Mythology Lesson Plans: Weather Gods Smackdown
Weather mythology is a rich literary genre, with connections to science, critical thinking, and social studies. We saw some great statues of Zeus while we were in Rome.
Here are some of our favorite lesson plans:
Compare Thor and Zeus
Thor is the Thunder God in Norse mythology. He has a magic hammer, a magic belt, and a cart pulled by a pair of billy goats. The sound of his cart is thunder and the hooves of the goats create lightning. When Thor gets angry at trolls, he throws his hammer, which comes back to him like a boomerang. He has two strong sons and a strong wife, and they all enjoy loud feasts and parties. D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths contains several stories about Thor’s adventures.
Zeus was the top god in Greek mythology. He threw thunderbolts (lightning) as weapons. However, he wasn’t in charge of all the weather, since Aeolus saw to the winds and Poseidon was in charge of storms on the ocean. Zeus was, as chief among the gods, much more than a weather god. Jupiter was the Roman god comparable to Zeus, or the Latin name for Zeus. D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths includes a lot of stories about Zeus.
Students often confuse these two guys, but as you can see, there are plenty of differences. Have students prepare a Venn diagram. Follow up by having two students play Zeus and Thor being interviewed by another student on their reaction to the way people mix them up.
Practice research skills by having students look at other thunder gods around the world. Wikipedia has a list of thunder gods that makes a great starting point for research. Divide the different deities among the students in the class and have them present oral reports. Discuss how the differences among the cultures leads to differences in their weather deities.
If your class won’t be completely disrupted by it, it would be fun to let students compete in their presentations to make their weather god seem like the most powerful one.
Compare Thor and — Thor
The new movie, Thor, is based on the Marvel comics hero.The premise is that Thor, the Norse God, has been thrown out of Asgard, the home of the gods, for bad behavior. Set up your Venn diagrams and compare the Thor of Norse mythology with Thor in the Marvel Comics and Thor in the movie — or in the trailer clip below.
Consider examining the visual elements of the movie and the comic books. Do they involve traditional Norse elements, or are they more like typical superheroes?
Myth and Science
The National Earth Science Teacher’s Association has a web page examining cross-cultural weather mythology. At their site, you can compare the mythology with the science facts. Have students create posters showing the weather deities on one side and the scientific explanation on the other.
Atlantis Lesson Plans
The story of Atlantis, the wonderful kingdom that sank beneath the ocean, captures student imaginations and provides terrific teachable moments for science, literature, and social studies.
The only written record of Atlantis, and the origin of the story, is in the Dialogues of the Greek philosopher Plato, where he writes
Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our histories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end. This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent.
Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars.
But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.
Later writers took the story of Atlantis further, giving the Atlanteans highly developed technology and occasionally also mystical powers. There have been people who claimed that extraterrestrial beings from other planets colonized Atlantis.
Read about Atlantis
Use the passage above, the online references below, or books from your library or the list here to examine ideas about Atlantis. Since there has been no proof of any of the claims and theories about Atlantis, you can practice evaluating data without knowing the ending, so to speak. You can also enjoy speculating.
Books:
- DK Readers: Atlantis, The Lost City is a comfortable nonfiction read for fluent readers at elementary level.
- The Mystery of Atlantis (Unsolved!) brings upper elementary readers a range of theories about Atlantis, while maintaining a sense of mystery.
- Where Was Atlantis? is one of Raintree’s easy readers.
Map Atlantis
Have students use Plato’s description and any other information they find to identify the location of Atlantis. The Atlantis Map is a great starting point. They might enjoy reading about Google’s Atlantis discovery and also about some of the locations archaeologists have proposed for the source of the mythical Atlantis:
Have students use Google’s MyMaps tool to create a map of Atlantis once they’ve decided where it is or was.
Write about Atlantis
I like to use Atlantis for writing because it is a controversy with several completely defensible views and no proven answer, and because it works equally well for fiction or nonfiction assignments.
Begin by having students do research to identify the main points of view about Atlantis. They should find at least these:
- Atlantis is completely fictional, a story made up by Plato or perhaps a fairy tale reported by him.
- Atlantis existed or still exists.
- The story of Atlantis is based on a historical disaster which befell a city somewhere in the past.
