It's All Greek to Me
It's All Greek to Me
Thematic Statement
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Galatians 5:14b)
The sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes will learn about and explore another country and culture through this interdisciplinary unit on Greece. We are given the cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28a, where God commands us, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” The first European civilization took place in Greece more than two millenniums ago. Our existence today in the United States is a result of our forefathers following this mandate and spreading throughout the earth. Students will explore the history, people, culture and landscape of Greece and evaluate how this country and culture responded both faithfully and unfaithfully to God's call. This two-week unit will focus on social studies while incorporating mathematics, Bible, language arts, theatre, science, and physical education.
Christian middle schools seek to create students who are equipped to be responsible disciples of Jesus Christ in the world today. Both the great commandment and the great commission tie this mission statement with our study of Greece. The great commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14b). Students will gain knowledge of Grecian culture and an appreciation for the diversity and differences it possesses. They will see how the people of Greece are our brothers and sisters in Christ, despite the distance between our countries. In the great commission Jesus commands us, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19a). Students must see themselves as disciples of all nations. They need to understand the importance of serving their neighbors by recognizing and celebrating their unique qualities and gifts. Students will discover how sin is also a part of Greek history. Much of their worship involved serving idols and the love of self. Students will understand that our faith centers around serving the one true God and sacrificing ourselves for others toward the goal of furthering Christ's kingdom.
The students will work in a variety of settings to develop academically, emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually. This unit seeks to employ individual, paired and group work using a variety of teaching and learning techniques. It will be of interest to students that many of the things they study--such as botany, geometry, medicine, physics, zoology and athletics--were first studied by the Greeks.
This unit of study is of particular interest to Christians. In Paul’s missionary journeys he was constantly sharing his testimony in bold faith and reaching out to the Gentiles. What an example for our students! We also see a powerful story of how the Holy Spirit worked through those missionary journeys and can draw parallels to how the Holy Spirit moves in our lives today. This unit will incorporate many academic disciplines. In social studies students will discover the history and geography of Greece. Students will gain an understanding of the effect the people of Greece had on the political and economic structures in place in our world today. Students will use math to broaden their knowledge of Greece. The main math concepts learned will include currency conversions and exchange rates, Pythagorean’s Theorem, exploring and inducing number patterns, and identifying prime and composite numbers using the Sieve of Eratosthenes and divisibility rules. Students will explore the animal kingdom of modern-day Greece in science. They will study a specific animal’s habit, diet, reproduction and how the Creator has created them to survive in this world. In their study of language arts, students will focus on the Greek alphabet, forming various words and phrases useful in everyday conversation. Students will learn the history of Greek language and the Greek mythology that comprises that history as they learn about the characteristics and features of Greek mythology and write and/or illustrate a myth of their own. As a connection to language arts, students will learn the history of Greek theatre and represent one of the myths they read through a tableau.