Lesson video

Hi there.

My name is Mr. Charlesworth, and in today's reading lesson we're exploring the text, "A Journey Through Greek Myths." We're going to be discovering all about the ancient Greeks and how they thought the world came to be.

I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

Let's get started.

The lesson outcome for today is I can explore the myth, "The Beginning of the World." The key words are, my turn, your turn: Greek myth, close reading, Titans, and Cyclopes.

Let's try those once more.

Greek myth, close reading, Titans, and Cyclopes.

Well done.

A Greek myth explains the ancient Greek culture's beliefs and customs; they usually involve gods and supernatural creatures.

To perform a close reading of a text means to analyse and examine its details for in-depth comprehension.

The Titans were considered by ancient Greeks to be powerful gods, the offspring of Gaia and Ouranos.

You'll learn more about them in today's lesson.

And finally, the Cyclopes or one-eyed giants in Greek mythology; they were allies of the Titans.

It's the name we give to a group of Cyclops.

Don't worry if you're unsure about any of the keywords.

We'll be exploring them throughout the lesson.

In today's lesson, we are going to be engaging with a specific myth called "The Beginning of the World." We are going to begin the lesson by performing a close reading of the myth before we then have a more in-depth introduction to the Greek gods.

Let's begin by exploring the myth, "The Beginning of the World." Here's a quick Greek recap about what we know about the text so far.

We know that "A Journey Through Greek Myths" is a nonfiction text.

It contains traditional myths.

The text is set in ancient Greece.

Many locations from the text correspond to real places in Greece.

We began the introduction in Athens.

The text is narrated from the perspective of two owls, Little Owl and her grandfather, Night Owl.

You can notice them on the front cover, flying next to Pegasus.

Suitably titled, "The Beginning of the World" starts at the beginning, with Night Owl explaining to little Little Owl how the world was formed according to the ancient Greeks.

I'd like you to read through page 17.

This is the start of the myth.

Have a read through with your partner, and pause the video whilst you do so.

Fantastic work.

And I'd like you to discuss the following question: What has happened in the text so far? And who are we introduced to? Have a chat with your talk partner.

You can, of course, refer back to the page, if you need to.

Pause the video now whilst you discuss the question.

Well done.

Let's have a look at a possible example.

Page 17 describes how our planet came to be.

The earth and the sky formed and are "fixed in place." Constellations shine in the sky and the sea begins to flow.

There is no sign of humans, yet.

We meet two characters, Chaos, and the god, Chronos, Let's say those together, my turn, your turn.

Chaos and Chronos.

Well done.

I'm sure we'll find out more about them in a little while.

Here's our first check for understanding.

True or false? The ancient Greeks were certain about how the world was created.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well, notice it said that only some Greeks believe this was how the world was formed, so it's false.

And I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it because a, Chaos was the name given to the world before earth, sea, and land existed? Or b, some say that Chronos, the god of time, gave each element its name, whilst others say he did not yet exist? Have a think back to the original statement.

Which justification best fits? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

It's b.

There are many different reasons that the Greeks thought that the world was created, and Chronos giving each element its name was just one of these.

Chaos was the name given to the world before the earth, sea, and land existed.

However, this doesn't link to the original statement.

To better understand the text, we're going to perform a close reading.

Close reading is a reading strategy that helps readers develop their comprehension.

That's their understanding.

Some key elements of a close reading are: Examining words closely, especially if there's any new or unfamiliar vocabulary used.

Questioning.

Asking questions about the specific words or phrases or the structure of the text.

And finally, annotating the text.

That's making notes about what we've read, and this can help us track our thoughts and any significant details we discover.

It's important to remember that reading will always benefit from repeated readings, to uncover new layers of meaning.

It's really tough to do that on the first read.

So if you need to, refer back to the text throughout the lesson.

Let's look at page 17 now in a little more detail.

We're introduced to two characters here, Chaos and Chronos.

What was Chronos the god of again? Ah, yes.

Time.

Well remembered.

I'd like you to talk with your partner and answer the following question.

How are Chaos and Chronos described in the text? I think one of them is very difficult to describe.

You can, of course, refer back to page 17, if you need to.

Pause the video now and answer the question with your partner.

Great work.

Let's start by looking at Chaos.

Chaos is described as indescribable, it's both warm and light, cold and dark, divine and human, wet and dry.

It's full of opposites! I think the author, Marchella, definitely used a lot of different descriptions to make us feel as though Chaos is indescribable, don't you think? Now let's look at Chronos.

Chronos is the god of time.

It sounds a bit like chronological, which is where we put things in time order.

So Chronos is the god of time, and he helped organise the elements and give each of them a name.

We now consider the elements as earth, wind, fire, and water, but in this text it refers to the earth and the sky and the sea.

Perhaps there's some connection.

Let's find out a little bit more about both of these characters.

Chaos is not commonly considered a god.

It is known as a primordial being, like one of the very first and oldest forces or energies.

Let's say that word again.

Primordial being.

Primordial being.

Well done.

It's quite a tricky word.

We can call that an entity.

We can't really describe it, but we know it's there.

To show it's difficult to imagine, Marchella Ward doesn't give the reader a clear description.

