This unit is designed for independent readers and workers grades 3-6. It can be altered for any child's interest or level. See post on why I made this.
See my Africa in the Middle Ages unit.
Spines:
Only one of these are needed and they are equal.
Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
OR
The Complete Book of World History (grades 4-8)
OR
Kingfisher Encyclopedia of World History
OR
*DK Eyewitness Africa (most comprehensive)
Atlas:
Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World is nice because it has maps of the Ancient World, but you can look them up on line too. Good for History.
*Kingfisher Young People's Atlas of the World (modern view of Africa and the regions) good for Geography
General:
*A True Book, Africa
*Africa is not a country by Knight and Melnicove
Ancient:
Story of the World book 1
*A Glorious Age In Africa by Chu and Skinner
*Africa for Kids
*African Beginnings by Haskins and Benson
*African Kingdoms of the Past Egypt, Kush, Aksum by Kenny Mann
*Life in Ancient Africa by Hazel Richardson
Other complimentary books we used:
Archeology for Kids
Great African Kingdoms by Sean Sheehan
National Geographic Ancient Africa by Victoria Sherrow
*The Ancient Kushites by Liz Sonnenborn
Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Timbuktu by Larry Brook
Web sites:
http://autocww.colorado.edu/~blackmon/E64ContentFiles/AfricanHistory/SlaveryInAfrica.html
http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/activities.php
http://wysinger.homestead.com/ancientafrica.html
http://africankingdoms.com/
http://africa.mrdonn.org/index.html
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/
Work books and activity books we used:
Primary Africa (teacher created sources)
Hands on Heritage (Africa)
(Thematic Unit from Teacher Created Materials) Multicultural Folk Tales
Africa For Kids
Step Back in Time to Ancient Kush activity book (this book is printed and sold only in the UK and could be pricy here in the US).
Literature:
Anansi the Spider books
Rabbit tales (like Anansi but a rabbit)
At your library web site type in every name of every African country you can think of one at a time and select children's book. You will find a plethora of titles of folk talkes, fables and fun stories, and fictional stories taking place in Africa. I did this and have about 50 books for the kids to read from picture books all the way up to upper elementary level chapter books.
African Reading Comprehension Cards
Ethiopia Specific Unit:
If you are not doing a specific unit include these in the above sections
*The Ethiopians by Richard Pankhurst (not for kids but for adult resource)
*Explore Ethiopia a coloring book
E is for Ethiopia
Ethiopia in Pictures by Jeffrey Zuehlke
Enchantment of the World, Ethiopia by Dennis Fradin
*You need at least one comprehensive kids book on Ethiopia, the library has many.
*Literature:
Fire on the Mountain by Courlander and Leslau
The Lion's Whiskers by Ashabranner and Davis
Tsion's Life by Stacy Bellward
King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba by Greenberg and Tarry
Journey to Ethiopia by Selamawit Gizaw
CooCooLoo stories for children by Writers for Ethiopian Children
The Perfect Orange by Frank P Araujo
Trouble by Jane Kurtz and other books by her (there are many)
The Best Beekeepers of Lalibela by Christina Kessler
Web sites:
Time Lines of History in Ethiopia
http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/ethiopia/history-timeline
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13351397
http://wn.com/timeline_of_ethiopian_history
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/ethiopia/
Videos about Ethiopia
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVrdzZcFU4C4AvAQnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTB0dmRibmhwBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwMV8x?p=ethiopia+for+kids&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001
A Day in the Life of:
http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/ethiopia/day-in-life
Facts about Ethiopia
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/ethiopia-facts/
http://www.factmonster.com/country/ethiopia.html
History and Geography
http://www.ducksters.com/geography/country.php?country=Ethiopia
Amharic:
http://www.ethiotube.net/video/15912/Amharic-for-Kids
* notes a highly recommended book (or section of books) in the above lists.
Basic Curriculum Lay out:
You will need a binder with tabs for History, Science, Geography, Literature, Writing, (Ethiopia)
We followed the pattern of these two books. African Beginnings for Ancient History and Africa For Kids for Geography and Science as well as Modern Africa. The other books play into the line up.
Week 1- Basic Africa Introduction:
- Africa is Not a Country
- Reading cards: Facts, clothing, sculpture, masks
answer questions on cards in Geography Tab, use complete sentences.
