Cave Man Writing

Directions: We have recently been reading about how people 10,000 years ago progressed from being nomadic hunters and gatherers to farmers who lived in one place. Read your One Note notes. Then write a story pretending that you were living 10,000 years ago and are the smartest caveman/cavewomen around.

  • Describe what your life is like as a nomad.
  • What Nomads do and why they do it
  • Explain what you have found out about seeds and about domesticating animals
  • Be specific –plants and baby animals don’t grow up in one night—How exactly did this happen
  • Explain why you are so smart and how your discoveries will make life easier for mankind

Your story should be at least 200 words long. Have fun proving to us how smart you would have been 10,000 years ago.

I am Ooga and I’m a nomad. I walk with my family to different places almost every 3 month. It’s very hard to walk for a long time because your legs hurt and it’s very hot. We hunt animals and gather lots of red balls to eat. I have to find sharp rocks and tie it to a branch and throw it at the animals, I miss a lot of times but I am starting to get the hang of it. While I am hunting my parents go to find red balls but they have to try to get the red balls from a long brown pole that has millions of green leafs attached to it but sometimes they fall of. I decided to call it Tree. At the end of the day me and my parents cook the animals I hunted and eat the red balls that my parents gathered. [KJ1]

One day I went to the Tree and I climbed to the top and got me a red ball but when I ate the red ball I found two small black rocks. I spat out the rocks and smashed them into the ground. When there was no more animals and we finished all the red balls we left. But after a long long time[KJ2] we came back and there were more animals and I found out that were I spat the small rocks from the red balls there was small Trees. My parents went hunting that time and when they came back they got this grey animal with triangle ears and a long furry tail. I called him Dog. My parents said that they saw Dog barking at a dear because the dear went into Dogs territory. So both of my parents had the idea of taking Dog into our house made from rocks, sticks and green leafs to protect us from the animals. We also found goats and cows make this liquid that’s white and taste really good. I named it milk. I have learned that we need a female and a male of the same animal to make them have babies. But the thing is that all plants and all animals take about a year to grow or born. I always think about how come I am smarter than other nomads, I guess something happened with my DNA and I was just born smarter. I guess it’s a good thing that I am smarter so we can hunt and use animals for milk, cheese, protection or like plant more red ball’s Trees or I will find other plants to grow. Now I can start living in one place since I have meat to heat cows and goats to milk and plants to plant.

Name______

Caveman Monologue Grading Rubric

Criterion A: Knowledge

Achievement Level / Descriptor / What this looks like
0 / The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors given below. /
  • No attempt was made at this task

1-2 / The student:
• recognizes some humanities vocabulary
• shows basic knowledge and understanding of facts and ideas through some descriptions and/ or example /
  • Did not complete at least one section and/or demonstrated little understanding of the topic
  • Had major misconceptions about the development of agriculture and/or domestication of animals
  • Did not follow directions

3-4 / The student:
• uses some humanities vocabulary
• shows knowledge and understanding of facts and ideas through simple descriptions, explanations and examples /
  • Gave a brief and generally accurate description of the development of agriculture and domestication of animals
  • Some details may be missing or not plausible in at least one of the sections
  • Important information may have been missing

5-6 / The student:
• uses relevant humanities vocabulary often accurately
• shows good knowledge and understanding of facts and ideas through descriptions, explanations and examples /
  • Gave a logical and fully developed scenario for the development of either agriculture or the domestication of animals, but not both
  • One area may have been underdeveloped or lacking details—for example on the timeframe
  • Answered most questions posed in the directions

7-8 / The student:
• uses relevant humanities terminology accurately
• shows detailed knowledge and understanding
of facts and ideas through descriptions, explanations and examples. /
  • Gave a completely logical scenario about the development of seed agriculture and the domestication of animals as well as life as a nomad
  • Explained the time frame and the necessities involved in the development of agriculture and the domestication of animals
  • Gave detailed reasons as to how and why these advances have improved his/her life
  • Thoroughly and completely answered the questions posed in the directions

Criterion D: Organization and Presentation

Achievement Level / Descriptor /
0 / The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below. /
  • No attempt was made of this task

1-2 / The student:
• tries in a limited
way to communicate information in a way that is clear to others
• tries in a limited way
to organize information and ideas according to the task instructions /
  • Writing is difficult to understand
  • Made an unsuccessful attempt to organize the essay

3-4 / The student:
• communicates information and ideas in a way that is sometimes clear to others
• organizes information sometimes in the order needed for the task /
  • Writing shows some lapse in clarity and organization
  • Did not follow the assignment directions
  • Very little evidence of proofreading

5-6
/ The student:
• communicates information and ideas in a way that is often clear to others
• organizes information often in the order needed for the task /
  • Generally clear, proofread and easy to understand
  • Followed the instructed format on the completed paper
  • Organization was usually logical and easy to understand

7-8 / The student:
• communicates information and ideas in a way that is clear to others
• organizes information completely in the order needed for the task
• creates a list of sources of information that follows the task instructions /
  • As clearly written as possible.
  • Followed the instructed format on the completed paper
  • Organization was completely logical and easy to understand
  • Final product is proofread, neat and attractive

Parent Signature______

Nice job Maya---You have good understanding of the invention of agriculture and the domestication of animals. The one detail missing was why you had to be nomads in the first place

[KJ1]Why do you need to be a nomad? Why do you need to walk to different places all the time?

[KJ2]How long?