Sixth Grade Featured Unit

ANCIENT GREECE — SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM

Students began by accessing their background knowledge and building common understanding about ancient Greece.

Students received an email from a lead archeologist studying Ancient Greece. After discussing what archeologists do, students became archeologist’s families from all over the globe, converging on five sites around Greece: Mt. Olympus, Mycenae, Macedonia, Athens and Sparta. Creating maps helps students learn about world geography and the geographical region of Greece.

As archeologists, students practiced their writing skills by writing biographies. In families, students created campsites to represent their homes.

The lead archeologist sent each group a midden from their dig site. Students applied geometric and graphing concepts which they had been learning in math. In their journals, students kept track of artifacts they unearthed, and later researched how and why those pieces might have been important to the ancient Greeks.

As archeologists, students have a context for researching and learning about the government of Athens and Sparta, creating Venn diagrams, comparing and contrasting charts, and determining important information. Students work in small groups and individually to study relevant content.

We invited in Grandparents and Special Friends to help us prepare a magnificent Greek feast! Students made Greek salad, hummus, and several other traditional recipes.

Students work in teams to create one of the fourteen Olympic Gods. During our storyline, students have been immersed in Greek mythology, as each reading group as been reading a different level-appropriate book. Now, they are able to put that background information into action as they create and introduce their God. Students took initiative and decided to also create a throne for their God, emphasizing their job and symbol of power.

The Ancient Greeks are noted for founding the modern Olympics. Students had the opportunity to represent five different city-states.

Students learned a strategy game as they discussed the Peloponnesian Wars and their impact on Greek life.

Writing is very important, and throughout the storyline students had numerous opportunities to practice and write for a purpose. For example, they wrote character biographies, reports about topics of Greek life, compare and contrast essays, and persuasive pieces. Students’ writing was assembled with all of their other work to create a permanent portfolio, or topic book.

Alexander the Great was very important in Ancient Greece. Students sequenced his life, determined which events were most important, and then created oil-pastel representations of those events.

In order to integrate music and dance, students learned two Greek dances, which they performed for their families and guests at our ending culmination celebration.