Teacher Extraordinaire - Portfolio of a Teacher and Lifelong Learner

One of the Grade 5 Social Studies Curriculum Ancient Civilizations strand objectives is that students compare and respond to myths and legends from two or more early civilizations. To achieve this end, the class was separated into six different groups for paper theatre. Six creation myths were chosen from The Big Myth, including creation myths from Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Babylon, Aztec and Maya. Given that students had only done two introductory classes on Ancient Civilizations, and many were not knowledgeable about the individual civilizations, I also included short descriptions of them. Myths were paired, if they contained three or more similar elements/themes/events/characters. The day the activity was launched, students were given instructions, put into groups and given an envelope containing their myth, and a props/backdrop/characters graphic organizer. Before students could receive their art kit, they had to read through the myth and fill...