Ancient Greeks - Culture and Religion - Lesson!

This engaging and purposeful lesson is the fifth in a series of lessons in which children develop an in-depth understanding of Ancient Greece. There is a particular focus on the achievements of the Ancient Greeks and how these have influenced the world.

In this lesson, children learn all about Greek culture and religion. Specifically, they:
-Learn and recall key facts about Ancient Greek craftsmanship, theatre, philosophy, discovery and architecture;
-Explain what the Greeks believed about various Gods and Goddesses, and how they honoured them;
-Describe the key responsibilities, powers and traits of a God or Goddess.

The learning is guided by a clear and colourful PowerPoint presentation, which guides students through the following step-by-step journey:
-Knowledge recall of history skills and prior facts about the Ancient Greeks;
-Understanding of the concept of ‘culture’;
-Exploring clues from a range of sources to find out more about the key areas of Ancient Greek culture: craftsmanship, theatre, philosophy, discovery and architecture;
-Watching an engaging, age-appropriate video to learn about the main Gods, their roles and what the Greeks believed about them;
-Using clear guidance to research a God of their choice and complete a character profile about them;
-Understanding how the Greeks’ religious beliefs influenced their achievements;
-Self-reflecting on the extent to which they feel they have met the learning objective.

Included is the comprehensive PowerPoint presentation (26 slides), which contains all of the information needed to teach the lesson, the sources for the investigation activity, and the template for the character profile (provided in both Word and PDF).

In the past, I have used this lesson with children in lower KS2 (years 3 and 4), however this was an advanced class and these resources could easily be used with upper KS2. The key learning is aligned with KS2 curriculum expectations for history. All images are licensed for commercial use.