I agree that documentaries can be very dry. The Discovery docs
often have reenactments. I do highly recommend the one on early
man and the one on Pompeii. Their reenactments with actors are
very good. The excerpts I showed were each about a period long.
Also, the movie 300 has a good beginning segment on the education
of a Spartan that was perfect. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
has a good segment to show the tea ceremony, clothing and life
of a woman in China, Gladiator has several good sections to show
the arrival of a general in Rome, gladiators fighting,etc.

On 7/04/09, History Teacher wrote:
> On 7/03/09, new teacher wrote:
>> I will bThae teaching a grade 6 ancient civ class this
>> coming year. I have looked at some of the websites like
>> Roughton's (excellent!), but I was wondering if others on
>> this board had recommendation for movies or documentaries
>> for ancient civilizations. Thanks.
>
> Get the old movie Ben Hur - you can't show the entire film
> but show the scene with chariot race. I show clips of films -
> it breaks up class and the kids enjoy it. I've found most
> documentaries to have dry stilted language that puts the kids
> to sleep fast.
>
> Check out www.brainpop.com - it costs money but a school can
> share it and their clips started out being all science but
> they've branched out a lot.

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