What we know about Ancient Greece
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can write an account of Ancient Greek history and culture which best represents what Ancient Greece was like.
Key learning points
- Ancient Greece was a varied collection of different city-states and people with many differences between them.
- However, there were many similarities in their culture e.g. common myths, religion, the existence of enslaved people.
- Historians try to make generalisations about the places and people they investigate.
- Historians cannot always include everything they know about a place or a people in their accounts.
- A good explanation of what best represents what Ancient Greece was like will use knowledge from across this unit.
Keywords
Generalisation - a generalisation is when you say something that is not specific to a certain group of people, place or time
Account - an account is a version of events that may have happened in the past
Common misconception
That everything we read about the past is always true.
Historians try to tell as accurate a story about the past as possible by carefully investigating and studying evidence. Sometimes though, historians do not always agree with each other especially about finer details, and so make generalisations.
Teacher tip
Ask pupils to consider what a historian from the future might say about life in the UK today. What generalisations might they make when they investigate and look for evidence about people of today?
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.If you wanted to buy vegetables in Ancient Greece, where would you go?
Q2.What was different between the city-states of Ancient Greece?
Q3.What did Ancient Greeks do at the theatre?
Q4.Complete the sentence. Ancient Greece was organised by splitting it into smaller areas called .
Q5.Greek myths were usually stories about who?
Q6.Complete the sentence. Sparta and fought each other in the Peloponnesian War.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What small areas was Ancient Greece divided into?
Q2.What did people do in an agora in Ancient Greece?
Q3.The queen of the gods in ancient Greece was .
Q4.Match the words to the definitions.
a group of men that would run a city in Ancient Greece
an area built at the highest point in a city in Ancient Greece
to make a choice, usually in an election
meaning city-state in Ancient Greek
Q5.What sort of conclusions do historians make?
Q6.A person's description of people, places or events from the past is their of it.
To help you plan your 4 history lesson on: What we know about Ancient Greece, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 4 history lesson on: What we know about Ancient Greece, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 history lessons from the Ancient Greek civilisation: what do we know about ancient Greece? unit, dive into the full primary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.