Greek Mythology Fun

I want to share with you what I have been doing in my classroom lately. First, I need to say that Kentucky has adopted the new Common Core Standards and we are teaching them this year. Many of the standards are not too out of the ordinary. One standard though has really been something different for me. In fourth grade, I am to teach common words and phrases that allude to significant characters found in mythology. Umm.....okay???

Well, I dug through all of my materials for something to use, search the Internet, and even TpT. There was NOTHING out there for elementary aged students that met the standard I was to teach. So what did I do.....developed my own unit. I was hesitant to do this because to be honest, I have NEVER been a Greek mythology fan. I always found it to be boring. I could never keep up with all the Gods and what they did. :) But, I knew I had this standard to teach and needed materials.

I am a clipart queen and knew that if I was going to develop this unit, I was going to have to have some cute clipart. So Melonheaz Illustating was kind enough to create the cute clipart. Once I saw how adorable the clipart was, I kind of got into the unit. Now I am like my kids....totally in love with Greek mythology. I guess their excitement about the unit made me excited.

To begin the unit, I started out with a schema chart. I was totally surprised at the schema that kids already had about the subject. You can see our chart. We add to it every day.

We have read lots of myths. I was choosy about the myths we have read in class. I chose ones that have inspired phrases that we use today like Pandora's Box, King Midas (Midas Touch), Achilles, etc.

One of the projects the kids worked on today was a booklet of allusions (common phrases) from the myths they have read. The kids had to write the phrase and a little information about the story behind it. Then the kids were able to color the booklets. Here is an example. The kids were so proud of these we had to hang them in the hallway today. Their enthusiasm was exciting! Tomorrow we are going to start a trading card project. The students are going to make a trading card for six of their favorite Greek mythology characters and/or creatures. They are super excited about this. I can't wait to post pictures of their finished products.

If you are interested in doing this Greek Mythology unit with your kiddos, it is available on my TpT store for $6.50. You can click on the unit cover below to check it out.

Don't forget to get in on the MAJOR giveaway! See yesterday's post for more information. If you win, you might want my Greek Mythology unit as your freebie from my store. :)

Have a great evening!