During the years that I taught ancient civilizations to 11 year olds, I found that students often struggled with the content. It had an awful lot of big words, and each area/time was just so different. I was thrilled when I ran across this organizer for timer periods, G.R.A.P.E.S.

G – Geography

R – Religion

A – Art and Architecture

P – Politics and Government

E – Economics

S – Social Structures

One, it was a great way to explain and remember the parts of a civilization and for them to understand the definition of the word. Two, I organized all of our notes this way in our interactive notebooks, so that there became a predictable pattern to our lessons. Oh, we finished up religion, now we’ll be learning about art and architecture. We were able to discuss the standards with these – ok, guys the state wants us to focus on the art, architeture, and politics and government. Does that mean they didn’t have the others? Etc. It became a great way to compare and contrast. Loved it.

Here is the document that I use when I introduce the concept in my class:

GRAPES – civilization

I’ve recently come across another acronym called “PERSIA”. Here is a link to a great description at the History Tech blog. I hope you find either or both of these useful!