| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) define BC/AD, centuries, millennia; (2) place key events on a timeline; (3) create a personal timeline. |
|---|---|
| Materials | World history timeline (large), blank timelines, ruler, marker. |
| Key vocabulary | BC, AD, century, millennium, era, periodization |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) “How long is history? Where do we fit? Today we become time travelers and learn to read the map of the past.” |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Explain BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini), and the more modern BCE/CE if preferred. 2. Show a world timeline: ancient, medieval, modern. 3. Students create a personal timeline (birth, starting school, etc.) to understand scale. 4. Place Jamaica’s history on the world timeline (Tainos around 600 AD, Columbus 1494, Independence 1962). 5. Discussion: why is it useful to divide history into periods? |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Gallery walk of personal timelines; quick quiz on dates. |
| Assessment | Timeline correctly spaced; can place Jamaica’s key dates on world timeline. |
| Teacher notes | Emphasise that these divisions are human constructs, but useful. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) locate Mesopotamia and Egypt on a map; (2) name key achievements (writing, pyramids, law codes); (3) create a fact file. |
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| Materials | Maps, pictures of ziggurat/pyramids, fact file template. |
| Key vocabulary | civilization, Mesopotamia, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, pharaoh |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) “What does it mean to be civilized? The first cities were in a land between two rivers – Mesopotamia, and along the Nile in Egypt.” |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Mesopotamia: Tigris-Euphrates, Sumerians, cuneiform, Hammurabi’s Code. 2. Egypt: Nile River, pyramids, hieroglyphics, pharaohs. 3. Compare both: rivers, writing, government. 4. In pairs, create a fact file for one civilization. 5. Share. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Fact file swap; quick question: “What was one achievement of Mesopotamia?” |
| Assessment | Fact file includes key details; comparison accurate. |
| Teacher notes | Set the stage for understanding “civilization” as a concept. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) describe Greek democracy and Roman republic; (2) list contributions (philosophy, architecture, law); (3) draw a comparison chart. |
|---|---|
| Materials | Map of Greek city-states and Roman Empire, Venn diagram. |
| Key vocabulary | democracy, republic, senate, empire, legacy |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) “Jamaica’s government has roots in ancient Greece and Rome! How did their ideas travel across time?” |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Greece: city-states (Athens = democracy, Sparta = military). Philosophers: Socrates, Plato. 2. Rome: republic → empire; Senate, laws (Twelve Tables). 3. Contributions: Olympics, architecture (columns, arches), language (Latin). 4. Fill in a Venn diagram comparing Greek democracy and Roman republic. 5. Write a speech: “Why ancient Greece/Rome still matters.” |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Speech highlights; diagram check. |
| Assessment | Diagram accurate; speech relevant. |
| Teacher notes | Link to modern government. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) describe the trans-Saharan trade; (2) name Mansa Musa and Timbuktu; (3) create a brochure for an African kingdom. |
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| Materials | Map of Africa, pictures of Timbuktu, trade goods, brochure template. |
| Key vocabulary | trans-Saharan, gold-salt trade, Mansa Musa, Timbuktu, griot |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) “Before slavery, West Africa had great empires. Mansa Musa of Mali was the richest man in history.” |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Ghana, Mali, Songhai: wealth from gold and salt trade. 2. Timbuktu: center of learning. 3. Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca. 4. Design a travel brochure inviting people to visit ancient Mali. 5. Write a journal entry as a student at a Timbuktu university. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Brochure display; share entries. |
| Assessment | Brochure highlights achievements; journal historically plausible. |
| Teacher notes | Reclaim African history before colonialism. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) name the three great civilizations; (2) describe their achievements; (3) compare to Tainos. |
|---|---|
| Materials | Maps, pictures of Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, fact sheets. |
| Key vocabulary | Maya, Aztec, Inca, Tenochtitlan, Machu Picchu |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) “The Tainos weren’t the only people in the Americas. Further west were huge empires with cities of stone.” |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Maya: Yucatan, calendars, writing. 2. Aztec: Mexico, Tenochtitlan (floating city). 3. Inca: Andes, Machu Picchu, roads. 4. Compare size and complexity to Tainos (Tainos were not an empire, but a village society). 5. Create a “Which Empire?” quiz game with facts. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Play quiz game. |
| Assessment | Comparison chart accurate; quiz participation. |
| Teacher notes | Contextualize Tainos within the wider hemisphere. |