Outline of Unit

Overview

The unit is divided into five sections:

• The Stone Age
• Farming over the Centuries
• Early Irish Diet
• Farming in our Grandparents' time
• Food and Farming today

Before beginning the unit children's prior learning is explored. This can be done with the whole class in advance of individuals beginning section 1.

Children are asked in to fill out some things that they already know about farming long ago. They then set out some things that they would like to know. This is expected to help children to set some goals for their own learning. This section can be printed and revisited when the children have completed the unit.

In this section children will be introduced to hunter-gatherers who had not yet learned to tame animals or cultivate crops. Tools such as harpoons and spears are shown as the implements of catching food. The New Stone Age farmers and their taming of animals is seen to have an impact on home type. Archaeology is shown to give some important evidence about ways of life in ancient times. Reference is made to items from the NationalMuseum and to sites such as the Ceide Fields . Children are given brief quizzes and tasks to help to consolidate and revise learning. The terms BC and AD are briefly explained here to help children to understand the dates which they will encounter. Some further preparatory work on these terms might be necessary in advance of children independently working on the unit.

This section shows some of the similarities and differences to the skills of farming in periods known as the time of the Celts and Normans in Ireland. Children encounter detail of developments in farming such as use of the plough and hay-making. Children should identify common features of farming over time and some differences.

The staple foods of cereals and milk as well as some pork are introduced as common foods of the past. Open air cooking are examined and the children are asked to order the steps necessary to cook using a Fulacht Fia. The coming of the potato is shown to have changed the type of food eaten by the ordinary people.

Here children are introduced to farming in the 1900s through a variety of pictorial evidence showing scenes such as harvesting, a typical Irish farmhouse and a fair day. Activities for children include finding items that should not be present in a shopping list from long ago. Children see that farming families were often largely self-sufficient. Work on the farm, particularly children's work, is demonstrated. Children see examples of a modern milking machine and also milking by hand.

This section briefly contrasts the machinery used nowadays with the older farming methods. It revises some of the main eras by using a timeline from which the children can drag and drop particular periods.