Lesson Sequence

Explanation of Sequence
Structure

Week 1

This Lesson Sequence covers four

weeks of the year 7 history
curriculum, focusing on Ancient
India. With two lessons a week.
Indus River Civilization leading
into general ancient India
Year 7 History Curriculum Unit 3
1. Understand how the
physical environment
influences the development
of civilization.
2. Role of key groups in
Ancient Indian society
3. The significant beliefs,
values and practices of
Indian society, with a
particular emphasis on ONE
of the following areas:
everyday life, warfare, or
death and funerary customs
Ancient Civilization Intro

Lesson 1

Key Vocab and Timelines

Lesson 2

The Geography of Civilization

Week 2

Who were the Indus?

Lesson 3

What we know about the Indus

and How we know it

Lesson 4

What happened to the Indus?

Week 3

Religion and Society

Lesson 5

Caste System

Lesson 6

Religion

Theme of Lesson Sequence

ACARA Curriculum Link
3 Overall Learning Outcomes for
sequence:

Lesson Plan 1
Indus Valley Intro
Class: 7B
Key Learning Areas:ACHHS205 and ACHHS206
Lesson Length: 70 minutes
Outcome: Students will have an appreciation of where and when the
first Indus Valley civilization arose.
Required Materials:
Timeline activity sheet
Example timeline
Key Vocab sheet.
Map of India (Projected from a computer)
Whiteboard
Lesson Steps
1. Welcome students to class; ask them to begin silent reading
for the next ten minutes to help them settle down after lunch.
(10 minutes)
2. Quickly recap what theyve been talking about in the last few
History lessons (modern India), ask them to imagine what it
would have been like five thousand years ago. (5 minutes)
3. Introduce key vocab one at a time; ask students whether they
know what each word means, as a class come to an agreed
definition. Ask students to write down these definitions in their
books. Use this time to create connections for students with
words, for example when exploring the word Ancient use it to
introduce some other Ancient civilizations of note. (20
minutes)
4. Introduce historical timeline. Show the students what a
timeline is and how you use it to chart events and give a
sense of time. (5 minutes)
5. Hand out worksheets that have a blank timeline with eight
empty boxes connecting to various points along the timeline.
Either below that or on another sheet there will be eight
events in human history. (1 minute)
6. Ask students to fill out the timeline in pencil making their best
guess as to where each of the eight events fits without any
dates. (10 minutes)
7. After they have done this go through with the class one by one
where they think the events fit and why. (10 minutes)
8. Give the students the dates to each event, ask them to make
any corrections they need to. (10 minutes)
9. If there is spare time, play a game?

Key Vocab List

1. Ancient
2. Civilization
3. Archaeologists - Archaeology
4. Flood Plain
5. Monsoon
6. Sanitation
7. Primary Sources
8. Indus River
9. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
Key Historical Dates for Timeline:
1. Mr Hopkins starts teaching at Rokeby (2015 CE)
2. The Flushing Toilet is Invented (1775 CE)
3. Australia is Federated (1901 CE)
4. Start of Indus River Civilization (2500 BCE)
5. End of Indus River Civilization (1000 BCE)
6. First known writing (3500 BCE)
7. Roman Empire is founded (27BCE)
8. Cook Lands in Australia (1770 CE)

Lesson Plan 2
The Geography of The Valley
Class: 7B
Key Learning Areas: ACDSEH006
Lesson Length: 70 minutes
Outcome: Students have a better idea of how the physical features
of India influenced how civilization developed
Required Materials:
Indian Subcontinent Geographic Map
Whiteboard

Lesson Steps:
1. Welcome students to class. Silent Reading for ten minutes to
settle. (10 minutes
2. Introduce the word Settlement, work out a definition, add it to
students vocab list. (5 minutes)
3. Ask the students to imagine crash landing on a planet
identical to Earth in every way except with no people and with
all their modern technology destroyed in the crash except
some basic tools and seeds then working with a partner
(whoever is sitting next to them) in 5 minutes come up with a
list of as many things as possible that theyd want to be
nearby when building their new city. (10 minutes)
4. Once time has elapsed as a class have a discussion about
what theyve decided is important to have, create a list. (5-10
minutes)
5. In their pairs students are to create a map of the ideal
settlement area. This map should include all the elements we
have identified that make a location a good place to live in.
(10-15)
6. Show students Map of India, ask where they would choose to
build a settlement and why. (5-10 minutes)
7. Once identified where the Indus River Civilization was
established take a closer look at the geography around it, the
Himalayas to the north feed the River Indus, around the valley

is desert, the climate is dry and hot and the monsoon rains
cause the river to flood helping keep the valley fertile. (10
minutes)

Lesson Plan 3
Who Were the Indus?
Class: 7B
Key Learning Area:
Lesson Length: 70 minutes
Outcome: Students have a better understanding of who the people
of the Indus Valley were, what they built, how they lived and how we
learnt about them.
Required Materials:
Info sheet
Worksheet
Images of primary sources
Lesson Steps
1. Welcome students to class, give them ten minutes silent
reading to settle.
2. Start Powerpoint
3. Go into detail about Indus cities, how they were designed; how
large they were, their layout, their advanced sanitation
system (draw attention to modern India comparison), how
they were designed with the environment in mind, how the
largest buildings found within were public baths.
4. Discuss with students how we know the things we do about
the Indus, talk about primary sources and archaeology. It is
important to ensure they understand we cannot read the
writing from the Indus civilization.
5. Place students into small groups, give them a range of images
of primary sources found in the Indus valley, ask them to write
down as a group what they think you could learn about a
culture based on these artefacts, what do they think they are
for, what do they tell us about the people who made them?