Free materials for teachers and students
Welcome to our resources page. Here you can find a comprehensive range of teaching and educational materials to use in curriculum lessons, workshops, and clubs. All our resources are free for anyone to use, although we would appreciate if you would acknowledge they are Iris Project materials when using them.
These lesson plans are designed to support and enhance the national curriculum literacy strategies, providing an enjoyable, unique and accessible introduction to Latin for large mixed-ability classes. The course is based around activities including Latin and storytelling using wonderful myths from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
The storytelling aspect gives context to the Latin, promotes a broader array of literacy skills and offers a taste of the magic that Classics has to offer. There are ten one-hour lessons for each term.
Firstly... Find six different Latin-related pictures (e.g., a Roman god, Roman building, map of Italy, dictionary). Ask pupils to identify and write down what they think the pictures show.
Secondly... Ask what word types they know and write examples on board. Cover adverbs, adjectives, verbs, nouns and pronouns.
Finally... Ask pupils to write down a sentence explaining what Latin is in their own words.
Telling Tales... Tell the children the story of Daedalus and Icarus. Raise the question of what is a myth, and let the children explore this. Get them to draw out the key themes.
Firstly... Ask what word types they know and write examples on board. Cover adverbs, adjectives, verbs, nouns and pronouns.
Secondly... Ask each table or group to draw a big tree, and then allocate each group a word type to collect. It doesn't have to be trees and leaves - try houses and people, car parks and cars, or anything else you can think of!
Telling Tales... Ask children to make their own myth, using three things in the story: a ball of thread, a maze and a monster. Emphasise the importance of vivid vocabulary.
Firstly... Introduce pronouns and verbs: I run, you run etc.
Secondly... Hand round jigsaw pieces. Ask them to make sentences. Write up sentences they created, then ask them to turn the pieces over where they'll find the Latin on the other side.
Telling Tales... Tell them the story of Aeneas founding Rome. Discuss why a people might invent a story to explain how their country was founded. Ask children in groups to create a founding myth for their own area!
Firstly... Recap sentences with three parts: subject – verb – object. Write "puella" (girl) on the board, then "videt" (sees). Ask what should come next for "the girl sees the girl". Write "puellam".
Explaining... Get children to write the Latin sentences and translations in their books, along with a sentence explaining how Latin nouns change.
Telling Tales... Recap the idea of "epic" stories such as the founding of Rome. Tell them the story of the Odyssey, then ask children to write descriptively about one aspect (lotus eaters, Cyclops, etc.).
Firstly... Recap money from last lesson, and discuss what people in Rome might have used money for.
Secondly... Children translate the story using vocabulary on the board. The story is split into three parts - do just the first part.
Thirdly... Go through in class and ask children to pick out the verbs (project onto board and ask children to circle them).
Fourthly... Have a go at the second part of the story. Write down "the past tense" and conjugations of present and imperfect tense with meanings.
Fifthly... Discuss what children think might happen in the last part of the story, but don't tell them! Save that for next lesson.
Firstly... Write a verb they recognise on the board, such as "videt". See if they can recall all the conjugation endings.
Activity... Tell them to make "verb flowers" using straws and bits of coloured paper cut into petal shapes. The stem is the straw (write verb stem on sticky label). Then they need 6-8 petals per flower with the correct ending for the verb group written on each petal.
Telling Tales... Tell them a myth involving a flower, such as Hyacinthus. Observe that lots of plant and flower names come from Latin, and the "proper" names which flower-growers use are all Latin names.
Firstly... Tell the story of the Echo/Narcissus myth, writing up a Latin sentence on the board to represent each stage of the story.
Secondly... Ask children in pairs and threes to dramatise just one section of the story, so the whole story can be performed in sequence by the class!
Thirdly... Ask children to write down the Latin from the board. Then each pair/group draws a cartoon representing their allocated part, writing in the Latin sentence. These can be made into a cartoon strip for classroom wall displays.
Illustrated worksheets in PDF format and PowerPoint presentations to accompany the Latin course:
Telling Tales worksheet
Download PDF →Worksheet for lesson five activities
Download PDF →Numbers practice worksheet
Download PDF →Telling Tales: Midas story
Download PDF →Io worksheet activities
Download PDF →Curse Tablet Worksheet
Download DOC →Curse Tablets PowerPoint
Download PPT →A great game to play at the end of a lesson to revise numbers, or just to pass the time on a rainy afternoon!
A vocabulary practice game using Latin words and their English meanings.
Write down lots of Latin words and their meanings on cards, such as:
Check the worksheets on this site for more vocabulary examples!
Learn to keep time the Roman way! Create water clocks (clepsydra) to understand ancient timekeeping methods while practicing Latin time vocabulary.
An exciting game where students race chariots using dice, incorporating Latin numbers and vocabulary in a competitive, engaging format.
We've created a series of "Choose Your Own Adventure" games which use stories set in classical settings and myths to practise and test Latin vocabulary. We're adding more soon and exploring providing these interactively on the website and as downloadable apps!
Journey to the underworld with Orpheus in this interactive Latin vocabulary game
PowerPoint format (contact us for access)Explore Ovid's Metamorphoses while practicing Latin vocabulary
PowerPoint format (contact us for access)A Latin course and storybook that infuses learning Latin with the magic of storytelling. Narrated by Ovid himself, this course takes readers on a journey through wonderful tales from the Metamorphoses.
Written by: Dr Lorna Robinson
Illustrations by: Soham De
ISBN: 9780285641792
Available: Amazon and as an ebook
Free downloadable guide containing:
Contact us at info@irisproject.org.uk for access to the Teachers Guide
The sequel to Telling Tales in Latin, continuing the journey through Ovid's stories with more advanced Latin content.
Introducing ancient Greek through the stories of Homer. Brings the magic of Greek mythology and epic poetry to language learning.
Short storybooks exploring myths around plants:
Available on Amazon
Introduction to ancient Greek language and culture designed for the school literacy curriculum. Sessions are designed for approximately one hour, aimed at large, mixed ability classes in Year 6.
Created by: Dr Lorna Robinson
Additional activities by: Graham Kirby (democracy game and theatre activity)
Play scripts used in state schools as part of ancient theatre projects. All translations by Graham Kirby, Iris Ancient Theatre projects consultant.
Usage Rights: Schools and youth groups are welcome to use these scripts. Please credit both the translator and The Iris Project in publicity and programmes. Other groups wishing to use the scripts should contact us.
By Euripides. Translated by Graham Kirby.
Download Script (PDF) →Background and notes for The Bacchae production.
Download Notes (PDF) →Additional scripts including adaptations of Aristophanes' Birds and Frogs are available. Please contact us at info@irisproject.org.uk for access to these scripts.
Scripts for Euripides' Medea and Aeschylus' Agamemnon coming soon.
Materials and guides for running ancient civilisations workshops in schools, covering various aspects of Greek and Roman culture including:
A Classics magazine presenting Classical topics in a fun, accessible, light-hearted, modern and unusual way. First published in September 2006.
Each issue features articles on mythology, ancient history, archaeology, classical languages, and connections between the ancient and modern worlds.
Additional publication supporting classics education in schools with student-friendly articles and activities.
Visit Iris Online for additional digital resources, interactive materials, and online versions of our teaching content.
Please note: All resources are free to use. We request that you acknowledge they are Iris Project materials when using them. We are grateful for any donations to support our work. Contact us at info@irisproject.org.uk for more information.