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What was... before?
Before we can talk about Mesopotamia, the Crusades, the Egyptians, we got to know about what was before civilization. These two videos are great for that!
The next logical question is, "How did humans populate the entire globe?" This interactive map shows what scientist know, to the best of our knowledge: this is the best guesses. To the left is a great interactive website to talk about those migratory patterns. To the right is how the world population changed over time.
What makes a Civilization?
Before you start any discussion about ancient civilizations, you have to talk about all civilizations. There are seven major components of any civilization: a good location, job specialization, social structure, government, communication (like language), art & culture and, finally, religion. The video to the right is a twenty-minute video to play for your class about those parts, using modern and ancient examples for your students to understand better. Each time you study a civilization, these seven elements ought to be discussed. After knowing these seven elements, you can show different civilizations: What caused them to succeed, to fail, to proposer for thousands of years and how we can keep our own civilization strong.
Now, we gotta get into the religion. Yes, many counties keep time by BC, the life of Jesus Christ. Other scholars say that counting is not exactly accurate so they use, CE, the common area. In the very least, it shows how influential the Christians religion has been in world history.
Fun Assignment!
Here is a great example of Pixel Art, a very engaging form of question and answer for students. Take this link to the left, add it to your Google Classroom and "Make a copy for each student." Students will read the definitions, a such as "A government ruled by a king or queen" and need to answer "Monarchy" for an image to appear.
Get on Facebook and join a group called "Pixel Art Mysteries in Education." There are lots of creators making things like this for free! I post about one per week and kids love it! This one is a great review for Civilizations and great introduction to the activity.
Religion!
..... and talking about ancient civilizations, and modern civilizations, leads to one of my favorite conversations with children: religion. The beauty of ten-year-old kids is that they are becoming aware of their own religion, maybe they've already had confirmation if they're Catholic, many religions call this "age of reason." So I often play the videos here and ask them their opinion.
The first video is a good segue into the Percy Jackson series, we're just talking about ancient Greek gods. Because we can have a great discussion about what happens after death and why. It really gets those fifth and sixth graders engaged! Just a word to the wise, if you want students to write persuasive essays, have them write a persuasive article on which is the best Greek God, or which is the best demigod, but never have them right which is the best modern religion… for that unit, click here.
The second video Ted talk for kids that summarizes the five major world religions. Once again, it's a great starting point to get the kids talking about what they believe. However, unlike the Greek mythology one, this is not a good time to talk about persuasive essays. Children should not be talking about which religion is better... that just gets ugly! This is better for informative writing, talking about what makes each religion unique, and what unites all religions together. Just a word to the wise....
Creation Myths
Aztec Creation Myth
Chinese Creation Myth
Polyneisan Creation Myth
Ancient China:
What is your Chinese Zodiac? Kids can use this to figure out their own Zodiac sign, a Chinese name .... and well, it's fun for Chinese New Year or for Ancient Civilizations stuff.
Make Chinese Paper Lanterns Video Very simple and easy to make, just need paper, scissors and a stapler! :) Each kid can make two and now the whole class is ready for Chinese celebrations!
Ancient Europe
Who is Leif Erikson? Leif Erikson is considered the first European to set foot on the North American Continent. He was an explorer, son of the famous Viking, Erik the Red. Someone else was blown off course on the way to Greenland and came back and described it to Leif Erikson... lush forests, wild grapes everywhere... Yeah, that ain't Greenland. So Leif wanted to find this place... and he did! In the 1960s, proof of that very first Nordic settlement in Newfoundland was found. BBC has a nice article about it. So basically, Columbus was not the first, he was just the one who made everyone else follow.
Indigenous peoples of Europe Many kids incorrectly think that only the American continent had "Indians," people doing that hunter-gather business. I like to spend at least a day talking about the indigenous tribes of Europe so kids can see the connections: We were all hunters and gatherers at some point.
Ancient History Miscellaneous:
Ancient History Time Line This is for kids to sort. Print it, make 30 copies and have the kids sort, either by continent, or time, or some category, like "inventions" or "religion."
Hunter-Gatherer to Farmers Comic Book Created by Skyler James, this is a great activity for your artistically and computer inclined kids. There are directions to guide the kids but edit away for your own class purposes!
Parts of Speech with Ancient Words
Ancient History: Songs & Videos
Roman Mosaic Art
Roman Mosaic Art
Ancient Greek Plays
Maps of the Ancient World
Fun Writing Assignments
Informative Writing: Mummies & Marathons
Informative Writing: Mummies & Marathons
For the whole unit, with three writing assignments, click here. The first assignment wherein students practice sequential writing, requires some research on how to make a mummy. The second assignment, where in students practice compare and contrast writing, requires students to research and organize notes about their favorite sports to the version of ancient times. In the first two assignments, most of the research is provided for you as part of the unit. For the third assignment, students are writing about the Battle of Marathon. Most of the resources are provided but students are now expected to gather their own research. The point of the unit is to practice their writing skills, but also start learning how to research.
Do you have this textbook? Well, I have these lessons that go right with it! Click on the PDF to the right and print it... But print in color. The red pages are support pages for you to use with students. The point of the PDF is for students to read on their own and take notes from the text, forming main ideas and getting the big ideas. There are writing assignments alongside. Choose the activities you want!
Gimme some time and the Google Form quizzes will be up here too!
Textbook with answers.pdf
No textbook? We have some on PDF!!
You scrolled all the way down... this means that you enjoyed my work. Yes, it is free. Yes, there is no obligation... besides telling me if there is a spelling error or something... But, you know, I do like coffee... and I am not going to say no if you want to buy me a cup of coffee via Venmo. I am @AmaraLee-Brenner.
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