HOW CIVILISED!

Ancient Greeks…Ancient Maya…Ancient Egyptians

At the start of our project ‘How civilised!’, the children had 3 visitors from the past who attempted to convince them that their civilisation was the best. Following their visit, the Year 6 children endeavoured to find out more about the Ancient Greeks, the Ancient Maya and the Ancient Egyptians, so that they could make an informed decision when they voted in the ‘Great Ancient Civilisation Showdown’!

The children in Year 6 have now cast their votes and the winner announced at the end of this blog. Will you agree with the majority?! Here are the children’s top 3 reasons why they think each of the civilisations deserves the vote…

The Ancient Greeks…. were they the best civilisation?

REASON 1: The whole year group was truly inspired by the fascinating myths from Ancient Greece and went on to write their own version of the thrilling Perseus and Medusa tale. Are the Greek stories evidence that the Ancient Greeks were the best, as their myths have such incredible longevity, influencing authors and film makers? The Greek stories are a vote for the Greeks for sure!

REASON 2: Wow! Their buildings were incredible and we still copy their architecture designs today. The columns were very distinctive and can be seen on important buildings such as the British Museum. Surely the fact that we are so influenced by their buildings means we should vote for the Greeks!

REASON 3: Democracy! The Greeks invented a fair system for governance. We think that’s why they deserve the vote as that’s the system we use here in the UK today! Thank you Ancient Greeks!!!

Will the Ancient Greeks secure your vote?

The Ancient Maya… were they the greatest civilisation?

Maple Class did some research about the Ancient Maya and made a PowerPoint to help the other class learn about them too. You can read their PowerPoint here: The Ancient Maya

REASON 1: The Maya had some fantastic ideas and were super clever at maths! They invented the number zero and we think that fact alone deserves a vote!

REASON 2: The Maya invented a calendar that was so accurate! We were so impressed that they managed to work this out with limited technology.

REASON 3: We all love football and so to know that the Maya invented a ball game called Pok-A-Tok that they LOVED as much as a nation as we love football, makes us think the Maya should get the title of best civilisation!

They really were an incredible civilisation weren’t they? But will they get your vote?

The Ancient Egyptians… were they the greatest civilisation?

Oak class became experts about the Ancient Egyptians and put together this PowerPoint: The Ancient Egyptians

REASON 1: Mummification! We discovered that the Egyptians used a long and detailed process to preserve bodies, which is called mummification. This proceess has enabled Egyptologists to uncover more incredible facts about their civilisation and all which is wrapped within it. Have a look at Elle’s story board and writing below to get a better understanding of mummification.

Elle story board

Elle Mummification writing

REASON 2: The River Nile and Farming. The Egyptians were very clever and used the River Nile to their advantage for many things, but especially, farming! They used the fertile soil surrouding the river for crops, the water to feed their crops and they also fished in the Nile too. They were very advanced for their time!

Ella Nile Poster

REASON 3: Their clever architecture for building houses. The Egyptians built their house on sand, therefore they had to come up with a plan to minimise the amount of sand that ended up in their houses. They achieved this by inserting their front doors 4ft off of the ground and having a ramp leading to it to stop the sand coming in and having windows higher up to give the sand less chance of creeping in. In Sam’s blog, he talks about the things he saw when he vistied ancient Egypt!