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Reading schedule · Grades 4–6

Greek Myths of the Gods in 5 Weeks: A Reading Schedule

A five-week plan for reading Greek Myths: The Gods, one section a week. Each week gives the reading, a short summary of what happens, three discussion questions and the escape room that goes with it. For grades 4–6, in class or at home.

Pacing

At the grammar stage (grades 4–6) short, regular readings work better than long ones. Many families read aloud together and ask children to tell back what they heard before talking about the questions. Each week covers one section; if a section feels long, take two weeks over it and keep the escape room for the end.

Each week ends with an escape room on that week's reading: seven self-checking locks that run in any browser, with no logins, and progress is saved, so a room can be finished another day. Every room has free taster locks to try, and members can open them all.

Print this schedule Escape rooms on Greek Myths of the Gods

Week 1: The Titans and the Olympians

Read: The Titans and the Olympians

Before the Olympian gods, Gaia and Uranus rule the world, and their son Cronus swallows each of his own children. Rhea hides baby Zeus on Crete and gives Cronus a stone wrapped in baby clothes; grown up, Zeus wins the war with the Titans with gifts from the Cyclopes and shares out the world with his brothers.

Discussion questions

1. How does Rhea outwit Cronus?
2. Why do the Cyclopes help Zeus?
3. Which of the three brothers got the best share of the world?

Escape room: War in the Heavens (lockedlessons.com/rooms/greek-gods-the-titans-and-the-olympians/)

Week 2: Prometheus and Pandora

Read: Prometheus and Pandora

Epimetheus gives out gifts to the animals, and Prometheus tricks Zeus over the meat and the bones and steals fire for people in a fennel stalk. Zeus chains Prometheus to a rock and has Pandora made, and she opens a jar full of troubles.

Discussion questions

1. Was Prometheus right to steal fire?
2. Why does Zeus punish people as well as Prometheus?
3. What is left in the jar, and why might that matter?

Escape room: The Stolen Flame (lockedlessons.com/rooms/greek-gods-prometheus-and-pandora/)

Week 3: Demeter and Persephone

Read: Demeter and Persephone

Persephone is picking flowers in a meadow when Hades carries her off in his chariot. Her mother Demeter searches with torches, learns the truth from the sun god and goes in disguise to Eleusis, and the crops die until Zeus sends Hermes to bring Persephone home, which is how the seasons began.

Discussion questions

1. Why do the crops die while Demeter grieves?
2. Is the agreement at the end fair?
3. How does the myth explain the seasons?

Escape room: The Lost Daughter (lockedlessons.com/rooms/greek-gods-demeter-and-persephone/)

Week 4: Gods Among Mortals

Read: Gods Among Mortals

Arachne challenges Athena to a weaving contest, and King Midas makes a foolish wish. Baucis and Philemon welcome two strangers who turn out to be gods, and Echo and Narcissus each suffer for very different faults.

Discussion questions

1. What do Arachne and Midas have in common?
2. How are Baucis and Philemon rewarded, and why?
3. What does the story of Narcissus warn against?

Escape room: Beware the Gods (lockedlessons.com/rooms/greek-gods-gods-among-mortals/)

Week 5: Daedalus and Icarus and Other Tales

Read: Daedalus and Icarus and Other Tales

Daedalus builds a maze for King Minos, then escapes from Crete with his son Icarus on wings, but Icarus flies too close to the sun. Phaethon drives his father's chariot of the sun and loses control, and Orpheus goes down to the underworld to bring back Eurydice.

Discussion questions

1. Why do Icarus and Phaethon both fall?
2. Why does Orpheus look back?
3. Which of these stories do you think is the saddest?

Escape room: Too Close to the Sun (lockedlessons.com/rooms/greek-gods-daedalus-and-icarus-and-other-tales/)