Rise and Fall of Ancient Civilizations Introductory Activity | Paper and Digital

Introduce the rise and fall of ancient civilizations with this ready to use resource that has students walk through the creation, rise and fall of a fictional civilization. If the new Grade 5 Alberta social studies curriculum overwhelms you, stop searching because we've done everything for you.

Save $$$ with a whole year of Alberta Grade 5 Social Studies!

Even though this resource was written for Alberta, it works with any ancient civilizations unit.

This new social studies resource includes:

• a meaningful activity to introduce internal and external factors in a simple, but engaging way
• general traits that led to ancient civilizations settling in specific geographic areas (geographic features like rivers or mountains)
• factors that led to the rise of ancient civilizations (like farming innovations, organized structures, strong leadership or specialized tradespeople)
• factors that led to the fall of ancient civilizations (like poor leadership, natural disasters, rebellions, conquests, or expenses)
• comparing the impacts of the factors on civilizations
• how the factors are interconnected
• a detailed lesson plan with easy to read formatting.
• instructions for how to use our activities with or without technology so you can be flexible for your students and classroom environment.
• instructions for printing student workbooks while still offering differentiated options.
• detailed outlines of each activity with a list of materials along with a centralized list and reminders in each section of the lesson plan.
• optional Teacher Slides to support instruction and content delivery. You can choose to teach with or without them.
• vocabulary list with phonetic pronunciations and definitions to help support your students.
• “I can” statements written in student-friendly language so students can self-assess their learning.
• modifications to help you differentiate without spending more of your time.
• suggested answers.
• digital versions of most of the student pages to help support your students or reduce printing. To access the digital version, download the PDF and use the link inside that file.
• loose text in the digital version which can be read by your assistive technology. This is especially helpful since some of the text may be beyond the Grade 5 reading level (especially at the beginning of the school year).
• list of Alberta outcomes broken down by activity.
  

Ninja Note: If you teach in Alberta, this resource has been written for the new social studies curriculum. Learn more about how we're writing and adjusting resources for the new curriculum. https://brainninjas.ca/social-studies-in-alberta/

This activity aligns with:

• the Alberta Social Studies Curriculum Grade 5 ©2025
• our Time and Place Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 5 

This activity supports learning about:

• ancient civilizations

Looking for more social studies for Alberta teachers? Our unit plans include extra vocabulary supports and assessments.

• Time and Place Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 5 
• Systems Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 5 
• Citizenship Unit for Alberta Social Studies Grade 5 
  

Save $$$ with a whole year of Alberta Grade 5 Social Studies!

Ninja Note: To access the digital version, download the PDF and click on the access links in the file.

Have a question? Before contacting us, check our Frequently Asked Questions page.