Subject: Social Studies
Lesson Length: 35 - 45 mins
Topic: Cultural Comparisons/Ancient Civilizations
Grade Level: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Standards / Framework:
Brief Description: Students will be able to compare and contrast cultural aspects of different ancient civilizations that developed around the same time.
Know Before You Start: It helps for students to have a basic understanding of where ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, and Greece are located and why they developed there.
Hook:
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Show pictures of popular food items, slang, current clothing trends, and other items that are representative of current culture. Why do these represent our culture?
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Discuss what people will think 1,000 years from now when they see images of these items or watch videos from our time.
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Read and discuss the sample comic. How were these ancient cultures the same? How were they different? How were they like our present day culture?
Activity:
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Have students select two ancient civilizations to compare and one cultural aspect to showcase. For example, recreation, communication, trade etc.
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Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create a 3 panel comic describing a cultural aspect of two chosen civilizations and similarities to our present-day lives.
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Panel 1: Civilization 1 & Cultural Aspect.
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Panel 2: Civilization 2 & Cultural Aspect.
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Panel 3: Similarities to our present day lives.
Closure: Have students share their comics with the class to compare and contrast the similarities and differences amongst the ancient civilizations and their own.
Differentiation:
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Use Think-Pair-Share strategy during whole group discussion.
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Display or print out student comic expectations for reference.
Ancient China
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
Ancient Aztecs
Ancient Rome
