2nd Grade ELA | Exploring Ancient Greece

Unit Summary

In this unit, students explore ancient Greece. Over the course of the unit, students learn and explore different characteristics of ancient Greece and its values. Through learning about the daily routines, structures, and rituals of ancient Greece, students will be challenged to draw conclusions about what the civilization valued and how those values compare to society today. Students will also learn about the different gods and goddesses and analyze the role they played in ancient Greek society. At the end of the unit, students will be challenged to compare and contrast the role of the Olympics in ancient Greek society with the modern-day Olympics.

The mentor text for this unit, Ancient Greece and the Olympics, allows students to practice multiple informational reading strategies independently and with partners. Throughout the unit, students will practice determining the main topic of a section of a text and also the entire text. Students will also explore how authors include many types of details in a text. Students will begin to analyze which details in a text are important, and which details in a text are just interesting and make the text more enjoyable to read.

Students will use all of the strategies they learned in previous units to engage with classmates in partner, small group, and whole class discussions. Students will continue to build on their peers’ talk and may begin to critique and analyze the reasoning of their peers when applicable.

Students continue to build their writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task question using a combination of simple and complex sentences. Students also have multiple opportunities to write both informational and opinion paragraphs, building on the strategies they have learned across the entire sequence. Students end the unit by participating in their final research project, with an emphasis on using facts and definitions to develop points. Across the unit, students also write multiple opinion paragraphs, focusing on stating an opinion and supplying reasons to support the opinion.

Please Note: The text Growing Up in Ancient Greece by Chris Chelepi used in Lessons 9-11 is out of print. If you can't access this text, this lesson can be skipped.

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Texts and Materials

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Core Materials

Book: Ancient Greece and the Olympics: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2004) — 590L
Assessment Text: “Ancient Greece: Democracy is born” (Newsela) — 550LL

Supporting Materials

Book: Growing Up in Ancient Greece by Chris Chelepi (Troll Communications, 1997)
Book: The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki (HarperCollins, 1997)
Video: “Ancient Greek Vases” (YouTube)
Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading

Text Selection Rationale

Purchase Books

Assessment

These assessments accompany this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.

Unit Prep

Intellectual Prep

Suggestions for how to prepare to teach this unit

Unit Launch

Before you teach this unit, unpack the texts, themes, and core standards through our guided intellectual preparation process. Each Unit Launch includes a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning to ensure you're prepared to support every student.

Essential Questions

The central thematic questions addressed in the unit or across units

What connections can we make between ancient Greece and our society today?
What did the ancient Greeks believe and/or value?
How did ancient Greek beliefs and values shape their society?

Reading Focus Areas

The main topic is the big idea of a section of text; understanding the main topic of a section of text helps the reader determine which details are important.
Authors include many types of details in the text; some details are important and support the author’s point, while the others are just interesting.

Writing Focus Areas

Informational Writing

Participate in shared research and writing projects.
Use facts and definitions to develop points.

Opinion Writing

State an opinion and supply reasons that support that opinion.

Vocabulary

Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text

Text-based

artifact brutal citizen compete democracy devote headstrong honor moody modern oath obey philosophy please potter resisted rival rule sacrifice seldom store tense truce vase worship

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 6, view our 2nd Grade Vocabulary Glossary.

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Content Knowledge and Connections

Fishtank ELA units related to the content in this unit.

Describe the city-states of Athens and Sparta.
Describe what daily life was like in ancient Greece and the way it was different from daily life today.
Explain how the first Olympic Games started and what they represented.
Explain why the Greeks worshiped gods and goddesses.
Identify and name three or four of the most popular gods and goddesses (Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Athena, Hades).

Previous Fishtank ELA Connections

1st Grade ELA - Ancient Egypt

Future Fishtank ELA Connections

Lesson Map

Ancient Greece and... — Chapter 1

Describe Athens and Sparta and what was similar and different about the two city-states by identifying the main focus of specific paragraphs within a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7

Ancient Greece and... pp. 21 – 25

Identify and explain the evidence an author uses to support the idea that “religion was a big part of Greek life” by identifying and describing how reasons support particular points the author makes in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7 RI.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 26 – 37

Describe two gods and what made them unique by identifying and explaining details the author includes to support the main points in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7 RI.2.8

The Gods and Goddesses... pp. 18 – 40 — selected gods

Describe two gods and what made them unique by identifying and explaining details the author includes to support the main points in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.6 RI.2.9

The Gods and Goddesses... pp. 18 – 40 — selected gods

Describe two gods and what made them unique by identifying and explaining details the author includes to support the main points in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.6 RI.2.7

Writing

The Gods and Goddesses...
Ancient Greece and... pp. 26 – 37

Argue which god or goddess is the most powerful by using details from the texts about their personality, actions, and relationship with others.

