Greek Legacies

  

 

The Greek Legacies Workshop lasts all day, and takes place in your classroom and the school hall.

Fee: £159 per class - with a maximum of 36 children.

 

NEW: Each child receives a colour bookmark.

NEW: Quality photos taken of the workshop for £6 per 2 X A5 photos

 

Feedback from children & teachers

The class had a fantastic time. They learnt a lot during the day and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.'

- Emma Furness, Y5 Teacher, Norris Bank Primary School

 

National Curriculum Topics covered: arts and architecture; plays and the theatre; gods and goddesses, myths, legends, beliefs and customs; the building of the Parthenon.

 

Links to Plays: Gods of Olympus   Theseus and the Minotaur Odysseus and the Cyclops   Perseus and Medusa 

NEW: Authentic Versions of the Plays with proper choruses

    
Home  
Subject Matter Visuals and activities
Morning Session        

 

INTRODUCTION

    
Discuss the contributions made by the Greeks to our modern society

Focus of the workshop is on three contributions: architecture, plays & theatre, and gods & myths. (follow links to see web pages for children).

Gods: the 12 Olympian gods, their roles and symbols

 

Time: 30 minutes

Pictures of Greek monsters in modern stories (e.g. Narnia)

How many of the 12 Olympian gods can the children name, based on their roles? (e.g. Athena was goddess of wisdom and war)

Game - name the god from pictures and statues. See the game board

Game - put the names of the 12 gods in the right place
painted statues used in teaching: Athena and Artemis  

 

  

                       ARCHITECTURE

  

  Greek architecture: focussing on temples. What was a temple? What was it used for? What features of the classical style do we see on modern buildings?

Features of a Doric temple: column, fluting, capital, entablature, frieze, architrave, metope, triglyph, pediment, cella, acroterion. Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns.

Time: 25 minutes

   Pictures of Parthenon and other temples

Magnetic board diagram showing parts of a temple. See the board

Game: name the architectural features shown in pictures

Game: name Ionic, Doric or Corinthian columns from ancient buildings and modern

                                   the Parthenon (from NW)

 

      

MAKE A TEMPLE

  The whole class will make a model of the Parthenon. The model is not to scale, having only 28 columns instead of 46, but will display many of the features of the original building, including the painted sculptures and a statue of Athena. Children make different parts of the temple in groups. Two architects will oversee the project and fit all the parts together.

In larger classes some children will make a display about the Parthenon.

Time: 60-80 minutes, depending on age and time available

Pictures of temple making

 Materials used:

Columns - wooden rods, plasticine, foam board and white paint

Entablature, roof and pediment, and cella -  thick white card, glue and sellotape, paper photocopies of the sculptures which will be coloured in with felt-tips

Statue of Athena -  painted gold and white

Architects will use a glue gun (if this is acceptable to you)
Afternoon Session

The afternoon session is based around the performance of a play based on Greek myths. Most classes will perform a play about the 12 Gods of Olympus, with one child acting as each god and another child reading a story about that god. (Click to see the script of the play)

Year 5, 6, and above average year 4 classes may choose one of three plays based on a single story -Theseus and the Minotaur, Odysseus and the Cyclops, or Perseus and Medusa. The rest of the class will make scenery while the actors and readers rehearse. Another class will be invited to watch the final performance. There are also more authentic versions of the plays, in which a few children will have to learn lines and the narrators will speak as a chorus throughout.

   Greek plays and theatres Lesson on how the Greeks invented plays; the first theatres; actors, masks; famous playwrights; scenery etc. Discuss the myth/s we have chosen to perform and the upcoming activity

The actors and narrators will put on costumes (which I will provide).

Time: 20 minutes

   Pictures of ancient theatres, masks, play script, costumes, etc.
         

REHEARSAL & SCENERY MAKING

  

We will go into the school hall to rehearse. Props such as shield, sword, and symbols of the 12 gods will be provided by me. Chairs will be arranged in a semicircle as in a Greek theatre.

Non-acting children will make scenery (painting a backdrop of a cave, temple, etc). The scenery will be put up after the last rehearsal.

Time: 60-80 minutes

  

the first theatre in history - the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens

                                   the theatre at Delphi

 

        
 

PERFORMANCE

   The children will perform the play - some reading, some miming. The rest of the class will watch, with chairs and tables arranged in a semicircle like a Greek theatre. Another class will also come in to watch. Cameras are recommended!

The picture left shows costume and props. My nephew, Jack, is wearing a chiton and holding a helmet and shield of the 5th century BC.

Pictures of children in a play at Cams Lane Primary, Radcliffe

Jack with more props

Time: 15 minutes

  

 

Odysseus blinds the Cyclops

model of actor's mask