Ancient Africa Lesson Plans

Fourth graders engage in a lesson in which ancient Africa's historical contributions are told though the eyes of a spider, Anansi, and his search calabash game. The game is accessed through a website which is embedded in this lesson plan.

Students study the ancient African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. They brainstorm what they know about ancient African kingdoms before investigating the trade and barter situations, and researching one of the kingdoms for an oral presentation. They simulate the barter economy with items from home.

Students examine the effects of Africa on MesoAmerica.

Students study the relationship between peoples of ancient Africa and ancient MesoAmerica. They relate in written or oral form the African presence in the ancient Americas. They create their own Colossal Head of Olmec and display the final products around the school with paragraph descriptions.

Students watch the Discovery video "The Ancient World" and discuss the Fertile Crescent and why people migrated there in ancient times. The class pretends they live in ancient times and are migrating to the Fertile Crescent or beyond and write a letter to a friend that has chosen to stay behind. They research useful websites for additional facts.

Third graders view images and research  Ancient Greece to learn of its culture, and influence in the present world.  In this Ancient Greece lesson, 3rd graders play a Jeopardy game and answer questions about Ancient Greece.

Students use the Internet to investigate an event from the ancient world. They gather information as reporters and write newspaper articles. They compile news stories into a front page edition of the Ancient Times to share with classmates.

Students gain a conversant knowledge of some aspect of ancient African literature of the eighteenth dynasty (1572-1315 B.C.) in Egypt. They choose either to make a crossword puzzle or a word search with at least 20 key words from their topic.

Students explore the ancient past. In this ancient civilizations lesson, students research ancient events and write newspaper articles about the events. Students work in teams of 4 to produce group newspapers that feature their findings. Lesson extension activities are included as well.

This is an excellent multidisciplinary lesson designed by Scientific American. It provides three creative activities--designing a garden, studying hieroglyphics, and writing poetry--relevant to the ancient peoples of the Middle East. Students will enjoy