Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece has been a theme discussed by all of the children recently.  The oldest children started with comparing Greece to Mesopotamia.  They quickly discovered, from the maps we compared, that the geography had a huge influence on each civilization.  Next we looked at Greek gods and goddesses and how the Ancient Greeks’ beliefs shaped their daily lives.  Each child has drawn a picture of a Greek god or goddess and written a “who am I” paragraph for a card game we are making.   Next we looked at the differences between the two city-states of Sparta and Athens as well as the differences between girls/women and boys/men in each of these cities.  Children were amazed at how by the age of 7 in Sparta as a young boy you would be sent to military school until you we’re about 40, when you could retire.  To finish off our Ancient Greece unit, we read a book about Socrates and are preparing to reenact his trial.  All of the older students have roles in the trial and all of the students in the school will be helping by making props, being on the jury or a spectator.