Teacher's Guide for APPLESEEDS Children of Ancient Mesopotamia

Divide students into pairs or small groups and tell them that by reading this issue of APPLESEEDS, they will discover how children from long ago and children now are the same and different. Have them list favorite foods, clothes, and activities. As a whole class exercise, you may want to graph or chart this information.

Then have them examine the front and back cover and discuss the pictures - what might they be? What do they represent? What is the figure on the front cover doing? What is he wearing? List what they notice for reference later.

Finally, review the information about the cover on the inside. Point out that this piece of art was carved into ivory 3,000 years ago and represents a young boy with a lotus. What does this tell them about Mesopotamia's wildlife and plants? Ask students, as they read through the magazine, to note down information about food, clothes, and children's activities.

Map Work: Using a map or a globe, have students locate the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the distance of that area of the world from the student's home town. Review the present boundaries of Iraq and the area designated in the magazine as "The Fertile Crescent." Discuss why the area between the rivers was called "The Fertile Crescent," encouraging students to reflect on the importance of water availability for farming.

Drama: Divide students into small groups. Ask them to imagine that they are members of a nomad tribe, who decide to settle in "The Fertile Crescent." Have them prepare a play to share with others to show how their lives would change over generations.

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Comprehension / Art: Have students create a comic strip with four to eight scenes showing the transition from a nomadic to a settled city culture.

Compare and Contrast: Whole group activity: Have students read the article and then make a table comparing their hometown with the cities of Mesopotamia. Some topics to look at might be population, city design, building materials, apprenticeship, schooling, government, religion, family structure, games.

You might want to review the "activities" portion of "Getting Ready" and discover if any of the activities children listed were included in the section on Mesopotamian children having fun.

Discussion / Higher Level Thinking: List with the class the inventions of the Mesopotamians. Then ask, "Which invention is the most important and why?" Encourage students to respond to each other as they evaluate the inventions and their importance to the ancient and modern world.

Read for Information: Have students answer the following questions as they read:

1. How did we learn about life in ancient Mesopotamia? (from reading what the Mesopotamians wrote)
2. What was the first type of writing in Mesopotamia? (pictographs, or pictures)
3. On what did the Mesopotamians write? (clay tablets)
4. What tool was used for writing? (a sharpened reed)
5. What does the word "cuneiform" mean and why is it the name of Mesopotamian writing? (wedge-shaped, the symbols used in this method of writing were wedge-shaped)
6. What is a scribe? (a person employed to read or write in Mesopotamia)
7. How many cuneiform symbols did a scribe learn to read or write? (more than 2000)
8. Name three things that were written by the scribes. (trading documents, lists of plants and animals, laws, stories, poems, mathematical equations)
9. Why did someone think that cuneiform was just bird tracks in clay? (people didn't even know it was written language or how to read it)
10. Who discovered how to read cuneiform in the modern world? (Henry Rawlinson, an English army officer)

If your class has access to the Internet, encourage students to visit the website listed on p. 17 and practice writing their names in cuneiform. You might want to post children's names in cuneiform and script on a bulletin board to share with other classes and parents.

Class Discussion: Review the favorite foods information from "Getting Ready" and discuss how present-day children's favorite foods compare with Mesopotamian foods. If they are amazed at the idea of eating locusts, ask what foods they eat might seem unusual to the ancient Mesopotamians.

Class Discussion: Discuss the questions at the end of the article as they apply to each of the laws at the top of the page. Which of the laws does the class think is good? Why? Which laws does the class disagree with? Why?

Enjoy reading this story aloud as a class exercise. Then discuss how being an archeologist is like being a detective.

Role Playing: Have students enact an improvised present-day doctor's visit and an ancient Mesopotamian doctor's visit. What differences do they notice? Which kind of treatment would they prefer?

Tapping Creativity: Distribute art materials to all students. Ask them to draw, sculpt, or paint the feelings the story produces as you read it aloud. Give students an opportunity to display or discuss their art works.

Creative Writing: Have students write and illustrate a story or poem with a child of ancient Mesopotamia as the main character or speaker. If students have a hard time beginning, offer the following story starters:

• My best friend slaughtered me in the game of Ur . . .
• The rains beat strongly on the dry earth . . .
• Today in school the teacher . . .
• My stomach hurt so much, my mother called the Ashipu . . .
• My father has decided I should be a scribe . . .
• I want to learn how to read, but . . .

Gather the writings into a book, have a read aloud session, or post them on a bulletin board for all children to share.

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Updated: 11/21/08 11:55 am
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