Rome wasn't built in a day

Rome wasn't built in a day, but we learned it in one. Well, we blew through the high points anyway.  We took a look at Attila the Hun and Alaric the Visigoth as lesser known great leaders who fought and defeated Romans.  We also talked about the various factors that led to Rome's fall, like the tension between the rich and poor, slave and free, political corruption, and the Empire that worked best when it had territory to claim and loot to bring home.  When it got so big it outstretched its resources and had to go on the defensive, it was never as secure.  And so goes Rome.  By 476 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire (the one we think of as "Rome") is gone.  But the Western Roman Empire lives on for another 1000 years, we just think if it as the Byzantine Empire.  But that lesson is for another day.  In the meantime, here are lots of links with cool stuff about the Roman Empire. 

40 Maps that Explain \


Roman Empire



Reading Comprehension Video on The Punic Wars

You Wouldn't Want to be a Roman Gladiator

Romans Invade Britain Video

Jeffery Lewis Sings About the Fall of Rome

Fall of Rome Lesson Video

Video Lesson on Germanic Invasions of Rome

Video on the Colosseum

The Mauryan Empire to Rome

Early India to Rome is a long stretch of history to cover, but it was cool to learn about how Alexander the Great could have affected India, and then how his empire broke apart in the Mediterranean areas. Then we learned about how Alexander's Greece influenced the beginnings of Rome along with the Etruscans.  I must say that the Mauryan King, Ashoka, is one of my favorite historical figures.  And Rome is going to rock the world, so it's always neat to learn more about them.  If you'd like more, here are some great links for both.


INDIA

Ashoka's Edicts Video

Silk Road video

Crash Course in World History: India




Khan Academy article on The Pillars of Ashoka



Interactive Map - You can click on Classical Era at the bottom to look at trade routes and goods from the time period we're studying.  Each icon is clickable and has descriptions.  There is a person icon with a description for Asoka as well.


ROME

Ancient Roman Soldier game

Interactive Roman Map

Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans, Roman Dinner Manners

Horrible Histories: The Roman Report

Roman Recipes and Crafts

Roman Timeline

Alexander the Great

At our last meeting, we learned all about the crazy, exciting, sometimes gruesome, sometimes sordid life of Alexander the Great.  His life is full of mystery, ambition, arrogance, luck, skill, and the impossible.  He never lost a battle.  He best friend was a horse.  And he thought himself a demi-god son of Zeus.  It makes for a cool story.  So here are lots of links if your students are interested in learning more about Alexander and the incredible empire he forged out of sheer willpower.
This week we will fast forward our history - We've got a lot to cover in two weeks if we're going to make it to the Fall of Rome!
Gwyn has the health lesson this coming week.

Alexander the Great Mini-Bio Video

Timeline Map of Alexander's Conquests

Battle of Gaugamela History Channel Video

Alexander's Speech in India

Alexander the Great map and reading comprehension activity

Horrible Histories Alexander the Great Song

Horrible Histories Alexander Names Yet Another City Alexandria

Visual Glossary of Greek Pottery

Back to India and China

The Life of Confucius animation

Gautama Buddha: The Founding of Budhism

Ancient Greece

We went back to Greece at our last History Club to visit the Age of Pericles.  Pericles was a general who rose to power in Athens after the Persian Wars.  He was quite progressive, but also a bit of a dictator.  He expanded democracy to men outside of the aristocracy, but kept a tight hold on his own power.  He ushered in a thirty year period of advances in art, culture, theater, education, architecture, and civic participation.  He also treated all the other city states around Athens like subjects, so that made them a little mad.  Soon Greece was divided into two camp, the Delian League sided with Athens and the Peloponnesian League aligned with Sparta.  The Greeks commenced to fighting each other for around 27 years before Athens was defeated.  To see a short movie explaining the War go here:
Peloponnesian War and Thucydides Video


We then spent some time discussing Greek Tragedies and how the theater was conducted during the Age of Pericles.
We ended by creating theatrical masks for our characters to present the play Antigone.  The kids did a great job with the play!  Bridget posted some video and pics of it on facebook if you're interested in watching.

This week we'll go back to Asia!

Ancient India and China

     We traveled back to Ancient India and Ancient China this week to get a perspective on a few World Religions.  In India, we discussed the migration of Aryan people into India and the development of the Sanskrit language and the writing of the Vedas.  The Vedas are the holy stories of Hinduism.  We read Ramayana, the story of Rama and Sita.  We even got to watch a few minute of Sita Sings the Blues, which is a really neat animated version of the Ramayana.  I will warn you though that it is told from a modern woman's perspective with scenes from her life interspliced in the story which includes some insinuated "romance."
     We also made a fold-able with Asian religions on it.  So far we filled in info about Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism.  We will get to Buddhism next time.  We spent most of our time on Hinduism, because the stories are so vivid and that is a religion that is the most foreign to most of us raised in the West.  We did talk briefly about the Hindu holiday of Diwali, and some of the ways people celebrate that like making intricate designs and pictures in flour on their floors.  We ended by trying to carve our own "ivory" statues that had something to do one of the stories we learned about.  I think that carving takes a lot of patience and the challenge was for the kids to scrape away small slices instead of trying to hack or cut off big pieces.  :)
Celee will do the health lesson at our next meeting.

Hindu Children's Stories

Sita Sings the Blues  

Hinduism Site 

Mickey and Friends: Mumbai Madness  

Interactive Ancient China Map