Trojan War Activities
By MARISSA DESPINS Updated April 08, 2024
If you have been around here for a while, you know that I really love teaching all about ancient history. Each year in seventh grade, we spend a significant amount of time learning about Ancient Greece, and the Trojan War is one of our favorite topics to learn about. Read on for some of my favorite activities for teaching this engaging topic.
For some engaging activities to help you teach about the Trojan War in your history classroom, click on the image or button below. I have a wide variety of resources related to teaching Ancient Civilizations available in my TPT shop!
The Trojan War and The Odyssey
This is an excellent unit to complete before an in depth look at Homer’s Odyssey, as it takes place right before the Odyssey begins; in the story, Odysseus is actually on his way back home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. In fact, the creation of the wooden horse was actually his idea! If you are interested in more about The Odyssey, you can click here to check out a previous post, or click here to see some great Odyssey resources in my TPT shop!
Introducing the Unit
Short videos are a great way to build excitement about an upcoming unit. I love this video in particular, because it is short and gets right to the point.
Annotating the Trojan War
To begin our unit, we start with some reading and annotating. We begin by reading through a passage on the Trojan War. After, I have students take some time to annotate their passages. Annotating is a really important skill for students to learn, as it allows them to actively engage with text. Annotation promotes critical thinking and increases retention, as it asks students to think deeply about text in ways that simply reading can’t replicate. After annotating, I have students glue their pages into their Interactive Notebooks, to refer back to when needed.
For more information on annotating, check out our complete close reading guide!
Trojan War Comprehension Activities
After annotating, I have students complete some different comprehension activities, I like to switch the activities up a bit, depending on the learners I have in my room.
Regular comprehension questions are great at getting to the heart of the story, and providing students the opportunity to show their understanding.
With a more visual group, I like to pull out my comprehension question posters. I enlarge these to 11×17 on the copier, giving students lots of space to write their answer and color the illustrations.
For additional fun ideas to use history posters, check out our post on teaching with history stations!
Summarizing the Trojan War
The story of the Trojan War is a a great way to practice summarizing skills. After reading the story and completing annotation activities, we create summary foldables. First, students cut out, color, and assemble their foldables. Next, students use the spaces provided to help them summarize their stories. Finally, we glue our completed foldables into our Interactive Notebooks. They make great review tools!
Top Three Pennants
This is another favorite activity that we complete at the end of our Trojan War unit. In fact, I love this activity so much that I include these pennants in all of my Ancient Greece Units!
To complete this activity, students simply cut out, color, and assemble their pennants. If they like, they can glue them to construction paper for a bit of added durability. Next, students brainstorm the top three things they have learned about the Trojan War, and write them in the included spaces. Finally, we hang these on our classroom wall. They are gorgeous ways to show what your students have learned!
History of the Trojan War
The big question for student is always – “Did the Trojan War actually happen?”
This question always sparks great debate. This video does a great job of discussing the historical and mythical parts of the story.
I hope these activities help you teach all about the Trojan War with your students! If you have any additional ways to spice up a Trojan War unit, let me know in the comment section – I would love to hear your ideas!
For additional information on teaching about Ancient Greece, check out our posts on essential topics of your next Ancient Greece unit, the importance of teaching history, Ancient Greece interactive notebooks, and tips for making your Ancient History units more engaging!
Looking for the Trojan War resources I used in this post?
You can grab my complete Trojan War unit here, or by clicking on the image below. It contains all of the Trojan War activities and resources discussed in this post, as well as several other fun activities!
Looking for some FREE resources for Ancient Greece?
Click on the image below for a FREE download of a COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT GREECE unit! It contains reading passages, comprehension posters, and a Top Three Pennant!
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