WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER

Y5 Social Studies - Understanding by Design - 2016

Ancient Greece

 

- Jamieson - Rondon - Hopwood -

 

Stage 1 – Desired Results

Established Goals

• Apply  and further develop students’ research and synthesizing skills (21st century skills).

• Make connections to prior knowledge (neuroscience).

• Learn and implement topic related vocabulary.

• Analyze the enduring Greek contributions and their impact on later civilization:

  • development  of concepts of government and citizenship (e.g., democracy, republics,  codification of law, and development of empire)

  • scientific  and cultural advancements (e.g., network of roads, art and  architecture, literature and theater, mathematics, and philosophy)

 

Understandings

Students will understand:

• How ahead of their time Ancient Greek Civilization was.

• Key contributions of the Greek culture.

• How Ancient Greece influenced (and still influences) our culture and society.

• The different forms of government that developed in ancient Greece

• The influence ancient Greek democracy had on the establishment of democratic governments in the modern world.

• That democratic concepts from ancient Greece served as a foundation for our constitutional democracy.

 

Essential Questions

• How are different Greek governments reflected in those present today? How did earlier systems of government in ancient Greece lead to the development of democracy?

• How has Ancient Greek legacy influenced our culture and society?

• How do modern literature and film reflect Greek Culture? How do our stadiums and theaters resemble Greek theaters?

• What influence does Greek Art and Architecture have on modern buildings and works of art?

• What were the lasting impacts of Socrates and his students?

• What mathematical and scientific discoveries from Ancient Greece are still taught today?

 

Content

Students will know:

• How a polis started.

• How to explain the influence of geography on the development of independent city- states.

• How city-states were organized.

• Architecture: Greek houses, types of columns, building tools.

• Differences between Athenians and Spartans.

• Different forms of governments.

• Greek theatre: how it started, its organization and types of plays.

• The importance of the Olympic Games and how they were carried out.

• Who the main Ancient Greek thinkers were and their contributions

 

Skills

Students will be able to:

• Use a variety of resources to do research: textbooks, websites, and videos.

• Analyze and synthesize the information found.

• Collaboratively write a report based on the information found.

• Reflect on teachers’ comments in order to edit and improve their piece of writing.

• Collaboratively build a product for the Ancient Greeks taking into account the “engineering design process”.

• Deliver an oral presentation to their classmates sharing their product and the reasons for building such a product by supporting it with their findings on the topic of their choice.

• Take down notes summarizing main ideas during classmates’ presentations.

• Analyze and synthesize the information shared by classmates in order to extract main ideas and draw conclusions.

• Plan and take part in the Year 5 Olympics (Minkai joined project).

 

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Stage 2 -  Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks

 

What evidence will show that students understand?

 

• Writing of a formal report following its guidelines.

• Design a product useful and fit to insert itself in the ancient Greek society and lifestyle.

• Deliver of an oral presentation.

 

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Stage  3 – Learning Plan

Learning Activities

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1. GALLERY WALK: Students will be introduced to the unit through the active discussion of Posters that share different aspects of the ancient Greek civilization. They will be split into small groups and move around share ideas and respond to questions about these posters. (watch video)

2. Students complete a KWL chart about Ancient Greece.

3. General Knowledge 1 -Ancient Greek Map work. Students use Google maps to locate Greece on the world map. Focus on important cities: Sparta, Crete, Athens and Troy and  discuss neighbouring countries.

4. General Knowledge 2- Students short research on what a polis is (How a polis started, Polis Handout, link 1, link 2, link 3),  following questions:

   1. 1. What might a polis be?

      2. Why do you think the Greeks organized their Empire in Poli?

      3. How were poli organized?

      4. What are the differences and similarities among poli?

5. Writing. Pooling information in teams, students work on a whole class shared writing about what a polis is. (see shared writings:A, B)

6. Exploring Ancient Greece books. “Why is Ancient Greece such a well-known civilization?” Through the exploring of these books, students will build a web of all the diverse aspects they consider have made this civilization so important.

7. Visualization exercise. Students imagine themselves as part of the Ancient Greek society. “What role in the Ancient Greek society would you like to take?”

8. Report structure. Students read and complete a report about Ancient Greece and discuss the different  parts and how to write a report. (see conclusions)

9. Framing our Research. Students are split into groups according to their choice in the visualization exercise (All year 5 students will be mixed up for this research activity). Students will have to build/create/invent something for the Ancient Greek civilization. To do this, each group will have to frame the appropriate research and plan accordingly to build their product. (see Criteria Cards) Students use Google Docs to collaboratively write a report on their topic of research. 

10. General Knowledge 3 -Hand-out on Forms of Government. Students play a card game where they must represent each government form.

11. Design process. Following the “Engineering Design Process”, students will plan their product and make any specific changes they see fit.  

12. General Knowledge 4 -Students will research and compare the Ancient Greek Olympics with the modern Olympics.

13. Year 5 Olympics. Students will be divided into small groups representing different Ancient Greek gods and take part in different challenges (linked with Minkai project) - Students build team posters with special mottos for the “Mini Minkai Olympics”. 

14. Watch 5 Ancient Greece videos. Note-taking and discussion about what information in the videos is useful to develop each product.

15. Students design a Presentation based on the report.

16. Students deliver an Oral Presentation to present their product and teach their parents about their discoveries. 

17. Rubric, Conclusions and reflections.

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