Plan for Virtual Tour

6th Grade Social Studies
Objective 4: Analyze how the earliest civilizations created technologies and systems to meet community and personal needs.

1. Identify innovations in manmade structures over time (e.g. irrigation, roads, building materials) and their influence on meeting needs.
2. Examine the evolution and importance of writing.
3. Identify cultural expressions that reflect these systems (e.g. architecture, artistic expression, medicine, philosophy, drama, literature).
4. Compare social classes, vocations, and gender roles within ancient civilizations.

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Athens, Greece (Temple of Olympian Zeus)	The Greeks loved drama. Large open theaters were built throughout Greece. The theaters were so large that the spectators could not see the faces of the actors. Because of this the actors wore masks to show how the characters felt during different times of the drama. We made masks simply by dying pasta with food coloring. We then glued the pasta to a piece of black poster board to show a mood that a Greek actor might be experiencing during a drama. Students create 3 different masks: happy, sad, and content and then make a skit. http://www.mce.k12tn.net/ancient_greece/masks.htm
2. Rome, Italy (colosseum)	Watch utube video of the architecture of the colosseum, "Building Rome's Colosseum".
3. Valley of the Kings, Egypt	The ancient Egyptians worked very hard, but they always kept a portion of their day available to relax and play. One of their favorite leisure activities was to create their grave goods - things they would put in their tomb someday. Gravegoods were everything from jewelry to clothing to little statues of workers. Everyone had a job to do in ancient Egypt. They fully expected to be assigned jobs to do in their afterlife, just as they were assigned jobs to do in their daily life. To the ancient Egyptians, it made perfect sense to create little statues that would do the work for them. These little statues were carefully packed away, along with other goods, in preparation for the day they would enter their afterlife. They had a great deal of fun planning and making their gravegoods. Creating grave goods was a big part of ancient Egyptian leisure time. They created grave goods their whole lives. But that is not the only thing they did with their leisure time. They also liked to take family outings to see how the construction of their tomb was progressing. Now, this might sound as if the Ancient Egyptians were in love with death. But that is not so. They were in love with life. They loved life so much, they wanted it to go on forever. They believed in an afterlife. The afterlife was a real place. or The ancient Egyptians worshiped over 2000 gods and goddesses. Unlike other ancient cultures, whose gods looked somewhat like people, most ancient Egyptian gods had animal heads. Class: Let's weigh some head gods they used (Cat and alligator) with a scale and then compare it to something you would like to take with you to the "after life". http://egypt.mrdonn.org/gods.html
4. Beijing, China (great wall)	Answer the follwoing questuions about the Great Wall of China: Can you really see it from the moon? How many years did it take to build? Are there bodies buried in it? Then click on the following the attachnment to see the Great Wall of China on Google Earth! http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/the_great_wall_of_china.htm