Long Ago and Far Away

When Sarah Goldberg ’26 was in fourth grade at GFS, her imagination would sparkle during immersive social studies lessons about ancient cultures. Learning about millennia-old civilizations activated her curiosity as her teachers brought these stories to life through lessons and literature.

“This discovery of different worlds came at an age when I was very creative and full of wonder,” Goldberg said. “Hearing Greek myths and learning about how people believed in them, and how that was their reality, was such a cool realization for me.”

The ability to conceptualize “long ago and far away” is a developmental milestone in fourth grade. And it’s exactly why the study of ancient culture is the cornerstone of the fourth grade social studies curriculum. For young learners like Goldberg, these lessons come at the optimal moment to unlock their understanding of the depth of human history. The teachers also make it fun, incorporating hands-on crafts, guest speakers, field trips, and interactive activities.

Goldberg's favorite part of the ancient cultures unit was Greek Day—now called Olympics Day—when the entire fourth grade dressed in chitons (Greek tunics), donned laurel wreaths, carried handmade signs representing different Greek city-states, and participated in athletic competitions at the GFS playing fields. This tradition, which is still the culmination of the year for the fourth graders, is a treasured memory from her Lower School days.

“I was a super competitive kid and really looked forward to participating in those events,” she said. “I still remember that I did two running races and the long jump, and that during the relay, I was really locked in trying to beat the other team.”

Now a senior, Goldberg has taken Latin since seventh grade and is currently in the highest level Latin class that the GFS Classics Department offers. She originally chose Latin because she was looking for a challenge, and has stuck with it because “I’ve gotten to discover a whole different world, and their society and politics, that I never would’ve learned about.”

As her Latin coursework incorporates more nuanced and advanced translations, Goldberg notes that her teachers draw on the same inquiry-based principles that her fourth grade teachers employed to engage their students in ancient cultural studies.

“It's not just about following a specific recipe for Latin translations,” she noted. “My teachers ask: Can you understand the context? What’s the larger meaning? What does this suggest about Roman life, or the world in general?”

Interdisciplinary Illumination 

The current fourth grade social studies curriculum is a year-long exploration of ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. Teachers Maddie Perlmutter, Sarah Pacifico, and Yasmin Yousof kick off the fall semester by introducing archaeology and the study of artifacts.

“We look at how objects can tell a story and teach us about a person or civilization,” Perlmutter said. “This creates the backbone for understanding when we take our big field trip in January to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see its collection of art and artifacts up close.” 

The teachers also use geography as a lens through which to examine ancient cultures. In third grade, GFS students engage in an in-depth river study, which fourth grade builds and expands upon as they compare how waterways and soils affected how people lived, traded, and developed transportation in ancient times. 

Art projects and experiential learning help drive the concepts home. For instance, during lessons about the tombs of Egyptian kings, the students visited the Penn Museum; welcomed guest speaker Dr. Stephen R. Phillips, an Egyptologist from the University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology; and practiced carving hieroglyphics in clay cartouches. As part of the geography unit, the classes made papyrus. 

“The papyrus project is part of focusing on the gifts of the Nile,” said Pacifico. “We want the students to grasp that ancient peoples settled in these areas because of the river, the flooding, and the fertile land. Because they experienced laying the strips out, they’re going to remember that better.”

In the latter half of the year, when the focus turns to ancient Greece, the fourth graders learn about the power structures of early democracies and consider the culture’s worship of gods and the Olympics. In reading classes, they dive into the hugely popular Greek mythology unit, which culminates with a grade-wide play in the spring. The young actors use tableaux (frozen poses) to depict the cautionary tales of characters like Orpheus, Icarus, and Arachne, and their struggles with human limitations, pride, and ambition.

“Fourth grade is such a year of meaning-making, and myths help make sense of the world around us,” said Perlmutter. “I think that’s part of the reason why kids this age are so into Greek mythology.”

In May, the fourth graders descend on Fields for Olympics Day after spending weeks prepping for it, designing their city-state signs, creating customized t-shirts emblazoned with their own personal seals, and memorizing opening lines for the ceremony. In P.E., they learn about the athletic events they’ll be participating in and discuss how to be competitive while also practicing good sportsmanship. 

“In social studies, we cover how for the Greeks, there were truces during the Olympics, and no wars would happen during that period,” Pacifico said. “We talk a lot about the ‘Olympic spirit’ and how we can embody it.”    

After the Olympics Day athletic competitions, which are organized and run by the P.E. faculty, the students return to campus for a Greek feast. The day is as much about community as it is about academics, and the memory of it is vivid for many alumni. 

“Students’ grandparents who went to GFS still talk about Greek Day!” Pacifico noted. “In fact, we had several alumni donate their old chitons back to us that they’ve kept since fourth grade.”

Cross-Divisional Connections

For many GFS students, the fourth-grade ancient cultures study is their first introduction to the school’s robust Classics program. Students in Lower School begin their study of languages with Spanish, and then have the opportunity to build on these skills through Latin and Greek language classes in Middle School. 

There are also plenty of ways that the Lower School students can envision how to pursue Classics later in their GFS career. During the ancient Greece unit, Greta Ham, an Upper School Classics teacher, visits the fourth grade classrooms a few different times to teach the Greek alphabet. 

“Greta is such an expert,” Pacifico said. “She can answer all of their questions about Greek, no matter how specific or random.”

In 2024, Lower and Upper School teachers began collaborating on a program they called Mythology Lunch, where different Classics teachers come to a fourth grade classroom at lunchtime to read Greek myths aloud. 

Julie Marren, Head of the Classics Department, remarked how well the young students are able to keep up with the complex plots and character arcs. 

“Their brains are expanding and they can keep track of characters and storylines, even different versions of the same myths,” Marren said. “They get that the myths are explaining things about the world and human nature.” 

Marren and her Classics colleagues also invite the fourth grade to cheer along the Middle and Upper Schoolers during their Classics Day parade each March. Some years, they watch the Greek students’ play and attend the Aloysius B. McCabe ’45 Classics Day lecture, as well. 

Marren noted that while some middle and high schools still offer Latin, GFS is rare in that it offers Latin and Greek to the advanced level. She thinks students are drawn to these ancient studies because they’re looking for a substantial challenge and the experience of being part of a cohort, and, because for many young writers, Latin and Greek provide linguistic clarification on how words work.

“It’s pretty remarkable how many of the Middle and Upper Schoolers who take Greek and Latin are such good writers,” she said.

There’s also, Marren believes, an enigmatic allure to ancient languages and the study of their cultures. As her advanced Latin students delve into The Aeneid this year, they’ve been taught that there are so few existing manuscripts that different editors’ interpretations can conflict. Editors of Latin texts have to choose the form they think makes the most sense, if, for instance, there is a smudge on the manuscript. 

“It’s so exciting working with materials that are so old and you don’t always have all the answers,” Marren said.

Pacifico has observed the same thrill among her fourth grade students. 

“It’s unfathomable how long ago this history was, and yet it’s still relevant in our modern times,” she said. “As soon as you start learning about these ancient cultures and their influences, you start seeing it everywhere.”  

This article was originally published in the Winter 2025 issue of the GFS Bulletin.