Have students choose one of these viewpoints to support, or on which to base an original story. Our lesson plans for Science Fiction might be useful if you decide to go with fiction.
The Golden Goose Lesson Plans
The golden goose in this story is not the goose in Jack and the Beanstalk that lays golden eggs. This is a goose with golden feathers, whose story is less well-known, but it’s a good story nonetheless. Since the story is not as familiar, we’ll tell it to you.
The story begins with three brothers who set off to seek their fortunes. The oldest brother is sent off with a fine picnic lunch. As he’s walking through the forest, he meets an old man who asks for something to eat. The boy refuses to share his lunch, and goes home empty handed. The second brother has the same experience. The youngest son, however, goes out with a very meager picnic, yet happily shares it.
The old man shows the youngest brother a tree and tells him to chop it down. The boy does so, and finds within it a golden goose. He tucks the goose under his arm and sets off home. He spends the night at an in, where the servant girl can’t resist trying to filch a feather from the golden goose. Her fingers stick fast to the goose. The landlady of the inn grabs the girl and tries to pull her off of the goose, but her hands are stuck to the servant girl. The landlord grabs his wife to help, and he is stuck to her.
The youngest son comes down in the morning and sees these three trying to extricate themselves, laughs, and picks up his goose and sets off, with the three people from the inn dragging along behind him. As they go through the town, people rush up to try to help or to get a feather from the goose, and all of them stick fast to one another, so that the boy is followed by a higgledy piggledy bunch of people as he walks along, calmly whistling.
Now, in this country there was a princess who had never laughed. Her father, the king, had promised half his kingdom to anyone who could make his daughter laugh. The princess looks out of the window and sees the youngest son with his goose and his gaggle of hapless followers, and bursts out laughing. In some tellings of the story (such as Andrew Lang’s version in The Red Fairy Book), the king sets more conditions, but eventually the youngest son marries the princess and they all live happily every after.
- You can find this story online, at the link above, and also at SurLaLune with annotations.
- Uri Shulevitz did a very nice picture book which is now out of print but which you might be able to find in your library.
- Roberta Angeletti did a nice version with a CD.
- Storynory has a recording of this story.
- The Golden Goose: A Grimm Graphic Novel updates the story to make it a teen love tale.
- Dick King-Smith, one of our favorite writers, did a very fun chapter book called The Golden Goose. You could read King-Smith’s version and compare it with the Grimms Brothers’ tale.
Once the story is clear in the students’ minds, have the kids retell it. This is a great story to act out, especially in its simplest forms. Have students write dialogue for the three brothers and the old man they meet, and have plenty of extras getting stuck to the parade of people.
Character Education
- Have students determine the moral of the story. In the first part of the story, the two older brothers are unkind and selfish, while the kind and generous younger brother is rewarded for his goodness. However, the second half of the story might also have something to say about stealing, curiosity, or interfering in things that don’t concern us. The longer versions of the story also show the king trying to get out of a promise. If you focus on this aspect of the story, compare it with The Frog Prince.
- The motif of the older brothers or sisters who are unkind to strangers comes up a lot in fairy tales. You’ll find it in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, Toads and Diamonds, and a number of other stories. Have students find as many examples as they can. Compare and contrast these stories.
- The youngest brother in this story is often known by some cruel nickname like “Dummling” or “Dullhead” that suggests that he is mentally limited. This could provide a good opportunity to discuss disabilities or name calling.
- I always wonder a bit about the youngest brother. Unless he really didn’t think about it, his decision to go along his merry way with all those people stuck behind him must have been a bit hostile. Discuss other choices the young man could have made.
English
- Have students prepare and perform On the Spot interviews in which one student plays a reporter and the other takes the part of one of the people in the conga line following the boy with the golden goose. Students can work in groups, deciding what questions to ask and taking on the speaking parts as well as the parts of director, costume designer, props, and cameraman. Film the interviews and create a class news report.
- Alternatively, create a newspaper for the day after this unusual event.
- Have older students think about, debate, or write about why some of the Grimms fairy tale stories (such as Snow White or Cinderella) are still well known, while others, like this one, have been largely forgotten.
The Monkeys and the Dragonflies
A dragonfly was flying along through a jungle in the Philippines, and stopped to rest on the branch of a tree. The monkeys who lived in the tree ran over, chattering, and told her to leave.
