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

  1. What is a civilisation? To use more complex historical terms to explain and present historical information.

  2. Archaeological finds. To explain how artefacts provide evidence of everyday life in the past.

  3. Development of ancient Sumer. To construct a narrative, chronological or non-chronological account of a past civilisation, focusing on their features and achievements.

  4. Food and farming. To answer and ask historically valid questions about changes over time and suggest or plan ways to answer them.

  5. Necessity is the mother of invention. To answer and ask historically valid questions about changes over time and suggest or plan ways to answer them.

  6. Sumerian city states. To present a thoughtful selection of relevant information in a historical report.

  7. Hierarchy of ancient Sumer. To describe the hierarchy and different roles in ancient civilisations.

  8. The world's first emperor. To explain in detail the multiple causes and effects of significant events.

  9. Ancient Egypt. To present a thoughtful selection of relevant information by answering a range of historical questions.

  10. City life in ancient Egypt. To present a thoughtful selection of relevant information in an in-depth study.

  11. Hierarchy of ancient Egypt. To describe the hierarchy and different roles in ancient civilisations.

  12. Role of a Pharaoh. To construct a profile of a significant leader using a range of historical sources.

  13. Tales from the tomb. To create an in-depth study of the characteristics and importance of a past or ancient civilisation or society (people, architecture, religion, culture, art, politics, hierarchy).

  14. Compare and contrast two civilisations. To compare and contrast two civilisations.

🏁 BIG FINISH

We are going to answer the question, "How was the Indus Valley civilisation similar to or different from the ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian civilisations?" The class will study evidence and use their detailed knowledge about ancient civilisations to answer our question.

📖 FOCUS TEXT(S)

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