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Ancient Civilization Toontasic iPad Project


Do you teach ancient civilizations? Second and third graders in Virginia learn about Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece and Ancient Mali and we are always looking to learn this information in meaningful ways.

Ancient Civilization iPad Project Appsmash using the Google Earth app and Toontasic app. Technology in the classroom.


A FUN, worksheet free lesson I did this week was explore Ancient Rome with 3rd graders. We did a mini iPad app smash project that touched upon (or at least we tried to!) the major pieces of information: located in Italy, on the continent of Europe, near the Mediterranean Sea which was used for trading, architecture consisted of arches (the Colosseum), had a representative democracy, were ship and road builders.

The lesson began with students picking their partner. In groups of two, students navigated to the Google Earth app and had to take a screenshot of at least three pictures (we recommended the shape of Italy..a boot!..and the Colosseum). If they had enough time they were able to take a screenshot of more places in Rome such as the government building, buildings with arches, roads, etc. Next, we went to the app, Toontastic (which is now FREE!) and imported our Google Earth screenshots. Students took turns in their group to narrate one of the pictures. The app allows you to draw on your pictures. You can also choose your own character and add a little music! Check out a few examples:

Ancient Rome Toontastic from Julie on Vimeo.

 Next time I will have the kids write their speaking part before recording. Many had a hard time spitting out the information (especially the CORRECT information...all of this snow has put many of us a little behind...hahaha) as soon as they pressed the record button. However, this was a great learning opportunity and they did a fabulous job with their creations in the 60 minutes we had! Try it out with an ancient civilization that you study.

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