Teaching about the seven wonders of the modern world
Labels: Social Studies
The upper elementary grades are a perfect time to teach students about the ancient world, and a two-week “intersession” (or similar block of time) provides a great opportunity to make students appreciate and understand about the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. Indeed, a ten-class session provides ample teaching time to adequately introduce and then explore this intriguing topic.
The first class session should be devoted to providing an overview of the entire topic of the Wonders of the World. Addressing the question of “What is a ‘Wonder?” and introducing and briefly explaining each of them individually is essential first-order business. Have a classroom wall map of the world handy to pull down and identify where each of the wonders is (or was) located. Place a “sticky-note” in each located area so that students can eventually compare distance between them in a later activity. (You’ll want to provide photocopied world maps to the students so that they can chart the locations as you identify them.)Use the site markers also to formulate an exercise with the scale of miles to figure out which Wonder site is closest and which one is the farthest away from the United States.
Divide students into groups and have them investigate ways to get to these identified faraway countries, finding airline schedules and prices online, and planning an interesting whirlwind itinerary to see as many of these sites as they believe possible in a three-week period.
Making a travel brochure involving visits and tours of each of these sites is an equally interesting and fun activity. Students can work in pairs or individually, and they will enjoy sharing these with the rest of the class after they have completed the travel brochures.
Use each of the subsequent seven classes for a more in-depth discussion of each of the Seven Ancient Wonders. Recall that the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World include The Great Pyramid of Egypt, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes, and The Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Explaining exactly what the particular class session’s 'Wonder' is, and showing a picture of what it looked like should compose the first half of each lesson. Discuss with students their ideas concerning why that particular site may have been deemed a “wonder”, and what they see as so special about it.
Use the second part of the class session for students to work in small groups to construct a model or to draw a mural-sized picture of the Wonder that was discussed. Encourage students to use their imaginations, and brainstorm resources and materials that can be used to construct the Wonder. For example: using sugar cubes to make the Great Pyramid of Egypt works especially well, the Hanging Gardens may work better as if it is drawn as a mural (unless an adundance of vines and artificial flowers are available.) The Statue of Zeus and The Temple of Artemis can both be made effectively from modeling clay. As the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was made of marble, it lends itself perhaps best as a mural, and The Colossus of Rhodes is perfect for a paper-mache rendition. Plastic building blocks
can be used to make The Lighthouse at Alexandria. As students are making their models each day, encourage them to write important facts about the Wonder on an index card, which can be displayed with the model.
Day 9 should best be used for a recap of the Wonders, and then a discussion of which one students thought of to be the most interesting. Discuss these views at length. Students should write essays telling which of the Wonders they would most like to have seen, giving reasons for their opinion. Edit, then have students write a final copy, which can be displayed with the models. Remaining time during this period can be used to complete their models.
Have students make a Seven Wonders board game as a culminating activity. Divide students into groups, distributing poster board to each. Have students use the required criteria that there must be a drawn picture of each Wonder on the game board, and that the rules must be clearly stated on a sheet of paper. This activity may take a few class sessions.
Use the second half of the final class to have students show off their models of the Seven Wonders to other classes and teachers. They may want to make invitations that include information and pictures of some of the Seven Wonders that they’ve learned about. Students can play their board games during extra time that you are able to allot at the end of class. Teaching about the Seven Wonders of the World will be an event that you’ll be sure to repeat each year!
Research on the internet for sites that may have additional games and information pertinent to this study. Enjoy!
The first class session should be devoted to providing an overview of the entire topic of the Wonders of the World. Addressing the question of “What is a ‘Wonder?” and introducing and briefly explaining each of them individually is essential first-order business. Have a classroom wall map of the world handy to pull down and identify where each of the wonders is (or was) located. Place a “sticky-note” in each located area so that students can eventually compare distance between them in a later activity. (You’ll want to provide photocopied world maps to the students so that they can chart the locations as you identify them.)Use the site markers also to formulate an exercise with the scale of miles to figure out which Wonder site is closest and which one is the farthest away from the United States.
Divide students into groups and have them investigate ways to get to these identified faraway countries, finding airline schedules and prices online, and planning an interesting whirlwind itinerary to see as many of these sites as they believe possible in a three-week period.
Making a travel brochure involving visits and tours of each of these sites is an equally interesting and fun activity. Students can work in pairs or individually, and they will enjoy sharing these with the rest of the class after they have completed the travel brochures.
Use each of the subsequent seven classes for a more in-depth discussion of each of the Seven Ancient Wonders. Recall that the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World include The Great Pyramid of Egypt, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes, and The Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Explaining exactly what the particular class session’s 'Wonder' is, and showing a picture of what it looked like should compose the first half of each lesson. Discuss with students their ideas concerning why that particular site may have been deemed a “wonder”, and what they see as so special about it.
Use the second part of the class session for students to work in small groups to construct a model or to draw a mural-sized picture of the Wonder that was discussed. Encourage students to use their imaginations, and brainstorm resources and materials that can be used to construct the Wonder. For example: using sugar cubes to make the Great Pyramid of Egypt works especially well, the Hanging Gardens may work better as if it is drawn as a mural (unless an adundance of vines and artificial flowers are available.) The Statue of Zeus and The Temple of Artemis can both be made effectively from modeling clay. As the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was made of marble, it lends itself perhaps best as a mural, and The Colossus of Rhodes is perfect for a paper-mache rendition. Plastic building blocks
can be used to make The Lighthouse at Alexandria. As students are making their models each day, encourage them to write important facts about the Wonder on an index card, which can be displayed with the model.
Day 9 should best be used for a recap of the Wonders, and then a discussion of which one students thought of to be the most interesting. Discuss these views at length. Students should write essays telling which of the Wonders they would most like to have seen, giving reasons for their opinion. Edit, then have students write a final copy, which can be displayed with the models. Remaining time during this period can be used to complete their models.
Have students make a Seven Wonders board game as a culminating activity. Divide students into groups, distributing poster board to each. Have students use the required criteria that there must be a drawn picture of each Wonder on the game board, and that the rules must be clearly stated on a sheet of paper. This activity may take a few class sessions.
Use the second half of the final class to have students show off their models of the Seven Wonders to other classes and teachers. They may want to make invitations that include information and pictures of some of the Seven Wonders that they’ve learned about. Students can play their board games during extra time that you are able to allot at the end of class. Teaching about the Seven Wonders of the World will be an event that you’ll be sure to repeat each year!
Research on the internet for sites that may have additional games and information pertinent to this study. Enjoy!