Two Greek Philosophical Creation Myths: Mythology Series for Grades 8-10 ELA

Item description

What are creation myths? How did Greek writers like Ovid and Hesiod record myths of creation? What is a philosophical myth of creation? Engage middle and high school students with myths of creation from Ancient Greek civilization. Explore and contrast different versions of the story of Chaos, Night, Day, Mother Earth, and “The God of All Things,” and learn how creation myths share common themes and elements. And more!

• This resource is optimized for distance learning. The product includes a durable Google Apps link. Access and modify this resource for student-use on Google Classroom and other classroom management sites.

Use this Digital Download for a Three-day English Language Arts Lesson

Using my tested-in-the-classroom resources, your kids will want to discuss the primordial questions of existence, where we come from and where we are going, matriarchal versus patriarchal societies, and more! So I have loaded this resource with an audio recording, reading cards, and a 20-question Question Bank that will get your students talking, writing, and wondering!

Common Core Standards: This resource aligns well with the reading literature standard: “Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.”

This Resource Includes the Following Features:

• 1 Teacher’s Three-day Lesson Calendar
• Follow the pacing calendar to stay organized. Start with background knowledge, places, and geography, engage students in group reading with custom-made reading cards, and quiz your class with trivia-style questions.

• 1 Audio Recording of the Creation Myth (with QR code)
• (Great for a Recorded Read Aloud)

• 1 Illustrated Reading Card on Creation Myths
• Definition of the Creation Myth

• 1 Key Characters and Places Worksheet
• Orient your learners by identifying the story’s key characters and geographical location.

• A Bank of 20 Trivia-style Questions about Two Philosophical Creation Myths (Adapted from Robert Graves’s “The Complete Greek Myths”).
• After your students engage in the reading cards, test their knowledge with a custom-made question set.

• 3-Box Notetaking Template — Embed accountability into the lesson by having students annotate the text cards with notes, questions, and a summary of what they’ve read and comprehended.
• Frayer Model Vocabulary Template (with student sample)
• Frayer models are a way to get kids to think about vocabulary visually in a four-section square —- A square for meaning, one for examples, another for non-examples, and a sketch. It is amazing to see the work they produce. A great way to decorate your classroom to showcase your kids’ vocabulary-in-text understanding.
• Fill out the cards to contain terms, Greek and Latin roots, challenging words (as well as contextual entries that fit the story).
• Half-Sheet 3-2-1 Exit Ticket
• Exit tickets are a way to get data about your students’ understanding of the lesson right before the class is finished. Collect these exit tickets and quickly see what ideas your students took away from reading and discussing the myth.
• 1 Further Reading List
• Consider this further reading list if you think it is merely a bibliography. Share the list with your students or have them do projects based on the available research. Assign different sources to students and organize presentations where learning can go deeper into Ancient Greek cosmology.
• Answer Keys for all student-facing documents
• Teachers always ask for answer keys for my products, so I gave you plenty of guidance on what to expect from students in their written and oral responses.

I created this resource with secondary students in mind. It is designed for an English Language Arts Mythology unit —

• For any myth-related unit!
• On topics including — cosmology, creation myths (cosmogonic myths), myths of origins, and Ancient Greek history and society.
• Use this resource as a stand-alone lesson or pair it with a larger unit on Myth, The Theogony of Hesiod, The Metamorphosis of Ovid, Robert Graves’s Greek Myths, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, or Parallel Myths by J.F. Bierlein.