Teach Primary 18.8

WEEK 1 Learning objective l To know where Ancient Greece was To start, give a general overview of the Ancient Greeks (see slides 1–12 ). Talk about their pre-history and give lots of dates, so children can begin to place the Ancient Greeks within the chronological order of world history. Some of the dates should resonate with prior study of the Ancient Egyptians. This is a great time to ask lots of questions and assess prior learning from within and outside of school. Those Groovy Greeks fromHorrible Histories are still popular, so you may be surprised M E D I U M T E R M P L A N KS2 HISTORY Download your FREE resource sheets at tinyurl.com/tp-AncientGreece DOWNLOAD RESOURCES AT T he Ancient Greeks have long been a staple of the primary history curriculum. They’re celebrated as a bastion of democracy (well, mostly), and we owe many great ideas and inventions to them. The following six lessons aim to give children lots of different ways to connect with the Ancient Greeks, by comparing historical lives with their own. The titles of the lessons can be easily adapted to other parts of the history curriculum, too; I have used the same key question and lesson order when beginning units on the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings to aid with building and connecting knowledge. This unit of work is accompanied by downloadable worksheets, and detailed supporting materials containing all the information pupils will need. by howmuch your pupils already know. On the PowerPoint that comes with this article, there are lots of slides of information to read through and discuss with your class. You may wish to trim this down depending on the year group you are teaching. After all that talking, we switch to watching a video and note-taking. The video linked in the download gives a general overview of the Ancient Greeks. You could use a different video if you prefer – or skip this step if time is short. Now onto the main activity: some mapping. It may seem an odd starting point in a history unit, but the purpose of this activity is to aid in linking to prior learning. We want children to see that the Ancient Greeks didn’t actually live that far away fromwhat is now the United Kingdom. Ask pupils to locate Greece on their maps, and then plot the various locations where Ancient Greek city-states could be found. This will help build the concept that the terrain informed the culture. The city-states were a culture, not an empire, so be mindful not to embed this misconception. Assessment Can you accurately locate Greece on a map, and at least one location that Ancient Greek culture spread to? WEEK 2 Learning objective l To know when the Ancient Greek period took place This is a classic history lesson: break out the timelines! Having learned where the Ancient Greeks lived, we will now explore when their civilisation was active, and some of the key moments in its history ( slides 18–23 ). First, give the children some core questions to research and answer: • Ancient Greece began after the _____ culture but before the ______. • The Ancient Greeks were at their peak about ______ years ago. • The duration of the Ancient Greek civilisation was about ______ years. • The Ancient Greeks had some similarities with the Ancient Egyptians because ____________. • The Ancient Greeks had some similarities with the Romans because ____________. ANCIENT GREECE MATTHEW LANE 28 | www.teachwire.net