Unit: The Ancient Greeks

Term: Autumn 2

Year: 5

©Cornwall Learning Publications 2013

Unit Overview

The main thread running through this Unit is to identify what we have learned from the Greeks and how their culture can influence us with ideas, even today. It would be fun to create an atmosphere of Ancient Greece in the room, which is added to, as the class create their own artefacts and myths. You could have days when the children dress in himations/chitons (robes) made from old sheets or plain fabric. The pupils could research the clothes of the Ancient Greeks and see if they can recreate them for the history lesson. (The class could start to take it in turns, in teams, to help prepare the classroom for the each Unit through the curriculum.) The Unit launch lesson aims to explain how we can all be affected by past experience and the thoughts of others within our own lifetime starting where we are and what we understand as advice and instruction. Pupils will recount stories real or imagined which demonstrate learning from the advice of others. They will also create role-plays which demonstrate understanding that we can be discerning about advice and think for ourselves. This should be a very enjoyable and active session that is scheduled to take about 2 hours, but could feature humorous or tragic events. In English the class will be studying two myths and writing their own myths. Linking with geography they will research and present a ‘Home and Away’ type television presentation. This requires the geography to be covered before the English lesson 17. In history pupils will be studying Ancient Greek civilisation and reflecting on how our civilisation is connected through sport, art, philosophy, architecture, and theatre. They will have a chance to explore areas of personal interest and build board games, design and make pots and write their own myths. For example some pupils may want to explore the Greek gods and mythological creatures in more depth. For the geographical comparative study the children have a mystery suitcase activity for visiting the Aegean islands and the Hebrides to compare the similarities and differences between two groups of islands. In art they will be making pots illustrated with the ideas from their invented myth. Computing in this Unit is embedded in the form of research. This is a good opportunity to understand how wiki’s and resources like Wikipedia are created and how their contents can be sometimes unreliable. You could create a class wiki of shared research when exploring the Greek gods.

Links

©Cornwall Learning Publications 2013

The Ancient Greeks

The main thread running through this Unit is to identify what we have learned from The Greeks and how their culture can influence us with ideas, even today. In English the class will be studying two myths and writing their own myths and linking with geography, will research and present a ‘Home and Away’ type television presentation'.

In history pupils will be studying Ancient Greek civilisation and reflecting on how our civilisation is connected through sport, art, philosophy, architecture, and theatre. They will have a chance to explore areas of personal interest and build board games, design and make pots and write their own myths. For example some pupils may want to explore the Greek gods and mythological creatures in more depth.

For the geographical comparative study the pupils have a mystery suitcase activity for visiting the Aegean islands and The Hebrides to compare the similarities and differences between two groups of islands.

In art they will be making pots illustrated with the ideas from their invented myth.

For the conclusion there is a role-play to see what they have learned.

Outdoor Learning The Minnack Theatre Amphitheatre is a suggested visit for this Unit for Cornish schools, see if you can find your nearest amphitheatre.

National and International links Making links with schools in Greece

Links to the world of work Work on this Unit will offer opportunities for pupils to learn about careers in design, architecture, sports law, drama and politics. They will also learn about the roles of a museum curator.

Links to learning and life skills Reflecting on actions and taking next steps

Asking questions to extend thinking

Listening carefully to what another person has to say

Summaries

©Cornwall Learning Publications 2013

English Greek myths

Writing own myths

Role-plays

Daedalus and Icarus

Demeter and Persephone

Greek gods

TV script

Art and Design Research the shapes and styles of Grecian

pots

Develop coil and pinch pot making skills

Make pots illustrated with their own ideas inspired by Ancient Greek pots

Develop delicate painting skills with sable type brushes

Exhibition of pots and presentation of the images/stories on them

French Use actions and rhymes to aid memorisation

Re-use familiar vocabulary and structures in new contexts

Listen attentively and understand more complex phrases and sentences

Re-read a variety of short texts. Deal with authentic texts

Look and listen for visual and aural clues

Understand that words will not always have a direct equivalent in the language

Ask and answer questions

Develop accuracy in pronunciation and intonation

Agree and disagree with statements

Use a dictionary or a word list

Appreciate that different languages use different writing conventions

Manipulate language by changing an element in a sentence

Prepare and practise a simple conversation, reusing familiar vocabulary and structures in new contexts.