- Africa For Kids Intro and part 1 p 2-4 a
- Language: experiment with Swahili, Click, Bantu (included in activity books mentioned) Add Amharic if desired. https://www.dropbox.com/s/teikenebrlhvq6o/african%20languages.pdf?dl=0
- map of how big Africa is in relation to other countries fitting inside it. Africa Primary teacher created materials. Or you can find one on line.
- African Music
The First Music
listen to African music on Pandora or Spotify
- Africa DK eyewitness, read each section and reflect or just read it.
- Take a general look at Africa today. Note how some groups of people live the same way they have lived for thousands of years. Example the Bushmen. You can find clips and videos on You Tube that show modern day Bushmen, etc.
- Talk about the continent and how the land forms break apart the people and separate them from the world. Note ancient trade routs and items. Observe that it was common for the tribes to trade and steal people for slaves, so selling their enemies to foreigners was not an unusual idea to them. This was the same all over the world at that time.
- Talk about how the continent in general did not advance as quickly into the modern era as other nations and parts of the world and this discrepancy and desire for the goods traded caused them to be vulnerable and to be taken advantage of in the area of the slave trade.
- Because of the geographical isolation of the majority of Africa the Western/Northern world did not understand the ways of the African nations nor did they acknowledge the amazing culture. Because of this lack of understanding and knowledge they did not consider them to be equal trading partners, therefore they took advantage of them. We are fortunate to have this knowledge today, but it will take years for the awesomeness of Ancient Africa to come to equal play in the history of the world so dominated by European history. And hence the treatment and respect of the peoples and nations of the African Continent.
- We can do our part by respectfully and humbly teaching our children about Africa, then and now.
Use this book for vocabulary and understanding of the four types of stories. The kids can identify the type of story that they are reading and reflect on it as they read books during this unit. Folk Tale Reflection Sheet. Practice with a few stories. Sundiata, Why Mosquitoes buzz in people's ears, The Monster Who Grew Small, etc. Read one story each day and identify. Do this for the entire unit. Some kids may want to read more than one each day. Use your library as noted above in the book selections.
Another option is to use a book of multiple African myths or folk tales such as African Mythology by Linda Jacobs Altman, this is a wonderful book of stories with questions to ask for each one.
Week 2- Geography of the African Continent
- Use maps in the resources given
- Reading
Cards: Camel Caravan, Kalahari Desert, Nile River, Drought, Hoba
Meteorite. Answer questions in Geography tab. Use complete sentences.
Choose one card to use for writing. Copy or IEW style. In writing tab.
- Africa (True Book) p 7-13
- Kingfisher Atlas: Africa, write one sentence on why each geographical area of Africa is unique.
- Africa for Kids. Do each section separately. Rock and Dirt, climate, wind, East African Rift, rivers and lakes, volcanoes and mountains and minerals. Do soil investigation on page 5 & 6.
Another option is to use a book of multiple African myths or folk tales such as African Mythology by Linda Jacobs Altman, this is a wonderful book of stories with questions to ask for each one.
Folk Tale reflection Sheet
Week 3- Ancient Africa (Nubia, Kush, Meroe {this combines with the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and into the New Kingdom of Egypt as well})
- Story of the World book 1, Chapters 12 & 13 Egypt, Kush, Nubia
- African Beginings Egypt and Kush/Nubia and Meroe.
- Ancient Egypt and Their Neighbors, read the chapter on Nubia. There are great activites here as well if you want to incorporate them instead of doing an Africa Day.
- African Kingdoms of the Past,( Egypt, Kush, Nubia)
- For Ancient History of Africa general overview use *your choice of Encyclopedia. Kingfisher or Usborne Encyclopedia of World History or The Complete Book of World History or Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World.
- Life in Ancient Africa
- Step Back in Time to Ancient Kush activity book
- Locate on the Map of Kingdoms of Ancient Africa
Another option is to use a book of multiple African myths or folk tales such as African Mythology by Linda Jacobs Altman, this is a wonderful book of stories with questions to ask for each one.There is also one on Egyptian Mythology by the same publisher Enslow Publishers, that is also quite good.
Week 4 and 5- Kingdoms of Ancient Africa
- Story of the World book 1, chapter 11 do writing and map activites.
- Nok people- read in Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, Complete book of World History.
- Jenne-Jeno - African Beginnings, Life in Ancient Africa
- Ghana- African Beginnings, A Glorious Age in Africa, Great African Kingdoms, Kids Discover
- Mali- African Beginnings, Great African Kingdoms, Kids Discover, A Glorious age in Africa, Life in Ancient Africa,
- Songhay- Kids Discover, African Beginnings, A Glorious Age in Africa.
