
Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Kush, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome USA $79.95
Classroom Packs
Early Humankind, Ancient Israelites, Ancient India, Ancient China – USA $199.95
Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Kush, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome
USA $299.95
Sets
Set of Nine Starter Packs – USA $599.95
Set of Nine Classroom Packs – USA $1999.95
Set of 10 non-consumable SRBs – Prehistory, Israelites, India, China – USA $59.95
Set of 10 non-consumable SRBs – Egypt, Kush, Greece, Rome – USA $79.95
Set of 10 non-consumable SRBs – Mesopotamia – USA $89.95
7% S&H applies unless other arrangements made – thanks.
Dr. David Mollet davidmetis@gmail.com
NZ: h 09-555-2021 m 022-101-1741, 41 Hilling St, Titirangi, Auckland 0604
USA: 619-463-1270, 6656 Reservoir Lane, San Diego, CA 92115 (Skype waldorfedu)
1) The material was initially written for New Zealand teachers but on request from USA teachers, monitoring and assessment procedures were added. To view this material please visit https://molletacademy.com/
WideHorizon Education Resources (WER) https://molletacademy.com/widehorizon-2/ Waldorf Education Resources (WER) https://molletacademy.com/waldorf/
2) MLA is also involved in researching on an international basis, what works and what doesn’t work. Most of the research results can be seen at https://molletacademy.com/research-reports/ while a draft of a book The Task for New Zealand Education is at https://molletacademy.com/the-task-for-nz-education/
3) Blogs at http://www.molletlearningacademy.blogspot.co.nz/
4) Business Plan at http://molletlearningacademy.com/corporate/MLABusinessPlan.pdf
5) Papyrus https://molletacademy.com/papyrus/
If you wish to subscribe to MLA Newsletter please do so at https://molletacademy.com/Thanks and take care, David
1. The MLA approach to education believes in developing the creative and imaginative side of the student in harmony with the intellectual and cognitive. To achieve this, MLA Teaching Packs make stories and drama an integral part of the lessons and involve students through storytelling, art, simulations, drama, craft, discussion and creation of a personal record.
There are MLA Teaching Packs for teaching a) Ancient Civilizations/World History, b) History of California and c) Mathematics (Fractions and Multiplication Tables)
2. Click on any of these links China, Egypt, Greece, India, Israelites, Kush, Mesopotamia, Prehistory or Rome to take you to the appropriate WER Unit.
3. Click here if you wish to access free lesson on papyrus (enter Papyrus in Subject line – any information you supply is treated in complete confidence).
4. Click here for Mollet Learning Academy (MLA) Teaching Packs.
5. Click here to find out about Kush. Kush is Africa’s oldest interior civilization. Do your students, particularly African-American, have the opportunity to study this part of their cultural heritage?
6. Click here for articles and research reports.
7. Click here to check out evaluations of pilots carried out in schools in San Diego and to read what teachers think about our lessons/newsletters.
“These resource packs contain unbound, ready-to-use reproducible masters, that are varied, simple, and appealing to students. The interactive strategies suggested are suitable for independent, small-group, and whole-class assignments.”
(Grade 6 Course Models – California State Department of Education)
8. Click here to check out evaluation of WER Unit Kush by USA leading authority.
9. Information on workshops/presentations for introducing the MLA approach into public schools available at https://molletacademy.com/mla-workshops/
10. For an explanation of the philosophy behind the writing of these packs click https://molletacademy.com/mla-pedagogy/
11. Click https://molletacademy.com/sdsu-courses/ for details of on-line courses accredited by San Diego State University.
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