“This is our tree!” they jeered. “You can’t sit here!”
“I am so tired,” said the dragonfly softly. “I just want to rest a bit before I fly on.”
The monkeys refused to allow the poor dragonfly to rest.
When the King of the Dragonflies heard what had happened, he sent an angry message to the monkeys. “Since you were so unkind to our sister,” he said, “we will come after you!”
The monkeys laughed. They knew they were bigger than the dragonflies. “Bring it!” they said.
The dragonflies came and gathered. The monkeys saw how small they were and laughed at them. “We’ll swat you!” chattered the monkeys.
Then the King of the Dragonflies told his brave soldiers to fly up to the faces of the monkeys. “Hover in front of their foreheads!” he said.
The monkeys swatted at the dragonflies, but because the dragonflies were in front of the monkey’s faces, the monkeys ended up swatting each other’s faces.
The dragonflies were so quick and clever that they flew away without being hurt at all. The clever dragonflies won the battle and left the strong but unkind monkeys quarreling with each other.
This folktale from the Philippines is a good one for Asian-American Heritage Month or for insect units. Here’s one way to use the story in the classroom:
- Read this story to your class, using Feelings Puppets if your students are little.
- As a class, divide the story into scenes. For young children, ask “What happened first?” and “Then what happened.” Older students can be asked to identify the scenes. Possibilities could be the dragonfly resting on the branch, the monkeys making her leave, or the monkeys laughing at the dragonflies.
- Divide the class into groups and give each group a scene. Ask the students in each group to draw a picture of their scene.
- Arrange the pictures in order as the scenes take place in the story. You can put them up on the wall, make them into a Big Book, or use them to create a slideshow or PowerPoint.
- Have students help you retell the story.
Older students can go ahead to make some more connections:
- Insect lesson plans
- Monkey lesson plans
- Verbs: the story contains some interesting verbs like “swat” and “hover.” Have students find all the verbs and list them on word cards. Make sure everyone knows what each word means and try to use them in retelling the story.
- The Philippines have sent lots of people to the United States. Learn about the Philippines from these online resources:
- Ask students to identify all the places in the story where there could have been a different outcome. For example, the monkeys could have welcomed the dragonfly or left her alone. The King of Dragonflies could have spoken to the monkeys about the problem instead of attacking. The monkeys could have seen the likely consequences of trying to swat the dragonflies on each other’s faces. Ask students to think of a conflict they’ve experienced and to come up with points along they way where different choices could have been made.
Tortoise and Hare Lesson Plans
The Tortoise and the Hare is one of Aesop’s fables, also done by Jean de La Fontaine.
- You can read it, and admire one of Rackham’s illustrations for it, here.
- A shorter and easier version is online here.
- Here‘s a brief printable version.
- Here’s a short illustrated one.
- Here is a retelling of the story as it would have one if there had been Chinese bureaucrats involved. A similar take from an American perspective can be found in James Finn Garner’s Once Upon a More Enlightened Time, in which the race is preceded by the appointment of a Commissioner of Kinetic Wellness and Overland Velocity Contests.
- Here is a nice printable coloring page for “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
- Disney did a cartoon version in the 1930s: Disney Animation Collection 4: Tortoise & The Hare.
D.L. Ashliman’s cross-cultural variants include ants and elephants, foxes and crabs, and various other mismatched racing creatures. These stories give a great opportunity for using charts and graphic organizers to make comparisons. In fact, there are so many variants on this tale that you can do some sorting and categorizing as well.
This is a great story for dramatization. Make paper-plate masks of all sorts of animals, and let everyone in the class join in — no audience needed!
Science
- A study of tortoises and turtles, hares and rabbits fits perfectly with this story. The national standards call, when we study animals, for a study of their morphology (shapes), life cycles, habitat, and relationship to humans.
- A Sierra Club article for older students examines whether the tortoise or the hare has the best chance for survival during climate change.
- Classification of animals is a good science connection. Compare mammals and reptiles. Have students find and chart the speeds of various members of the two groups.
Math
- The obvious math connection is speed. Since the measurement of speed involves measuring both time and distance, this is a great opportunity to review or introduce all kinds of things about measurement.
