Some of you may know that I am new to teaching Social Studies this year. My school has 17, sixth grade teachers. Everyone teaches one 80 minute ELA block and three sections of a core course (Math, Science, Social Studies). One of the teams obviously cannot be a team of 3. WOOHOOO! That's me this year. I have to teach 80 minutes of ELA, 2 math classes, and one social studies class. We teach Ancient Civilizations in 6th grade, so my smarties and I have been wandering around the middle east for a few months. We did a huge project on Ancient Egypt in November. You can read about it in 4 parts starting {HERE}. Now I'm on to Ancient Greece. We used our interactive social studies notebooks to review two important city states: Athens, and Greece. I always find my lessons go better when my students use their notebooks.
After reading about Athens in our social studies book we created two pocket files. I used templates from Erin's Interactive Foldables. We wrote down information gathered based on the Essential Question: What made Athens an important city-state? We did the same for Sparta. I also brought in resource books for my smarties to add extra information that they had found.
Another source that I used to make the lesson more interactive was a video from Horrible Histories: It's called Wife Swap: Athens/Sparta. The BBC does a great job of showing the differences between these two city-states. Check it out below. It is a MUST for anyone teaching Ancient Greece. My sixth graders thought it was pretty hysterical.
When we return from our winter break we will be learning a little more about the people of Ancient Greece, mythology, and the Olympics. I will also be beginning a review in ELA of Greek root words.
I would love to hear what others do to teach Ancient Civilizations. Drop me a line and share your ideas!
I am going to have check out that video! Seventeen 6th grade teachers! That is a big school:). I love that you have an 80min block for ELA:).
ReplyDeleteThat video is hilarious! Oh my goodness!
ReplyDeleteAlison
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
This looks super fun!! I don't teach ancient Greece but I can tell you have made it fun for your students!
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Collaboration Cuties
I just sent that video to the teachers on my team. I love it! I've never heard of Horrible Histories, but I'm subscribed to the channel now! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI must share this video with our SS teacher. She will love it. BTW... I am the one 6th grade teacher in my school. I can NOT imagine being 1of17. WOW!
ReplyDeleteI do teach Ancient Civilizations but I am waiting until I get all of your ideas before I start : )
ReplyDeleteLove the video and thanks for notebook idea!
I love the video. Seriously awesome! Just sent it to our history teacher.
ReplyDelete:) Erin
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