Along with our study of the Astronomy, we were also learning about the Greeks and the first Olympics!
If you are looking for a great interpretation of the Odyssey for kids then check out Mary Pope Osborne’s (author of the Magic Tree House) “Tales From the Odyssey”.
I chose a story from this version to compare to another adult version I had already.
I have to admit that I have not really read the Odyssey before but I really enjoyed comparing the two with my boys.
They are starting to get to such a fun age to teach!
The “YOU CHOOSE Ancient Greece” was of course a big hit.
My boys get so much from these books!
They do all the scenarios trying to see what will happen and learn so much history while doing it!
I have really liked this video series for kids, “Ancient Civilizations” this one was on Greece.
It is easy to understand and has nothing bad in it.
It might give you a butterfly and rainbows view of each culture but the boys and I discuss the downsides so that is okay.
We looked up what people in Ancient Greece might have eaten and that is what we had for lunch!
This was so much fun!
They had Fig Newtons in Ancient Greece.
Didn’t you know that?
Sometimes you have to wing it when your store does not carry figs…
I used the Lesson Plan on The Magic Tree House Classroom Adventures site to get some ideas for our Olympics.
We decided to wear clothes instead of being authentic.
Clothing works better for pictures.
All I did for their tunics is cut a hole out of a rectangle of sheet and tie it with a rope belt.
We did:
Discus
High Jump
Javelin
The Stade (race)
Wrestling
I made a crown out of morning glory vines for the winner.
We did not have any Olive Tree branches lying around.
Since there are only two of them I had them wear it after every victory instead of waiting until the end.
The victor of the Javelin!
The Stade.
This one was not on the site but my boys had already read that there was wrestling so they insisted it be a part of our games.
They saw right away why clothing was a problem.
I don’t see why they did not include this in the lesson plan.
What?
You don’t want the children wrestling in school?
We watched these events on the Olympics site to compare and get an idea of what it is supposed to look like.
We don’t always get to do so much hands on for our history but it was so much fun!
I think the boys are going to remember the Greeks.
