5th & 6th Graders Celebrate Ancient Greece

"On the Road to Arête!"

During the second quarter of the school year, the fifth and sixth grades were immersed in the culture of Ancient Greece, including the tales of Homer's Odysseus (Ulysses) and his adventures during the ten long years he tried to return home from the Trojan War. In this way they blended social studies with their reading classes. Each class member lived as either a Spartan or and Athenian for the quarter.

During this time students created illustrated art journals of heroic adventures. They listened to marvelous storytellers (parents, teachers and a talented group of eight graders); they became storytellers themselves, recounting Odysseus's adventures to younger students.

They studied both land and people of Hellas, as Greece was then known, and they debated issues in the "Pnyx", built temples to scale, acted in Greek Myth plays, and finally participated in the "Olympic of the Mind and Body," a day long festival including everything from arm-wrestling to "chariot races," to a Quiz Bowl with questions from every aspect of Greek life.

In addition, of course, the students studied for quizzes and tests. What a rich and rewarding way to strive for arête, the Greek quest to be the best as possible!