Ancient Greece!: 40 Hands-On Activities to Experience This Wondrous Age (Kaleidoscope Kids) (Paperback)

by Avery Hart (Author), Paul Mantell (Author), Michael P. Kline (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-What at first glance appears to be yet another how-to project book is actually a clever title that encourages learning and creativity. Hart and Mantell blend information about the Greeks with suggestions for activities. They offer starting points for various projects rather than step-by-step instructions. Activities involve poetry, drama, pottery, architecture, sculpture, food, and even a suggestion for an "Odyssey Rap" featuring Homer and the Homettes. Each page contains several blocks of text and pictures on related topics. The illustrations combine cartoons of modern children with drawings, photographs, and reproductions of ancient statuary and artifacts. The project ideas have a wider scope than Susan Purdy and Cass Sandak's "Civilization Project Books" series (Watts; o.p.). The resource list includes many titles that are out of print, and no Web sites are included. These are minor weaknesses, however, in a book that will be beneficial to students studying ancient history.
Elizabeth Stumpf, Clearfield Middle School, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Hart and Mantell invite children to use their imaginations to travel back to the time of ancient Greece, offering along the way a wide variety of information and suggestions for bringing the time to life. The text is not arranged for report writing. Rather, it is organized in a way that will challenge children to use their hands and brains. For instance, after describing the geography of ancient Greece, children are asked to make a model using four rocks and modeling clay, and ponder this question: "Does the land also change and shape the people who live on it? Are whole civilizations shaped by the land on which they live?" The information--including bits about the history, art, religion, and more--is presented in an informal, breezy style, and set down in brief paragraphs scattered across the pages. Illustrations, including some contemporary cartoons, are plentiful. The least successful part of the book is the retellings of mythology, which are so truncated that their power is drastically reduced. However, the book should still give students a good overview, and it offers many good ideas for teachers. Susan Dove Lempke

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Williamson Publishing Company (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885593252
• ISBN-13: 978-1885593252
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #138,144 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Activities for teachers to use in their unit on Greece, February 17, 2005

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

When I was in the sixth grade we moved twice, and in all three of the schools from New Jersey to Connecticut to Japan I got to study Ancient Greece in the history part of the class. I also got a lot of mileage out of having read Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" (I still have my mythology report with my versions of all of the illustrations). But in all the times I got to study Ancient Greece before, during, and after the sixth grade I never got to do any of the fun stuff that Avery Hart & Paul Mantell come up with for "Ancient Greece!: 40 Hands-On Activities to Experience This Wondrous Age."

This Kaleidoscope Kids volume for kids ages 7-12 not only offers activities but also a variety of information about the Ancient Greeks. So this is not simply a book of activities that teachers can pick and choose from to give their students hands-on experiences, it is also a source of facts and stories that will supplement what exists in whatever textbook is being used. Throughout the book there are "Great Greeks!" and things to "Think About." After reminding young readers of the gifts that have come down to us from Ancient Greece, Hart and Mantell get students acclimated to the idea of looking at the past from the perspective of those who lived way back when. Then the book looks at key periods of Greek history.

"Meet the Minoans: The Pre-Greeks of Crete" looks at the culture that gave rise to the greatness of Greece with activities to make a Greek yo-yo, a Great Mother figure, a Hamster Labyrinth (without the Minotaur), and a fantastic fresco. That gives you an indication of the sort of activities to be found in this book before we even get to Greece itself. Other chapters are devoted to "The Age of Heroes," where you get a super-short version of "The Iliad" and can build a Trojan Horse, "Language Unites!" (including speaking "Pig Greek"), "The Dawn of a Golden Age," where you can organize a pentathlon and make a victory wreath, and "Ye Gods! Greek Religion and Mythology," where you can design your own constellation.

In the last part of the book chapters cover "Classical Athens: The Flower of Ancient Civilization," where you get to build a Greek Temple with Ionic columns (or even build the entire Parthenon), "Think For Yourself: Philosophy," where students can make a monochord or hold a symposium, and "The Amazing Arts," which covers create sculptures and painting pots in the first part and making masks to make up a Greek play in the second part. The final chapter covers "A Wider World: Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age," where you can start a library. At the end, students can appreciate how being a Greek meant standing in the center of the world (as least, as far as the Ancient Greeks were concerned).

Again, there are some key issues to be discussed to go along with the activities. Students can debate what is the difference between a hero and a celebrity, understand why every vote counts in a democracy, and decide what makes somebody beautiful. Learning how to press olives or how huge blocks of marble were transported across the sea, gives students an appreciation for how things were different way back when. Throughout the book Hart and Mantell show how ancient ideas live on in modern traditions, which remains the biggest legacy of the Ancient Greeks.

I teach Classical Greek & Roman Mythology (not to be confused with Modern Greek & Roman Mythology apparently) but I teach it online so I do not really have any opportunities to have my students engage in hands-on activities. But that does not mean I cannot do them in the privacy of my own home or that elementary school teachers will not find these extremely useful for their unit on Ancient Greece. Although I am suddenly reminded of coming up with the "Sparthens" (a.k.a. the warriors with the brains) in elementary school. But that is another story.