{"id":497459,"date":"2010-03-31T17:03:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T21:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/2599"},"modified":"2010-03-31T17:03:20","modified_gmt":"2010-03-31T21:03:20","slug":"teaching-ancient-history-with-children%e2%80%99s-literature-ancient-greece-and-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/497459","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Ancient History with Children\u2019s Literature: Ancient Greece and the Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ancient-greece-and-the-olympics-a-nonfiction-companion-to-hour-of-the-olympics1.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ancient Greece and the Olympics<\/a>, written by Mary Pope Osborne <\/a>and Natalie Pope Boyce<\/a>, illustrated by Sal Murdocca<\/a>, is part of the infamous Magic Tree House Series that aims to realistically take children on a voyage through ancient history.\u00a0 This particular journey to Greece begins with an introduction to the country\u2019s history and its people, then moves to the country\u2019s religion, its daily life and its culture.\u00a0 All of these integral elements serve as the foundation for the major focus of this book.\u00a0 Children are granted with a thorough understanding of Greece\u2019s background so as to see how the concept of the Olympic games originated within this magical culture of gods and goddesses.\u00a0 \u201cThe ancient Greeks believed that strong bodies and sports pleased [these] gods, so they honored [them] with sporting events and contests, [thus] the Olympics began as a festival to honor Zeus, [ruler of all the gods]\u201d (69).<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book does a fabulous job uncovering history for children with vivid images, quirky captions, and easy to understand examples, but it also serves as a superb reference tool.\u00a0 Children could easily utilize this guide when studying, writing about, or researching Ancient Greece and\/ or how the country contributed to the creation of the Olympics Games as we know them today (VA SOL 3.1).\u00a0 The authors provide frequent summaries recapping what prior pages have revealed, pronunciations of unfamiliar vocabulary, as well as italicized and bold terms with definitions that are crucial to the book\u2019s understanding.\u00a0 For example, as the authors describe Athens, they tell readers that \u201cAncient Athens was divided into about 300 city-states, or poleis (POE-lace)\u201d (14).<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

This kid friendly site <\/a>offers simple summaries, interactive activities, fun facts, and quizzes for children all about Ancient Greece.<\/p>\n

With this website<\/a>, children can learn about the Ancient Greek influence on the English language as they \u201cGo for the Gold\u201d in the Olympic Games.\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n

This site<\/a> presents teachers with a mini-unit on theOlympics in Ancient Greece.\u00a0 Each day is planned out as students meet the Olympians, prepare for various Olympic games, experience the traditional \u201cOpening and Closing Procession\u201d and so much more!\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n

Book: Ancient Greece and the Olympics<\/a>: A Nonfiction Companion to Hour of the Olympics<\/p>\n

Authors: Mary Pope Osborne<\/a> and Natalie Pope Boyce<\/a><\/p>\n

Illustrator: Sal Murdocca<\/a><\/p>\n

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers<\/p>\n

Publication Date: June 8, 2004<\/p>\n

Pages: 128<\/p>\n

Grade Range: Recommended Ages 6-10<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-0375823787<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ancient Greece and the Olympics, written by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce, illustrated by Sal Murdocca, is part of the infamous Magic Tree House Series that aims to realistically take children on a voyage through ancient history.\u00a0 This particular journey to Greece begins with an introduction to the country\u2019s history and its people, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-497459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}