5 Ways to make your Ancient Civilizations Unit more engaging

By MARISSA DESPINS Updated Dec 12, 2023

Ancient Civilizations Unit Teaching Ideas

As a middle school history teacher, I have always found Ancient Civilizations to be super engaging to learn about and teach. That being said, I am the first to admit that relying on boring old textbooks and tired curriculum can turn even the most interesting time period into a snooze fest. I am here today to share some engaging teaching ideas to help you ditch the textbooks and make your next Ancient Civilization Unit much more exciting for both you and your learners.

Looking for some print and go resources to help you teach about Ancient Civilizations? Click on the image or button below to see all of the Ancient Civilization unit available in my TPT shop!

Text Annotation Activities

According to gurus Fisher and Frey, Close Reading is “an instructional routine in which students are guided in their understanding of complex text”.  Basically, Close Reading is an instructional approach that integrates several reading strategies, where students add knowledge gained from text to their schema. Doing so builds habits of successful readers, and builds stamina and persistence with complex text.

To help get away from the boring textbooks, I like to turn our reading into an active process. Instead of passively reading a textbook chapter, I like to provide students with short passages that they can annotate while reading. Using close reading strategies in your Ancient Civilizations Unit turns the activity into an active process as students highlight, color code, and make notes on the text while reading. Doing so greatly improves engagement, and also aids comprehension!

Want to hear more about close reading? Check out my blog post all about this reading strategy by clicking here.

Interactive Foldables

Adding interactive foldable activities to your Ancient Civilizations Unit is a sure fire way to build engagement. The kids are actively involved in the process of making the templates that flip, flap and fold, allowing them plenty of opportunities to showcase their understanding.

Also, these hands on activities really give students the opportunity to grasp concepts further. Instead of passively completing a boring worksheet, students are actively engaged as they are asked to actually apply the knowledge they have learned in creative ways.  

As an added benefit, interactive activities make great review tools come testing time!

Interested in trying Interactive Notebooks out with your learners? Grab my FREE guide here!

For specific ideas on integrating this approach into your lessons on Egypt, take a look at Ancient Egypt Interactive Notebooks, which offers a variety of interactive and educational activities

Content related Read Alouds for an Ancient Civilizations Unit

Middle school students are never too old for a good read aloud. Reading content related stories aloud not only increases engagement – it also provides access points for all learners, as students are actually able to comprehend text at a higher level than they can typically read.

As an added bonus, reading content related stories aloud is a great way to tie some literacy into your Social Studies curriculum!

Some of my favourite read aloud collections include:

D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths – If you purchase only one book to teach about Greek Mythology, let this be it. It has great images and text that is easily accessible to all learners. It is probably the most used mythology book that I have in my collection, and a class favorite for sure.

The Children’s Book of Myths and Legends – This one is worth the purchase simply for the gorgeous illustrations. It contains myths from around the world, so it is the perfect addition to your Ancient Civilizations curriculum.

The McElderry Book of Greek Myths – Another classic. This one has quick and engaging versions of pretty much all of the popular myths, and makes a fantastic read aloud. This one is great if you are wanting to teach mini units on some of the individual myths, as you can pick and choose the ones you want to include.

To complement these myths with engaging classroom activities, explore our posts on Interactive Notebook Activities for Greek Mythology and Greek Mythology Interactive Notebook Activities, which offer creative ways to bring these stories to life.

For a more focused exploration of one of these civilizations, check out our article on the 9 Essential Topics for Your Next Ancient Greece Unit, which can provide further insights and activities specific to Ancient Greece

Vocabulary Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are some of my very favorite ways to introduce new vocabulary in my social studies classroom. In any Ancient Civilizations unit, there can be a lot of new vocabulary for students to learn. Working through a scavenger hunt activity makes the idea of learning so many new terms seem a lot less daunting and a lot more fun.

First, cut out and laminate your vocabulary cards. Next, tape the words around your classroom, hallway, or outdoor space.

Finally, pass students a clipboard and term sheet, and have them “hunt” around for the vocabulary words. This activity is much more fun that sitting in a desk and copying down word after word. Instead, it gets kids up, moving, and interacting. Sounds like a win for me!

Pennant Projects

Pennant projects are great ways to showcase student learning at the end of a unit. In order to complete the project, students must reflect back on everything they have learned, and choose the top three things they think were most important. This is a great activity to promote content review and reflection. Also, it helps students practice the important reading strategy of determining importance.

I also really like how this activity provides ample opportunities for differentiation. Every student comes up with different things they think are most important. That is both great and encouraged!

As an extra bonus, the completed pennant projects make gorgeous hallway displays to showcase student learning!

Looking for a complete Ancient Civilizations Unit?

Check out the COMPLETE Ancient Civilization Bundle available in my TPT store by clicking here or on the image below. It contains 5 COMPLETE units, with over 900 pages of resources and activities! Individual units on Prehistory, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome are included!

Interested in learning more about teaching an ancient civilizations Unit?

Check out my previous posts below!

7 Essential Topics for teaching about Ancient Egypt

9 Essential Topics for your next Ancient Greece Unit

Trojan War Activities for Middle School

Interactive Notebook Activities for Greek Mythology

Interactive Notebook Activities for Ancient Egypt

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