Welcome teachers. This web page is designed for those of you who want to begin a unit on Rome with your student. The following is a lesson plan that could be used in your classroom in a thematic unit on Rome. Ancient World Cultures is the common theme for grade 7 in the current B.C. Social Studies K to 7 Integrated Resource Package Review Document. The learning outcomes for this lesson have been taken directly from this document.

Grade Level: 7

Outcomes:

It is expected that students will:
*describe daily life, work, family structures, and gender roles in selected ancient cultures.
*identify connections between current cultures and ancient cultures.

Introduction:

As an introduction to your study on Rome and to motivate students to find out more about Rome read them a short summary on the ancient empire. If you have pictures from books or posters on Rome this would be a good time to show them to your class and discuss what is happening in them or what they are of.

Development:

Have students research different areas about Roman daily life. Any type of research materials could be used for this; CD-ROM,books, internet, encyclopaedias. The following is a list of possible areas students could choose to research or have them decide on their own areas of interest. Students should choose a minimum of three areas to research.

Before having students go off and do there research explain to them that the information they find will be used to complete a journal written by an ancient Roman. They will write the journal and decide what the person was like, what they did for a living and how old they were. The journal will have a minimum of three days worth of entries. Each entry will give a detailed explanation of the persons day. Information that was found during their research should be included in their journal entry's. At the beginning of the journal there should be a short description about the Ancient Roman who wrote the journal including; name, age, job, gender and family. The purpose of these journals is for students to reconstruct what it was like living during the Great Roman Empire.

The amount of time you allow for your students to complete this assignment will depend on your class. When students have completed their journals have them share them with the class or in small groups. By here other students work students will find out about many more aspects of Roman life that they did not research.

Closure:

Hold a class discussion about the similarities between the way people live today and how they lived during the Roman Empire. Also be aware of any similarities that can be found in other current culture that have carried over from Rome. You could keep a list of how things were done then and how they are done now.

Rome Home Page

Mathematics in Rome

Science in Rome

Roman Resources

If you have any questions or comments about this lesson or on any topic in Social Studies Education please feel free to contact me through e-mail by clicking on the following address.