Ancient Greek Myths

The pupils attend a small village school which has a four-year rolling programme for foundation subjects and a two-year rolling programme for science.

The topic for the term was the Ancient Greeks. The topic was introduced via a time-line and discussion about BC and AD. Research skills were introduced by reading an extract from Usborne History's Ancient Greeks on the origins of the Ancient Greeks, posing questions to be answered, and then revisiting the text extract and highlighting the relevant information as a whole class before answering the questions as a group.

Further research practice was given when the children were asked to research either the Trojan War (Year 3) or the Persian Wars (Year 4). Again, they were given a starting text for research and questions to answer; they highlighted the texts to ease information identification. The children were encouraged to use other books and a database (already set up from the Internet) to further their research. As an added task, the children were asked to use their information to write either a letter home from a general in the Persian War, or a letter from Odysseus to Agamemnon detailing the plan for the Trojan horse.

Next we turned to Greek myths and the different versions which have come down to us.

by Karen Byrne, Shropshire