1
Week
QCA Learning Objective
Children should learn…
 about the location, climate and terrain of Greece
 to place the ancient Greek civilisation in time
 that the ancient Greek civilisation occurred ‘Before Christ’
 that ancient Greece consisted of city states
Teaching and Learning Activities
Location
Using the BBC whiteboard active ‘Ancient Greece’ programme look at Unit 1 ‘Where was Ancient
Greece’ and ‘When was Ancient Greece?’ sections. Read through the notepad discussing the questions as a class.
Map work
Children complete map work; identifying Greece on three maps, World, Europe and Greek area.
Resource sheet 1:1. Discuss the difficulty of travelling around Greece, eg Would it be easiest to travel by sea or land? Relate this to the idea of city states, which were isolated from each other by the difficulties of communication.
Chronology
Children are given a copy of ‘The Ancient Greek Timeline’ resource sheet 1:2.
Load up the interactive timeline and read through the nine main events in Greek history. Discuss the meanings of BC and AD or BCE and CE.
Children will make brief notes in their planners on the main events during the reading. http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/preload.htm
On completion of the reading, children complete resource sheet 1:2 (A timeline) using their notes.
Discuss how Ancient Greece fits into history by referring back to the first PP or bring up http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/Greece.html
Climate and landscape
Watch the ‘Greece today’ section on the BBC software (Unit 1). Discuss the climate and physical features of the Greek mainland and islands by using either the BBC software

2


 to know what is meant by democracy
 to know that Athens and Sparta were city states and governed themselves to understand some of the ideas of people living in Athens and
Sparta to distinguish between the beliefs of the Athenians and Spartans and know some reasons why they held those beliefs
OR the PP on landscape, terrain and weather in Greece. Where is Greece PP? http://greece.mrdonn.org/geography.html
Record their responses on the board or in their books.
Homework:
Complete the underwater archaeology challenge http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/geography/challenge/cha_set.html
Read through the facts about modern day Greece http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/history/pdfs/10moderngreece.pdf
Explore website and print out timeline http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/index.shtml
Democracy
Using the BBC software Unit 6 ‘Democracy in Athens’. Read the sections and watch the video on
‘Democracy today’ and ‘Democracy in Athens’ to help children understand what the term means.
Allow the children to imagine they are at the Assembly in Ancient Greece. Hold a debate to consider whether they should give women the same democratic rights as men.
Map work
Identify Sparta and Athens on the different maps. Describe their location and discuss the fact that these two states had their own laws, money, rulers, etc and were great rivals. http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/geography/home_set.html
http://www.mead.k12.wa.us/SHILOH/Griffith/MrGsWebPage2
/Ancient_Greece/ancient_greece_maps.htm#map%207
Children colour and stick 2:1 in their books as a record. Identify other important Greek cities and label.
City States, Athens and Sparta
Read the background information on City States and discuss how the two places were very different. http://greece.mrdonn.org/city-states.html

3
Explain that information about Sparta comes largely from Athenian writers because Spartans did not write histories or other books. Discuss the implications of this for the reliability of the information.
 to infer information about Greek wars and warfare from illustrations and maps
 to give reasons why the Greeks needed a navy
 to produce labelled drawings of
Greek soldiers and ships on the basis of their observations
Read and make a few notes on the PP ‘Athens V Sparta’ http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/history/powerpoint/Athens_V_Sparta.ppt
The children will sort some statements about Spartan and Athenian people under the headings:
‘Athens near the sea, outward-looking and adventurous’, ‘Sparta land-locked, inward-looking and nervous’. Resource sheet 2:2 http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/history/pdfs/16athenssparta.pdf
The children will decide whether they would prefer to live in Athens or Sparta and give reasons why.
If time permits, children can identify the different parts of the City States and colour. Resource sheet
2:4
Homework:
Read the information and roleplay http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/gcontent.htm
Complete the matching activity on ‘Democracy’ in Greece. Resource sheet 2:3
Greek fighters
Look at the maps and discuss why the Greeks needed an army and a navy. http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/geography/home_set.html
They had separate city states that argued with each other, many very long coasts and borders that required protection and they might wish to expand their empire.
Watch Programme 5 ‘Pots of evidence’ from the Channel 4 DVD. Children make notes on what they have seen.
Either:
Using the BBC software Unit 5, look at the section on Ancient Greek soldiers. Print copies of the pottery so that children can add the labels (Notepad p.2).
Or:

4
 to infer information about the
Greek army and navy from their findings
 to design their own Greek pot
The significance of archaeological evidence such as pottery as a source of information on ancient Greece should be emphasised.
 to identify the main characters and events of a key battle
Go through the Power Point which shows Greek soldiers fighting and ships on pottery. http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/best_practice/unit14_who/index_main.html
Use the lesson questions for each slide. Discuss what information about Greek soldiers, weapons and ships can be gained from looking closely at the illustrations. http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/best_practice/unit14_who/index_main.html#lesson1
Resource sheet 3:1 Help
Soldiers and weapons
The children will draw detailed, labelled diagrams of a Greek soldier showing his equipment, armour and weapons, and of a trireme (an ancient Greek warship).
Discuss the armour the soldiers are wearing and the weapons they are carrying, and how the boats were powered, the number of rows of oars, and how the boats might have attacked enemies’ boats.
Discuss what made the men and weapons so powerful. Compare these to their enemies. Which side had the better weapons and armour. Why?
Play the Greek Triremes battle game. Discuss strategy. Resource sheet 3:3
Homework
Look at the close up photos of the craftsmanship on the pottery and print out their favourite piece.
Explain why they have chosen it. http://thanasis.com/gallery/ancient1.htm
http://thanasis.com/gallery/ancient2.htm
Design their own vase using some of the patterns shown and ideas from the lesson.
Resource sheet 3:4.
The battle of Marathon

