A World History Lesson Worksheet
An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Assyria in Mesopotamia. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Mesopotamia or use it in your ancient Mesopotamia world history classroom studies.Read More
A World History Lesson Worksheet
An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Maya Mesoamerica. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Mesoamerica or use it in your ancient Maya world history classroom studies. Invite students to describe artifacts and hypothesize their use in ancient Mesoamerica. Use describe, interpret, and evaluate (D-I-E) lessons to record archaeology artifact observations during game-play or as a per-lesson activity to check their hypotheses for accuracy. It is a fun way to prepare and engage with content while playing Excavate! Mesoamerica. The worksheet if free for teachers to download as a classroom resource.
Four Artifacts for Students to Analyze in the Lesson Plan
Estimated Time: 15 minutes
In this part of the worksheet activity you explain to students that they will be exploring artifacts related to the ancient Maya culture. Their first job is to carefully preview the artifacts by describing them in detail.
Step 1: Students look carefully at artifacts on the Artifact Resource Sheet.
Step 2: Students write descriptions of each artifact in the describe column of the Student D-I-E Organizer. Pay close attention that students are only writing descriptions and not explaining what the artifact is and how it is used.
Step 3: Share as a class the descriptions and notice if anyone has found a new detail or something that they initially did not see. Emphasize that spending time on the description step of this process is necessary for seeing all the details that can generate new insight.
Estimated Time: 15 Minutes
Playing the game is of course optional.
Step 4: Students hypothesize what each artifact would have been used for by answering the questions in the Interpret column of the Student D-I-E Organizer. Push students to back up their thoughts based on what they have included in their description.
Step 5: Share as a class and keep a record of what students think of each one of the artifacts. Do not correct students. Explain that as they play the game they will encounter these artifacts and will find out if their hypotheses were correct.
Estimated Time: 20 minutes
Step 6: Play the Maya Site of Excavate! Mesoamerica. Have students correct their interpretations on the Student D-I-E Organizer.
Step 7: Share new observations learned about each artifact while playing Excavate! Mesoamerica.
Step 8: Have students complete the Evaluate column in the Student D-I-E Organizer. See examples on the Teacher Answer Sheet.
This activity could be extended as follows:
Facilitate discussion on the importance of Maya society and how these artifacts have facilitated new insight.
Have students write a reflection on which artifact was the most surprising and why.
Note: the PDF download contains all keys
Item:
Describe: What is the material of the artifact? What is its shape? Does it have any symbols?
Teacher Reveal: This is a limestone carving of a person.
____________
Interpret:
What is it used for? What is this object?
Teacher Reveal: This is a carving of a god.
____________
Evaluate:
What does the artifact tell us about the people that used this artifact? What does the artifact possibly tell them about their society?
Teacher Reveal: This sculpture made of limestone is a carving of the Maya Maize God. The figure is wearing an ear of corn headdress and represents the agricultural cycle, abundance, and prosperity.
Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula was once a bustling city for the Mayan civilization. With it’s amazing structures like El Castillo, the Great Ball Court, the observatory, and the Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza has been named one of the Seven Wonders of the New World.
A World History Lesson Worksheet
An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Augustaion Byzantium. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Byzantine or use it in your ancient Byzantine world history classroom studies.Read More
A World History Lesson Worksheet
An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Giza Egypt. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Egypt or use it in your ancient Egypt world history classroom studies.Read More
We all love fairy tales. The sheer number of beloved Disney movies based off these ancient stories can attest to that. We love to see the heroic prince slaying dragons or the plucky princess pursuing true love. Sometimes though, we wonder what if. What if Cinderella had been more rebellious or Red Riding Hood more observant? Because of that curiousity, we make fractured fairytales.
At its most basic, it’s a rewritten fairytale. Simply put, a fractured fairytale takes an existing story and, literally, fractures it. Instead of following the plot to the letter, the rewritten story changes point of view, certain events, time period, or even the ending. Fracturing the fairytale provides new perspectives on the story through considering how else the story could have gone.
The video above comes from a segment of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (19959-1964) dedicated to fractured fairytales. On the show, everything from Rapunzel to Little “Fred” Riding Hood to every pun on Sleeping Beauty you can think of is covered. Despite its age, the charm and comedy remain timeless. Collections can still be found online or single episodes can be found on YouTube.
For more literary examples, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs transforms the Big Bad Wolf’s story into a true crime drama (for kids). However, all it takes is a quick web search to find a copious amount of other delightful examples.
Fractured fairy tales fit well into many language arts curriculums, particularly in elementary school. Read Write Think has several great ones, including this resource which walks groups through analyzing the common elements of a fairytale. Then, groups use that information to make their own fractured stories. Education World and Teachers Pay Teachers also offer a selection of different ideas for teaching these offbeat stories. These include both reading and writing exercises.
Roterra eschews the traditional structure of the fairytale. Princess Angelica takes destiny into her own hands instead of waiting for a huntsman or fairy godmother to give her a hand. While it’s not a true fractured fairytale, since it doesn’t retell any particular story, it retains the ethos of giving more agency to the heroine. A better term might be “flipped” or “upside-down” fairytale. It gives Princess Angelica a role she might not usually fill in other fairytale stories.
You’ll be able to step into the role of Princess Angelica this year when Roterra releases. Until then, keep yourself up to date with the development by signing up to the newsletter on the game page or giving the teaser trailer a watch. We’re very excited to be giving you an awesome female protagonist in a fairytale setting. If you want to know more about the development of Roterra, keep an eye on the blog! We’ve got some inside looks into the world, characters, and development process coming up!