She mentions eventually Chaos is tamed.

The word "tamed" means to make less powerful and easier to control.

It says in the text, "Somehow, no one quite knows how, Chaos was tamed." I wonder, how do you think it might have become tamed? Once Chaos was tamed, this is when Chronos disentangled the elements.

He then named them and fixed them in place.

Disentangle means to free something or someone from something that they're entangled with.

Entangled means to be wrapped up in, maybe meshed together; very difficult to come apart.

So Chronos was able to disentangle these elements and then fix them into place, creating the earth.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Referring to page 17, I'd like you to place the following into chronological order.

Well remembered.

Chronological order is time order.

It helps me remember that Chronos is the god of time.

The events are: a, chaos is tamed; b, the elements are disentangled and the earth is formed; and c, the whole world looked the same.

It was an enormous mist, all muddled together.

Have a think.

Which one of these must come first? Which one comes last? And which one must go in the middle? Number them one, two, and three.

Pause the video now whilst you complete.

Well done.

The first event was Chaos.

The whole world looked the same.

It was an enormous mist, all muddled together.

That's exactly how it was described at the beginning.

Next, it must be that Chaos is tamed.

This sets us off on the process of forming the world, which means the final part must be that the elements are disentangled.

In this text, Chronos is depicted as doing this.

Well done if you've got all of those in chronological order.

Following the creation of Earth, a range of beings live together.

They included gods, goddesses, giants, and Titans.

Well done for noticing one of our keywords.

And I'd like you to read page 18.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Well done.

There was lots of new language and vocabulary there, wasn't there? We'll be exploring that in a little while.

Don't worry if you didn't understand it all.

I'd like you and your partner to discuss the following question: How are the Titans described? You can, of course, refer back to the page if you need to.

Pause the video now whilst you discuss the question.

Well done.

Let's have a look at a possible example.

Marchella Ward describes the Titans as the first six sons and six daughters of Gaia, that's Earth, and Ouranos, the sky.

The text says that the Titans looked human, but were so big you couldn't see them all at once, no matter how far away you stood! That's a really difficult thing to imagine, but it makes you think about the scale of these Titans and how big they were.

It's here that we also meet the Cyclopes, the youngest of Gaia and Ouranos' children.

They are described similarly to the Titans.

Well remembered.

The Cyclopes is the plural form of a Cyclops.

You might have heard of them already.

I'd like you to reread the section from "The youngest of the children" to the end of the page.

Pause the video now whilst you reread.

Well done.

Now, how would you describe the Cyclopes to your partner? Have a think about how they're described.

What do you know about them already, perhaps? Pause the video now and share with your partner.

Well done.

I know from reading the extract that they're described as only having one eye, and it uses the verb "planted" right in the middle of their foreheads.

So that means they just have the one eye right in the middle.

So perhaps you might have said something like: Each of the Cyclopes is described as a having only one eye.

It is from these that the other gods and humans originated.

Here's an extra fascinating etymological fact.

Cyclopes, which is a noun, comes from the Greek word "kuklos," which means circle, and ops, which means eye.

So putting them together, we have circular eye.

It's how we get the term "Cyclops." The ancient Greek language is so fascinating, and we get a lot of our words that we use nowadays from there.

I wonder if you use any words now that have come from ancient Greek? Here's our next check for understanding.

Referring to page 18, which of the following are correct? a, Gaia and Chronos fell in love.

Their first six sons and six daughters were called the Titans.

B, Chaos' children were two shadows, Darkness and Night.

Or c, the Cyclopes' eye was right in the middle of their foreheads.

There may be more than one correct.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

It's b and c.

Chaos' children are two shadows, Darkness and Night.

We'll find out their names later.

And the Cyclopes' eye was right in the middle of their foreheads.

It wasn't Gaia and Chronos that fell in love.

It was Gaia and Ouranos.

Well remembered.

Through our reading so far, we've been introduced to quite a few of the gods, the Titans, as well as a primordial being, Chaos.

We know that Greek myths often feature gods and goddesses, as well as other beings with extraordinary powers and abilities.

In this task, I'd like you to note down the names of the characters we've discovered through reading pages 17 and 18.

I'd like you to add an adjective, a word or a phrase that connects to them.

If you know it as well, add the domain the God commanded, too.

Here's an example.

Chaos is described as indescribable.

They had two children, called Darkness and Night.

You can, of course, refer to the text whilst you are completing the task.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Well done.

I hope you've been really interested in finding out about the characters that we've encountered so far.

Let's have a look at some that you might have written down.

You might have Chaos, who's impossible to describe.

They had two children, Darkness and Night.

There's Chronos, who's the god of time, and he fixed the earth into place.

There's Gaia.

That's the name for the earth.

Gaia fell in love with the sky.

You might have mentioned Ouranos, the name for the sky.

Ouranos fell in love with the earth.

You might have written down the Titans.

They were described as gigantic.

They're the six sons and six daughters of Gaia and Ouranos.

And finally, you might have written down the Cyclopes.

They're described as one-eyed and the youngest children of Gaia and Ouranos.

There were lots of gods and goddesses, as well as mythical creatures.

