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Beginner
60 mins
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Teacher-led from the board. Pupils do not need a device, but can follow on one.

Reading the Stones

Pupils visit the nearest graveyard or memorial to read old inscriptions on stones. They record names and dates they can see, discuss what the stones show about people of this place, and place dates on a timeline.

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    1 - Look and Wonder ~4 mins

    Look at this old headstone on the board. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

    Our question for today is what the oldest writing near our school tells us about the people of this place, and what it cannot tell us.

    The nearest stones to our school are at the graveyard, memorial or dated stone nearest our school.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +15 XP

    2 - Read and Learn ~5 mins

    Let's find out what writing carved in stone can tell us.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +15 XP

    3 - Reading the Stones ~28 mins

    Today we read real stones: at the graveyard, memorial or dated stone nearest our school if we walk there, or the headstone on the board if we stay in.

    On the stones sheet, record what is actually carved:

    1. names
    2. dates
    3. ages
    4. any work or place named
    5. the words used

    Write only what you can really read. One clear name and one clear date is enough if the letters are hard. Do not rub the stone and do not touch the carving. Sketch the oldest piece of writing you find.

    An example headstone

    +15 XP

    4 - Back in Class: Our Dates on the Line ~8 mins

    Back in class: what is the oldest date we read today, and what is the newest?

    Where does each date belong on the line? How many years ago was our oldest stone?

    How far back do our stones go?

    +15 XP

    5 - What the Stones Can and Cannot Tell Us ~8 mins

    What can the stones tell us about the people of this place, and what can they not tell us?

    Where does each card go?

    What can the stones tell us?

    +15 XP

    6 - What We Learned ~4 mins

    A stone carver in Ireland long ago, a man in a plain shirt, waistcoat and cap, cutting rows of letters into a flat grey headstone with a wooden mallet and a chisel in a stone yard, the letters shown only as neat carved grooves, no readable writing anywhere
    inscription carved writing, cut into stone so that others would remember
    A tall stone memorial standing on a small grassy green in an Irish village, with a low iron railing round it and houses behind, nobody in the picture, no readable writing anywhere
    memorial a place built so people would be remembered
    A large magnifying glass leaning against an old grey headstone in a quiet Irish graveyard, making the worn carved grooves behind it look bigger, as if someone is looking for a clue, nobody in the picture, no readable writing anywhere
    evidence a clue about the people of this place
    A long straight timeline drawn across the picture like a ruler with evenly spaced marks, a small old grey headstone standing at its far left end and a small modern school building at its far right end, no writing or numbers anywhere
    date the year cut into a stone, which we can place on a timeline

    An inscription on stone can tell us names, dates and ages that people wanted remembered in this place. It cannot tell us about everyone who lived here, or what those people thought and felt.

    Talk about this: if a stone near our school is still here in a hundred years, what could children then learn from it, and what would they still have to find out another way?

    +5 XP
    Pupil practice · Activity Sheet
    Module 1 · How Do We Know? Evidence in Our Own Place
    Lesson 5 · Reading the Stones
    Download Activity Sheet (PDF)
    End of lesson
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