Remember, retain and recall words, phrases or sentences

Understand that the order of words in a sentence influences the meaning

Apply grammatical knowledge to make sentences

Write short sentences using a reference

Integrate new language into previously learnt language

Develop phonic knowledge to aid reading and writing

History Achievements of Ancient Greek

civilisation

Connections with sport, art, philosophy, architecture, and theatre

Government and democracy

Cities – study of Athens

Board game

Computing Pupils will use technology, such as cameras, image

editors, and desk top publishers

They will produce a document about a specific topic related to the Ancient Greeks

It will include an edited image of themselves, and a range text, images and evidenced tools fitting of the purpose and audience

Pupils will learn about images, resolutions, sources and reliability of information as well as a range of other web skills

The Ancient Greeks

Music Playing instrument or

singing

Listening – timbre, dynamics, tempo, tonality, pitch

Composing

Musical games

Applied Maths

Sieve of Eratosthenes

Finding prime numbers

Tourist activity

Platonic solids

Euclid

Properties of rectangles

Geography The Aegean islands and The

Hebrides comparative study

Mystery suitcase activity

Blog or wiki

Internet search

Letter writing

Role-play conversation

Resources

©Cornwall Learning Publications 2013

Art and Design Clay pot shapes & uses

www.ancientgreece.co.uk/dailylife/explore/pot_shapes.html

Clay – red if possible air drying or kiln fired as suits your facilities

Clay tools/boards

Sketch books

Coil and pinch pot techniques: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG5Q3XPPTAI

www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=6192552 www.pinterest.com/eilcon/pottery-handbuilding-pinch-pots/

British Museum website

BBC website

Sable-type brushes

Black paint

Geography Two suitcases or hold-alls

The Hebridean suitcase: binoculars, flask, walking boots, bird guide, notebook and pen, waterproof coat, fleece or woollen hat, a small amount of UK currency coins, facsimile ferry ticket (Ullapool to Stornaway or similar), a compass, a digital camera

The Aegean suitcase: beach towel, swimwear, flip-flops, sunglasses, broad-brimmed hat, sun cream, a small amount of Euro currency coins, facsimile hydrofoil ticket (Piraeus to Santorini or similar), phrase book, a digital camera, a European electric plug adaptor

Music A variety of National Anthems

Traditional Greek music

Stravinsky – Oedipus Rex

Arthur Bliss – Morning Heroes

Alan Hovhaness – Symphony no. 25 Odysseus

Armstrong Gibbs – Odysseus Symphony

Offenbach – Orpheus and the Underworld

Birtwistle – The Minotaur

Saint Saens – Symphony no.3 and Le Rouet d’Omphale

Szymanowski – Myths

Richard Strauss - Elektra

Nick Cave – The Lyre of Orpheus

The Action – Icarus

Cream – Brave tales of Ulysses

Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite

Led Zeppelin – Achilles last stand

Pictures representing certain sounds or instruments

A selection of cards are the names of the different Greek gods

Blindfolds

The Ancient Greeks

French Map of France

Sound file of tongue twister

Scarf or band for Blind Man’s Buff (Le Colin-Maillard)

Whiteboards

Poster paper

Gods and Goddesses PowerPoint

Gods and Goddesses mini flashcards

Blindfold/band

Counting stick/multiples of 10 flashcards

Flashcards of members of the family

PowerPoint of family tree of Mount Olympian gods and goddesses

PowerPoint of animal symbols of gods and goddesses

English Copies of myths

Electronic image of Breughel’s Icarus for display on EWB

Version of the Icarus story

WH Auden’s poem Musee des Beaux Arts

Story of Demeter and Persephone

Non-fiction resource books on Ancient Greece

History Photographs of things in our modern world which have been inspired by

Greeks

Map of Greece and its islands

Map showing where Greece is in relation to the British Isles and the rest of Europe

Map showing the Greek empire at the height of its power

Timeline showing when the Ancient Greeks lived

Photographs of the Greek landscape, natural and manmade

Photographs of the remains of Ancient Greek buildings such as the Parthenon

Photographs of Greek artefacts including amphorae, pottery, jewellery, weapons and armour

Small handling items from a local museum

Card for board games

Computing Artweaver (free), Gimp (free) or other image editor

o http://www.artweaver.de/en/download o http://pixlr.com/editor/ o http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

A desktop publishing program such as Microsoft Publisher or Scribus (free) http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus

Digital camera

Internet

White wall