- Timbuktu and Ife- African Beginnings, Great African Kingdoms
- Benin- African Beginnings, Great African Kingdoms, Kids Discover, Life in Ancient Africa.
- Zimbabwe- African Beginnings, Great African Kingdoms, Life in Ancient Africa, Ancient Africa, Usborn, Book on South Africa (if you can find one).
- Kongo- African Beginnings
- Select one Ancient African Kingdom to do a Kingdom Report on.
Another option is to use a book of multiple African myths or folk tales such as African Mythology by Linda Jacobs Altman, this is a wonderful book of stories with questions to ask for each one.
Week 6- Aksum/Ethiopia
- Read applicable sections in books: African Beginnings, Usborne, African Kingdoms of the Past, Life in Ancient Africa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia in Pictures, E is for Ethiopia, King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba, On Safari in East Africa, use The Ethiopians or another adult history book to direct your history lessons.
- Locate on the map of Ancient African Kingdoms
- Choose a reflection question or copy book writing and picture that represents the uniqueness of this African Kingdom and culture. Be sure to highlight the achievements and wonder of the era and people represented.
- use the activity book, Explore Ethiopia a coloring book.
- Fire on the Mountain by Courlander and Leslau (collection of stories)
- The Lion's Whiskers by Ashabranner and Davis (collection of stories)
- CooCooLoo stories for children by Writers for Ethiopian Children (collection of stories)
- The Perfect Orange by Frank P Araujo
- Trouble by Jane Kurtz and other books by her (there are many)
- The Best Beekeepers of Lalibela by Christina Kessler
- folk tale reflection sheet
End your unit with a fun day of activites to solidify your unit. This is fun to do with other families who have chosen to do a specific Ancient Africa unit also.
Use ideas in the activity books above and Africa for Kids.
- Make an African house
- Make an African Mask
- Listen to African music, make a drum and shakers
- Make and eat African food or go to an African restaurant
- Make a spear, shield, mask, head dress and robe
- Re-tell folk tales or read the one your wrote.
- Share your Kingdom Report
Side note on Egypt:
Egypt is in general very well covered by ordinary history books while the rest of Africa is glossed over and the greatness of it missed. However, I want to note that we found a two great series of fiction that really enhanced our unit.
Theodosia series by Yoko Tanka
Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
and
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Science Component:
We did African Geography for one week. There are great workbooks and maps out there.
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/africa-physical-geography/?ar_a=4
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/explore/index_flash.html
http://africa.mrdonn.org/saharadesert.html
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/environment/
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/desert.html
http://www.ducksters.com/geography/africa.php
http://atozkidsstuff.com/africa.html
http://kids.britannica.com/search?query=Africa&ct=ebi&searchSubmit.x=10&searchSubmit.y=12
We learned about and wrote a page on African animals and plants. One each per week.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/geographygames/crittercamafrica/
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/search-results/?q=african%2520animals
http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html
http://www.gardenguides.com/93817-native-plants-africa.html
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/african_savanna.htm
http://www.edenproject.com/visit-us/whats-here/plant-a-z/continent/africa
http://www.mbendi.com/indy/agff/coco/af/p0005.htm
Look up how bananas grow and are harvested on You Tube, etc.
You can do the same for Cacao, Coffee, Mango, Papaya, Pineapple, Sugar Cane and Cotton. All are grown in Africa.
Coffee originated in Africa:
http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=68
http://www.africa-ata.org/coffee.htm
Bananas in Archeology:
http://archive.archaeology.org/0609/abstracts/bananas.html
Biographies to look for on Scientists and Explorers of the African continent:
Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) The greatest of all women explorers.Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
Dr. David Livingstone
(1813-1873) Explored the interior of Africa.
John Speke (1827 - 1864)
Discovered Lake Victoria the largest source of the Nile River.
Isabelle Eberhardt
(1877-1904) was an explorer who lived and traveled extensively in North Africa.
Field Trips:
- http://cuartmuseum.colorado.edu/collection/african-art/
- http://www.denverartmuseum.org/collections/african-art
- There is a 3D Imax show called Kenya that is great to see on African Animals.
- Your local museum may have African history exhibits or animal exhibits.
- A zoo is a good place to see African Animals and identify what geographical area they would naturally live in.
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