Ancient Civilisations

Year 4

Unit Overview

In the Ancient Civilisations project, your child will learn about three of the earliest civilisations in the world; ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley civilisation. They will study the ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian civilisation in detail, to discover how crucial factors like water sources and farming helped them to develop and thrive. They will find out about important inventions and the growth of cities. They will also study the lives of different people in society, including the roles of kings and pharaohs. The children will reflect on their learning by identifying the similarities and differences between the two civilisations, before studying the Indus Valley civilisation independently. They will explore sources of evidence about the location of the Indus Valley, cities and trade, and note the reasons why historians know less about the Indus Valley than other ancient civilisations. The children will then compare all three civilisations, before learning about the causes and consequences of each civilisation’s decline. They will also consider whether or not these civilisations left a lasting legacy. 

MEMORABLE MOMENT

Exploring ancient civilisation artifacts.


️✏️ WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

Throughout this unit of work we will be writing  a biography about Hatshepsut's life and a diary describing Tutankhamun's friend. 


🌳 LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

In this unit of work we will create Ancient Sumer's social hierarchy in the playground and act out different roles in the community.

Unit Sequence: Learning Intentions

🏁 BIG FINISH

We are going to create a double page spread to demonstrate our learning. We will include a title and different sections including facts and pictures. 

📖 FOCUS TEXT(S) 

The class will be reading The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo.