Roman Empire
This page is out of date. For updated (and working links) to all my Roman Empire content please visit the Foundations page!
PowerPoint Presentations
A look at how Rome rose to become such a powerful empire by focusing on their technology.
Behind the scenes in Rome a new faith was growing. We'll see how Christians went from a hated minority to leading the empire.
Rome is remembered for many of it's powerful emperors. We'll focus in on Augustus and Constantine before looking at the fall of the empire.
This page is out of date. For updated (and working links) to all my Roman Empire content please visit the Foundations page!
Activities:
1. Digging for the Truth: Pompeii - An inquiry-based introduction to Rome where students examine a series of artifacts buried in the ruins of Pompeii to make predictions about what the Roman Empire was like.
2. Roman Empire Walkthru - Short introductory worksheet using only the graphics in Holt's Medieval to Early Modern Times textbook. (Collect)
3. Rome: Quest for Knowledge - More in-depth worksheet using Holt's text. (Collect)
4. A Day in Pompeii (Part 2) - Stations-based lab where students act out the roles of various people in Pompeii... but what's that in the background? (Collect)
5. Rome Culture Shock (Part 1: Opera, Part 2: Barbarian Ordeals, Part 3: Barbarian Ordeals Quiz) - The idea behind the Culture Shock labs is to give students a taste of the culture of the civilization. This is done through a series of mini-labs sometimes in groups. This particular one works best as a whole class activity. The first lab gives students a taste of opera (though I am well aware this came around long after the Roman Empire) and Latin. Upon entry I have some stereotypical opera playing and students respond to whether they like it or not. I then play O Fortuna from Carmina Burana (which is a much more interesting opera piece) and have them complete the worksheet. In the second lab students read a short passage about barbarian laws and then take a 10 question "quiz" on the material. To determine the answers to the questions students volunteer to complete "ordeals" in the classroom such as balancing a book on their head or doing pushups. If they succeed, whatever answer that student put is correct (even if everyone else knows it is wrong!) If they fail, whatever they put is wrong. (Collect)
6. Rome Study Guide - In-depth review activity on Rome.
7. Rome Notes Guide - Short fill-in sheet to review the Rome notes.
8. History Mystery: Caesar - Students investigate the assassination of Julius Caesar by weighing 8 different pieces of evidence. Visually stimulating, highly engaging and perfect for Common Core. (Consider)
9. A Day in Rome - A scripted lab where students are taken back in time to experience a day in Rome.[Teacher Script] [Student Worksheet] (Consider)
10. Rome Dossiers - A collaborative investigation into the question of who was responsible for the death of Jesus. Students analyze information sheets for each of the three main players in the Crucifixion and debate who was most responsible. (Consider)
11. Rome DBQ - A document based question exploring how similar the Roman Empire is to the United States is today. Documents (Consider)
12. Roman Adventure - A Choose-your-own-Adventure style game for the whole class to review the Roman Empire. My students absolutely love this one (even if I'm honestly not sure why.) Works best if you have some sort of point system for classroom management and rewards.
13. Weigh the Evidence: Rome - In this lab built for The Common Core students examine a series of sources to determine if Rome left the world with a positive legacy. This lab focuses on the skill of source reliability by asking students to rate how believable and useful each source is before making their final conclusions. (Consider)
14. Provide or Conquer? Fall of Rome Decision Making Game - This one looks a bit intimidating but download it and run through - it really isn't that hard to run. Use the Score Tracker Excel sheet to make it a breeze. Here is an instruction sheet to give you step by step directions if you want it.
Kids love this one! They take on the role of Roman Emperors making decisions to try to grow their nation but face constant challenges along the way. DOWNLOAD the file, do not run through Google Slides!
Media Guide
Looking to spice up your Rome PowerPoints? Here's some great sources for media.