- This can also be a great chance to work on word problems. Divide the class into teams and let each team make up Tortoise and Hare word problems for the other teams. “If the hare ran 12 meters before taking his first break, and the race was a 50 meter race, then how many feet did the hare have left to run after his break?” Insist that the team that makes up the problem must have the correct answer to it. Then you can gather up all the problems and answers for a center to use in future studies.
- Zeno’s paradox is under critical thinking below, but it’s also a neat math problem and a way to think about fractions.
Economics
- A lesson on specialization compares the tortoise and the hare, suggesting that by specializing, each can make best use of his particular strengths.
- The story is often used as a metaphor in economics news. Right now, China and India and Linux and Mac/Windows are being described in these terms. Have students do internet research to find examples of Tortoise and Hare economics metaphors, have them summarize the stories, and make a bulletin board showing cases in which slow and steady wins the economic race.
Critical Thinking
- Shodor Interactive has a cool demonstration of Zeno’s paradox using the tortoise and the hare.
- Most of us have had or known (or been) quick, flashy students whose grades were not as good as those of the earnest plodding student who worked hard and steadily. Is it time for a study skills lesson? A brief essay making this point might be a good choice. If you cut and paste to print this out, you might want to bowdlerize it a little bit.
Character Education
- The essay linked above questions what the moral of the story really is. “Slow and steady wins the race” is how we usually hear it, but it may also be, “Work hard” or “Don’t be overconfident,” or “Don’t boast.” Have students come up with as many morals as possible and have them present their favorites orally.
Shark Lesson Plans
Sharks are fascinating creatures, very different from us and from fish, and they offer just enough scariness to make an exciting classroom study. Here are two of our favorite approaches to the topic.
Basic background:
- National Geographic has several lesson plans about sharks, including Are Sharks as Dangerous as We Think They Are? plus their kids’ page on sharks.
- a vet’s site on sharks
- the Discovery Channel’s shark games
- Scholastic’s shark PDF — we like the song!
- Sea World’s Shark Unit has 26 pages of hands-on activities and reproducibles.
- Uncover a Shark is a shark model in a book which lets kids explore the innards of a shark with plastic pieces to unpack and put back together.
Have students do some basic online or library research and prepare a KWL chart. Then move on to one or both of the plans below.
Folktales
The Hawaiian story of The Shark Man should appeal to kids, and the retelling linked here is due for a rewrite:
- Read the story to the class.
- Divide it into episodes.
- Put students into small groups.
- Give each group an episode to rewrite.
- Have students read the episodes in order, with illustrations, tableaux, or other visual elements to enrich their performances.
Another option is a reader’s theater version of The Great Shark God, a story from Fiji. The script is designed to be used with stick puppets, so this would be a good time to make some stick puppets. Have students observe sharks carefully in photographs and draw their own, or use patterns from Aunt Annie.
If you work with both these stories, you might choose to undertake the puppet play first and then move on to the Hawaiian story and make a play of it as well. Find Hawaii and Fiji on a map. Use these resources to learn a bit more about them:
- Hawaii’s official tourism site
- Lonely Planet’s Hawaii map
- Deaprtment of State guide to Fiji
- The Polynesian Cultural Center’s page on Fiji
Then use a Venn diagram to compare the stories. What cultural differences might be suggested by the stories? What image of the shark is presented in each?
You might also like to compare the Shark Man to were-creatures in folklore. Is the Shark Man a were creature like the werewolf or the silkie?
Sharks as a Metaphor for Bullies
The Skinny on Bullying by Mike Cassidy uses sharks as a metaphor for bullies, and we love this way of bringing a tough topic into a science and social studies unit. Kids are instructed to learn from the way fish deal with sharks:
- Stay in groups, by joining in with clubs and activities at school.
- Avoid hot spots, or avoid places where bullying is known to occur.
- Be confident, knowing that bullies find weaker kids more appealing as targets.
Cassidy’s book is a great resource on the subject, with lots of practical suggestions as well as useful information, written in an accessible style that is compassionate toward bullies and their victims.
However, it’s worth pointing out that sharks aren’t exactly bullies. Sharks eat other creatures to live, as most of us do, but they aren’t generally dangerous to anything they don’t plan to eat. Human beings are more likely to be attacked by pigs than by sharks, statistically speaking, and Jaws is not a documentary.
