Elementary Studio Lesson
Inspired by
Athletes,
Myths, & Poets
As we embarked on our class- room journey to ancient Greece, we realized the power of the story to engage
and transport. The tale of the Trojan
Horse from the Aeneid, the epic poem
by Virgil, was a wonderful starting
point. From there, tales of love and
hate, of athleticism, heroism, devotion
to gods and goddesses that influenced
myth and culture were a way of sharing ancient Greece’s rich history.
This lead us to create our own Greek-inspired clay vessels as artifacts of our
study.
Samantha Melvin
Our Virtual Trip to Ancient Greece
How I wished we could travel to
Greece to visit the Acropolis! Instead
we traveled via the Internet—no travel
visa required. Students journeyed
to Greece by logging onto Odyssey
Online, an incredible website created
by the Michael C. Carlos Museum at
Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Students explored the site, taking
in its hip approach to teaching ancient
history, including the guitar music
that played for the Gods, Goddesses,
and Heroes section. We then headed
to the British Museum, where we
explored what it was like to live as a
Greek by examining stories illustrated
on the many examples of Greek pottery.
The site also described the different shapes of pottery found and their
Natalie’s Greek pot.
uses. Before we left the site, Plato’s
Cave gave insight into philosophy and
one of the great thinkers of all time.
We then headed online to the
Blanton Museum of Art in
Austin, Texas, to the
Learning from the
Past interactive
website, which
focuses on the
Greek pottery
in its collection. We saw
the artistry
that went
into every
piece, with its
emphasis on
balance in design
and motif. We learned
the differences between
red-figure painting and black-figure
painting and saw how much skill one
needed to have for both.
Our Field Trip to an Art Museum
We scheduled a field trip to the Blanton Museum of Art to take a docent-led tour of the Greek and Roman
Collection. Its Athletes, Poets, and
Mythological Characters tour allowed
us to experience the beauty of the
works of art up close, and engaged students in conversations about the gods
and literature.
It was opportune that the Percy
Jackson series by Rick Riordan is a