I wonder if we'll encounter more of them as we continue to read.

Let's turn our attention now to the Greek gods and how they were related to one another.

To gain a better understanding of how the gods and supernatural beings are related to each other, we can refer to the family tree of gods and heroes.

This is located on pages eight and nine.

Can you notice any of the characters we've discovered so far in this lesson? Point them out to your partner, if you can.

Pause the video whilst you do so.

Well done.

I wonder if you found them all.

Let's start at the very top.

We have Chaos, Gaia, and Ouranos.

From Chaos, we have their two children, known as Darkness, which is Erebus, and Night, which is Nyx.

Did you also notice that they mentioned their daughter, Light, who's known as Hemera? Well done if you did.

Drawing the connection from Gaia and Ouranos, we can also see the Titans are mentioned, and next to them, the Cyclopes.

Finally, there's one that was really well hidden.

The three sons of Ouranos and Gaia are described as having 100 hands on page 18.

They're known as the Hecatoncheires.

You can see they're next to the Titans.

There's many more gods and goddesses in this family tree.

I wonder just how many we'll find out about.

Perhaps you are intrigued to find out more.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Can you match the name of the god or supernatural being with their domain? On the left we have Chaos, Erebus, Gaia, Nyx, and Ouranos.

And on the right-hand side we have their domains of darkness, the void, sky, night, and earth.

You can, of course, refer back to pages eight and nine.

Pause the video now whilst you match them up.

Well done.

We know that Chaos was linked to the void, Erebus links to the domain of darkness, Gaia we know links to the domain of earth, Nyx goes to night, and Ouranos links to sky.

Well done if you remembered all of those and got them correct.

At the end of this myth, we return back to Little Owl and Night Owl on page 19, who are discussing what happened at the beginning of the world.

I'd like you to read page 19 with your partner.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Well done.

And I'd like you to discuss the following question: Why do you think Night Owl flew off without waiting for a reply? That seems quite abrupt.

I think that Night Owl knew Little Owl quite well, don't you? Pause the video whilst you discuss the question with your partner.

Great work.

You can see in the text it says, "'Would you like to see the home of the owls?' he asked, and without waiting for a reply, Night Owl bent low to the ancient stone and raised his wings high above his back.

In one whooshing sweep of the wings, he took off.

Little Owl took a deep breath and followed." So perhaps you might have thought that Night Owl was sure that Little Owl would want to see Mount Pelion, the old home of the owls.

We know that Little Owl's really curious.

So perhaps Night Owl knows this so well, he doesn't even need to wait for a reply from her.

We know Little Owl is really curious about the world around her and how it was formed.

I wonder, can you find which question Little Owl asked Night Owl? And why do you think she asks this? It might be really helpful to refer back to the text.

As it's a question, I'd be skimming and scanning to look for a question mark, perhaps.

Pause the video now whilst you discuss the question with your partner.

Well done.

Did you find the question? It's right at the very top.

The question Little Owl asks Night Owl is, "So where did the owls live before they came to Athens?" You might have said that you think Little Owl has reflected on the myths she's just been told and is wanting to know more about the beginning of her own world.

That's a really personal response to hearing a myth.

I wonder if you are the same, too.

Here's our final check for understanding.

What's a suitable definition of the word "curious?" Is it a, being uninterested, with no enthusiasm to discover new things? b, having a strong desire to know, explore, and learn more about the world around you? Or c, feeling tired and weary about learning? What's the best definition for the term "curious?" Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Great work.

It's b, a strong desire to know, explore, and learn more about the world around you.

That sums up Little Owl perfectly, don't you think? She's definitely not uninterested or tired and weary about learning.

She has a keen desire to know more.

In our final task, we are going to mirror Little Owl, and we're going to become curious and ask questions about the text.

I'd like you to write down four to five questions that you were curious about.

Was there anything that surprised you from your reading today? Was there anything that you did not understand? Was there anything you'd like to find out more about? You could use the sentence, then, I wonder, who, what, where, when, why, or how.

Write down four to five questions you have about the text.

Pause the video now whilst you complete the task.

Well done.

Let's have a look at some examples.

Sam says, "I wonder who were the first humans? How did all the fields grow fruits and vegetables without anyone planting them? And when did humans first begin living on Earth?" Aisha asked questions like, "I wonder who the other children of Gaia and Ouranos were? I wonder what Little Owl discovers at Mount Pelion? And does Pelion exist in modern-day Greece?" I wonder if these were similar or different to some of your questions.

I hope we'll discover some of the answers as we continue to read.

In today's lesson, we've been engaging with the myth, "The Beginning of the World." Marchella Ward uses descriptive language to explain both the beginning of the world and the beings that the ancient Greeks believed created it.

We've learned that a close reading is a reading strategy that helps readers develop comprehension.

Close reading includes analysing and examining new or unfamiliar words.

It also allows us to ask questions of the text and annotate.

That means making notes about the text.

Finally, we know that Greek myths often feature gods and goddesses, as well as other beings with extraordinary powers and abilities.

We found out about just some of these through our reading today.

I've really enjoyed reading and exploring this myth with you.

I'm looking forward to working with you again soon.