Unit four in my World History curriculum delves into Ancient Greece, the beginning of democracy, Greek mythology, philosophers, and the Greek culture that formed the bedrock of Western Civilization.
Students always love this unit because it goes into greater depth on many topics that they are already familiar with from modern movies and pop culture.
The unit kicks off with an introductory lesson on the geography and early people Ancient Greece. A PowerPoint and guided notes (with Google Slides and "flipped classroom" video also included) is used to start things off. Following this, there are several video options before students begin a creative design a Greek city-state project or an interactive notebook mapping activity.
The next lesson focuses on politics and government in Ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy. After a warmup and video, student work together on a Greek forms of government analysis. After a debrief, students can work on a corresponding digital notebook activity or interactive notebook page.
The Persian and Peloponnesian Wars is the focus of the next lesson. After going through the PowerPoint (with guided notes/Slides/video), students begin a comic project on the Persian Wars before completing a reading and map activity on the Persian Empire.
Next up in the unit is a lesson on the Golden Age of Athens with an engaging PowerPoint (plus guided notes/Slides/video) on the period when Pericles lead the city state to new heights in art, science, and culture. Following this, students work together in pairs or small groups on a Golden Age sorting activity. Lastly, students finish the lesson with a comparison of Athens and Sparta and learn about the making of Spartan soldiers .
The next lesson introduces students to the Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. An amazing "magic portrait" PowerPoint brings them to life in your classroom and covers the key teachings of each philosopher. A foldable-style activity is included as a graphic organizer as well as several short videos to help students better understand the impact of each.
Greek Mythology is the focus of the next lesson, which features an excellent hands-on mythology poster project that students can work on as well as several videos to help students understand the major Greek Gods and Goddesses.
The last lesson in the unit covers the life and impact of Alexander the Great. A PowerPoint (with guided notes/Slides/video) covers his rise in Macedon through his conquering of much of the known world. Students then complete a Primary Source Analysis to learn more about his achievements before the lesson concludes with a comparison activity on Hellenic and Hellenistic culture.
Throughout the unit you can also use a variety of digital interactive notebook activities and the thorough unit guide packet so there is never a shortage of resources to use. Excellent short videos are linked along with readings from the online textbook.
The unit concludes with review games and activities before moving on to an editable unit test - with a Google Forms version included for easy grading!
Again, you can get everything for this unit here in one folder downloaded to your desktop. Or, you can sign up for a Students of History subscription and access to the entire unit’s lessons and resources online. A subscription also gets you immediate access to the ENTIRE World History curriculum. That’s 24 complete units like this one full of awesome lessons and resources.
If you’re not sure which option is better for you, you can read more about the differences between subscriptions and TpT purchases here.
Thanks so much for checking it out!