RI.2.2 W.2.1 W.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 39 – 46 — Chapter 3

Analyze the evidence the author includes to support the statement, “The ancient Greeks had busy lives,” by identifying and describing how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7 RI.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 47 – 56 — Chapter 3

Explain how ancient Greeks loved learning, fun, and beauty by identifying and describing how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.8

Growing Up In... pp. 4 – 13

Analyze how the evidence from Growing Up in Ancient Greece builds on information from Ancient Greece and the Olympics by comparing the most important information presented by two texts on the same topic.

RI.2.2 RI.2.8 RI.2.9

Growing Up In... pp. 16 – 25

RI.2.2 RI.2.8 RI.2.9

Writing

Ancient Greece and...
Growing Up In...

Explain what life was like in ancient Greece by writing an informational text with a strong introduction, details from the text, and a conclusion.

RI.2.2 SL.2.1 W.2.2 W.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 57 – 65

Explain the statement, “The ancient Greeks left gifts for the whole world to enjoy,” by identifying and describing how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.8

Project

Ancient Greece and...
Growing Up In...
“Ancient Greek Vases”

Using information from the video and book, recreate a Greek vase to show a detailed illustration of life in ancient Greece.

RI.2.7 SL.2.5

Ancient Greece and... pp. 69 – 79

Explain how and why the Olympics became the most popular festival in Greece by identifying the main topic and details within a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7 RI.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 81 – 87

Defend if the Olympics were important to everyone in ancient Greece by identifying the reasons an author states to support a point.

RI.2.2 RI.2.6 RI.2.7 RI.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 89 – 99

Describe two different Olympic events by identifying the main focus of specific paragraphs and the key details within them.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7

Writing

The Gods and Goddesses...
Ancient Greece and... pp. 26 – 37

Argue which event in the Ancient Olympics was the most difficult by using details from the text.

W.2.1 W.2.8

Ancient Greece and... pp. 100 – 103

Explain why the author says, “When the winners returned home, they were greeted like heroes,” by analyzing and describing how reasons from the entire text support specific points the author makes in a text.

RI.2.2 RI.2.7 RI.2.8

Ancient Greece and...
Growing Up In...

Using information from the unit, recreate a Greek vase to show a detailed illustration of an Olympic event.

RI.2.7 SL.2.5

Ancient Greece and... pp. 105 – 109

Defend if the Olympic Games of today are exactly the same as the early Olympic Games by explaining the reasons an author gives to support a point in a text.

RI.2.8

Discussion

Debate and discuss unit Essential Questions by stating a claim and supporting it with evidence from the entire unit.

L.2.6 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.6 W.2.2

Writing – 3 days

Research and present on a specific aspect of ancient Greek society.

RI.2.10 SL.2.3 SL.2.5 SL.2.6 W.2.2 W.2.5 W.2.7 W.2.8

Assessment

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

The content standards covered in this unit

L.2.1

L.2.2

L.2.5

L.2.6

RF.2.4

RI.2.2

RI.2.6

RI.2.7

RI.2.8

RI.2.9

RI.2.10

SL.2.1

SL.2.2

SL.2.3

SL.2.5

SL.2.6

W.2.1

W.2.2

W.2.5

W.2.7

W.2.8

Supporting Standards

Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit

L.2.1.f

L.2.4.a

L.2.4.b

L.2.5.a

RF.2.3

RI.2.1

RI.2.3

RI.2.4

RI.2.5

W.2.6

Unit 5

Finding Your Power: Freddie Ramos

Exploring Ancient Greece

Unit Summary

Texts and Materials

Core Materials

Supporting Materials

Assessment

Unit Prep

Intellectual Prep

Essential Questions

Reading Focus Areas

Writing Focus Areas

Informational Writing

Opinion Writing

Vocabulary

Text-based

Supporting All Students

Content Knowledge and Connections

Previous Fishtank ELA Connections

Future Fishtank ELA Connections

Lesson Map

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

Writing Standards

Writing Standards

Writing Standards

Writing Standards

Writing Standards

Supporting Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Language Standards

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Writing Standards

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