Icarus Tale Lesson | Myth & Morals Gr 7

Starting from:

Icarus Tale | The Boy Who Flew Too Close to the Sun ELA Teaching Resource 7-11

If you fly too close to the sun, you’re likely to get burned — or so the story goes. Introduce your students to a fairly popular Greek moral tale about an ambitious inventor and his erstwhile son. I created a 3-day lesson plan with activities to get your students thinking critically about this important mythological text.

Here’s what you get out of the box:

3-day Lesson Plan for 45-minute class sessions or 1.5-hour session with a 45-minute writing block.
1 Reading Card
- Dictionary Entry on Icarus and Daedalus
4 Works of Art to Compare to the Story:
- Drawing of Icarus by Hendrick Goltzius
- “Icarus Fallen” by Célestin Nanteuil
- “Dies” – an Etching of Icarus
- “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” by Pieter Bruegel
1 Visual Organizer for Key Characters and Places from the Story
2 Exit Tickets to Check for Understanding
13 Reading Comprehension Questions
5 Critical Thinking Questions
1 Cornell Note-taking Template
10 Frayer Model Vocabulary Cards (aligned to the lesson)
Writing Activity based on a Lewis Hine photograph of a worker building the Empire State Building
“Further Reading” Bibliography for you and your students
Standards Alignment Chart
Answer Keys for Student-Facing Materials
Google Slides (Google Classroom-friendly)

Suggested Classroom Use:

English Language Arts or Humanities Class
Unit on Greek Mythology
Unit on Ancient Greek Myths
A lesson paired with Theseus and the Minotaur

Note: Teaching classic mythology to middle and high school students is best done using various texts. While the resource does not contain copyrighted material, the story is widely available on the web and reprinted in many literature textbooks. I prefer the version of the story in J.F. Bierlein’s book Parallel Myths. Also, Leanne Guenther has created a nice, readable version of the story, too.

Note from Stones of Erasmus:

EXTRA! EXTRA! Check out these awesome resources on the Icarus myth:

(1.) The Story of Icarus by Leanne Guenther (2.) “Icarus and Daedalus” in Parallel Myths by J.F. Bierlein (3.) Mythology by Edith Hamilton – a tried-and-true anthology of Greek and Roman myths (4.) Classic Mythology by Carl Witt – free on Google Books (4) Animated Video Lesson on the Myth of Icarus and Daedalus from Ted-Ed by Amy Adkins (5.) “Daedalus and Icarus” clip in The Storyteller from Jim Henson Studios (in this version, it is suggested that Daedalus had killed his nephew Talos because he was envious of his abilities). (6.) The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus by Ovid (republished by Commonlit) (7.) Allusions to Icarus explained by TV Tropes (8.) Kid Icarus (video game) by Nintendo is about a hero named Pit (with wings). The video game was released in 1986-87 for the Nintendo gaming system and relies heavily on Greek Mythology for its content. (9.) & (10) Iron Maiden’s song “Flight Of Icarus” and Phish’s song “The Squirming Coil” both allude to the Icarus myth!