5
 to know that the battle may be interpreted in different ways and why this is so
 to know that modern events may have connections with the past
 to complete a written account of the Battle of Marathon from one point of view; either an Athenian or a Spartan
 to explain why a marathon race is just over 26 miles long
Explain that the Greeks were the first to write histories and this is why we have documentary accounts of battles.
 to identify different Greek Gods and what they stood for
 to know about the beliefs of the ancient Greeks
 to compare the beliefs of the ancient Greeks with those of other cultures
BBC software Unit 5: The Persians are coming!
Work through the notepad, watching the video and answering the questions. Make a flowchart of the main events from the battle.
Discuss with the children what happened. What might the Athenians’ view of the Spartan refusal to help have been? Why would the Athenians have been so proud of their success? What would the
Spartan view of the battle have been? Why would the Greeks have built a temple at Marathon after the battle?
Referring to a map, help the children to calculate or estimate how far it was from Marathon to
Athens, and make the connection with the modern athletic event.
Using Resource sheet 4:1, children will order the statements correctly to tell the story of the battle.
Using the BBC software children write a journalist’s report from the battlefield. (Unit 5 Writing focus).
Homework:
Complete the story and find images from the internet to accompany it.
Greek worship
Discuss what the children know about Greek Gods, their names, where they lived etc.
As an introduction, read about the Ancient Greek Gods, their temples and Mount Olympus. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/greece/greekgods.htm
Watch the Channel 4 video Programme 1 ‘Greek Gods and temples’.
Work through Unit 7 Religion from the BBC software.
Discuss with the children plans of the Acropolis and show pictures of temples so they can see their size, the decoration and the materials they are made from.

6
 to know that gods had nothing to do with the afterlife and were worshipped for favours on earth
 to produce a storyboard about a
Greek God
 to know about the role of the theatre in the way of life of the
Greeks
 to structure work in the form of a play
 to recognise and label the main features of a Greek theatre
 to understand the religious connections between theatre and religious festivals
 to find out the sorts of plays the
Greeks liked and who wrote them
Children will undertake some research with a partner on Greek gods. They will complete a fourcolumn grid with the column headings: ‘Name of the god’, ‘Symbol of the god’, and ‘The aspect of the world the god is responsible for’ and other information about the God. Ask each child to feed back the main points of their God to the rest of the class who listen and complete their grid for each of the gods. Resource sheet 5:1 and 5:2
Good sources; http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/index.html
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/greece/gods.htm
Homework:
Tell the children that stories about the gods were often included in plays performed in Greek theatres.
Ask them to produce a storyboard for a story which features their God.
Complete the Greek God word search which involves some research. Resource sheet 5:3
The theatre
Discuss and read about the Greek theatres. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/greece/theatre.htm
Look at the BBC software Unit 9: Going to the theatre.
Look at the plans of the Acropolis and locate the theatres. http://www.goddess-athena.org/Museum/Temples/Parthenon/Acropolis_plan.gif
Follow the guide through the interactive theatre journey. Discuss the theatre shape, how many people could attend a performance, the position of the stage and anything interesting. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/classics/theatre/intro.shtml
Ask them to find out about the sort of plays the ancient Greeks went to see and whether slaves and citizens went to the theatre.
Tell the children they are going to work in groups to present a short play in the ancient Greek style.
Discuss the information they need, eg Who were the actors? How many would have had speaking parts? What costumes did they wear? What props did they have? What tasks have to be done? Help

7
8
9
 to contribute to the preparation and performance of a play that demonstrates the key features of
Greek drama
 to research designs and styles for ancient Greek masks used in the theatre.
 to design a mask typical of ancient Greek theatre for use in their play.
 to produce a mask.
 perform a play that demonstrates the key features of Greek drama. the children shape these ideas into a ‘work schedule’ for the production of the plays.
Divide the children into groups and ask each group to select one of the storyboards they produced, in the previous activity, to perform as a play. Ask them to produce a script for the chorus, make the masks, select the costumes, etc.
Make masks as suggested in BBC software Unit 9: ‘Men in masks’
Homework:
Complete the playscripts (if necessary)
Masks
Look at BBC software Unit 9: Men in masks and use books and internet to look at different designs for masks used in ancient Greek theatre. Discuss the features of the masks used. Who were they for?
What was their purpose?
Children draw a design for their mask and label it in their Social Studies book, making note of what materials they will need.
Children make masks as suggested in BBC software Unit 9: ‘Men in masks’ and evaluate.
Performance
Children perform the plays in costume, using the masks they made in the previous lesson to each other. The audience gives feedback to the performers.
The ancient Olympic games

 to identify appropriate sources for finding out about the ancient
Greeks
 to make inferences about the
Olympic games from a variety of sources
 to produce a colouful poster which illustrates key information about the Ancient Olympic games
Work through Unit 10: The Ancient Olympic Games, from the BBC software
The children to recall the different sources they have used to find out about the ancient Greeks. List the sources on the board.
Tell the children they are going to show how much they can find out about the Olympic games using a range of different sources.
The children will complete some research and produce a poster about the Olympic Games.
They will find information on the buildings, the events and the purpose of the games.
Using this information the children will select statements that describe the games, eg It was a time for all the city states to come together. It was a competition when the city states could show how strong they were. The Olympic games were a religious festival to worship Zeus. Women and slaves could not enter the games.
The children will cite the sources they used. Many hard copy resources are available in NC’s file. http://www.nickcorben.com/webgreek.htm Week 7
Homework:
Greek Cyberhunt on Teachers Toolbox http://www.btinternet.com/~tony.poulter/