SHARED TOPICS, LESSON PLAN OUTLINES and OTHER IDEAS

Please Add Your Lesson Plan Ideas!

Also see:
Lions Den Lesson Plan
Mythology Lesson Plan

Tomi Evans
Objective: to teach students (a) how much can be learned from artifacts; (b) the impact of religion/authority on ancient civilizations.
Outline of lesson:
A. Geography introduction on Roman Empire 's boundaries
B. Vocabulary (archaeological, people, events)
C. Coin activity (give each student a coin; ask them to tell as much as possible about the civilization which produced this artifact). Discuss findings.
D. Main lecture on Ancient Rome, the Caesars, and the Roman Empire
E. Assignment: Textbook reading; possible research into one particular person from this time period
Method of evaluation:
A. Class discussion
B. Questions in class next period
C. Chapter test

It is best to put the coins in small envelopes before handing them out.  Letting them pick a coin themselves will not work, they will all try to pick a better coin and class will be delayed.

Miss. Andrea L. Reinhardt
The Roman Republic suffered governmental problems that ultimately led to the end of the Republic. The Romans did attempt reforms. However, they were unsuccessful.  Now, let 's see if students can do better than the Romans did to generate reforms, to correct some of Rome 's major problems during the Roman Republic and save the Republic!

FORVM 's COMMENT:  The Romans lived under a republican government for centuries.  They were proud of their Republic and many Romans probably believed that it would last forever (just as many of us believe our democracies will last forever).  Can we learn from their mistakes?

Heather Creagar - Life in Ancient Pompeii

Objective: to learn about the lives of people in ancient Pompeii using pictures and slides of the sites.

Materials: 
Pictures and slides of Pompeii as we think it was and as how it looks today.
Pens, paper.

Prior Knowledge: Pompeii was a city in Italy that was covered when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.  Pliny saw the eruption and recorded it. Another city was built on top, and as a well was being dug, workers came upon the site of ancient Pompeii.

Lesson: 
1) Discuss the history of Pompeii. 
2) Show transparencies of pictures of what life in Pompeii might have been like and discuss. 
3) Show slides of what Pompeii looks like today, including mosaics, murals, the town, the people and the dog, etc. Discuss. 
4) Pass out coins of ancient Rome to let students see that coins were used as far back as the time of Jesus.

Assessment: 
1) Write down something you learned about the history of Pompeii.
2) Write an explanation of why the people had their mouths covered when they died.
3) Name three things archaeologists found when they uncovered Pompeii.

Extension: 
1) Make a mosaic picture using construction paper.
2) Make a model of a volcano and erupt it for the class.

Michael Stratford
Aqueducts and Rome 's water solution
Emperors and the life of royalty
Greed and lust of the Romans
The fall of Rome

Christopher S Weller
Roman Religion
Education
The Growth of slavery
Evolution of Roman law
Development of Literature and Art
Values and Attitudes

Professor Robert Behar
The religious, economic, philosophical and political features of Greek history from the earliest times to the subjection by Rome in 146 B.C. Rome from the earliest days through the periods of the Republic and Empire; the influence of Hellenistic culture on Rome; the formation of the Republican constitution and its collapse; the social and economic institutions of the Empire.

Ruth Tomes
I. Ancient Places
    A. Rome
    B. Greece
    C. Crete

II. Ancient Archaeology
    A. People
    B. Temples
    C. Money

III. Ancient Activities
    A. Religion
    B. Jobs
    C. Games/Enjoyment

Karen Shaffer

Classes 1/2: Teacher will introduce a overview of Greek and Roman art/ culture with various books used in lecture style class. This is to be a long term project. End results will be various Greek or Roman artifacts made by the students out of newspaper and covered with plaster gauze cloth to create hard outer shell. Students will paint the results with authentic looking designs that they find in the various support found off of internet, or in books.

A few of the books:
Horrible Histories: The Rotten Romans by Terry Deary (Scholastic press)- multiple copies
Heroes & Monsters of Greek Myth by Evslin, Evslin & Hoopes (Scholastic press)
The Greek Gods Evslin, Evslin & Hoopes (Scholastic press)
Gods, Demigods, Demons : An encyclopedia of Greek Mythology by Bernard Evslin (Scholastic press)
The Romans (Usborne books)
Drawing History: Ancient Rome by Elain Raphael & Don Bolognese (Scholastic press) Multiple copies
Drawing History: Ancient Greece by Elain Raphael & Don Bolognese (Scholastic press) Multiple copies
Several books on Hercules (Golden books) Multiple copies
Dateline: Troy by Paul Fleishman (Scholastic press)
The Usborne book of EUROPE A history of it 's cultures, politics and people (Usborne books)
The Greek News- the greatest newspaper in civilization (Scholastic press) Multiple copies
The Roman News- the greatest newspaper in civilization (Scholastic press) Multiple copies
Assorted printed data from the internet

Class 3: Students will spend one class going through wide variety of books on Roman cultures in order to find one specific item that they will attempt to sculpt with newspaper/ plaster paris gauze cloth.  Students will mark books with post it notes to refer to pictures through out the building process.

Class 4-6: Building the basic shape of chosen sculpture using newspaper and masking tape. Cutting rolls of plaster gauze cloth into appropriate sized pieces. Discussions of the culture continue.

Classes 6-8: Dipping the plaster into water and creating the outside shell around the newspaper shapes.  Discussions of the culture continue. Digital pictures will be taken of work in progress and uploaded to the 5th grade section on web as they occur.

Classes 8- ?: Painting the sculptures with appropriate designs as shown in original pictures. Discussions of the culture continue. Digital art show as projects are finished.

Benson Fong - Christianity & the Byzantine Empire
I. Invaders - Pax Romana, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Bulgars, Huns, Slavs
II. Birth of New Religion - St. Paul, Hellenistic culture with Christianity.
III. Emperor Constantine I - Byzantium
IV. Emperor Theodosius I - Official religion
V. Emperor Justinian - Christian theology
VI. Hagia Sophia - Church of the Divine Wisdom

Michelle Washek - The Economy of Rome
A. Manufacturing and Trading
B. Farming
C. Tourism
D. Shipping
E. Developing Economies
F. An Economic Struggle