Dover-Sherborn Middle School

Curriculum Road Maps

 

 

Course Title:  ___Ancient Civilizations                                    Grade: 6______

 

Unit: Mesopotamia___________________________

 

Month Presented:      Late October to December       Unit Length (in weeks):  4-6___

 

Connections to Massachusetts Frameworks:

Mesopotamia: Site of Several Ancient River Civilizations, c. 3500-1200 BC/BCE

7.7 On a historical map, locate the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and identify Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria as successive civilizations and empires in this region, and explain why the region is sometimes called “the Fertile Crescent.” On a modern map of western Asia, identify the modern countries in the region (Iraq, Iran, and Turkey). (H, G, E)

 

7.8 Identify polytheism (the belief that there are many gods) as the religious belief of the people in Mesopotamian civilizations. (H)

 

7.9 Describe how irrigation, metalsmithing, slavery, the domestication of animals, and inventions such as the wheel, the sail, and the plow contributed to the growth of Mesopotamian civilizations. (H, E)

 

7.10 Describe the important achievements of Mesopotamian civilization. (H, C, E)

 

a.      its system of writing (and its importance in record keeping and tax collection)

b.      monumental architecture (the ziggurat)

c.      art (large relief sculpture, mosaics, and cylinder seals)

 

7.11 Describe who Hammurabi was and explain the basic principle of justice in Hammurabi’s Code (“an eye for an eye”). (H, C, E)

 

Essential Question (s):

  •  What makes a civilization and what makes people civilized?

 

Learning Objectives:

    • Students will learn about what made Mesopotamia CIVILIZED.  Focus will be on identifying examples of the PERSIA GEM’s:

   ●  Politics and Government

   ● Education

   ● Religion

   ● Social Structure

   ● Invention, Innovations, and Ideas

   ● Arts, Architecture, and Entertainment

   ● Geography and Climate

   ● Economy

   ● Military

    • Students will practice collaborating with peers and reflect on their experience.

 

Skills focus for this unit:

  1. To continue working with and taking Objective notes
  2. To introduce reading strategies skills
  3. To be able to determine the meaning of various sources
    1. Laminated art
    2. Last Quest of Gilgamesh
    3. Maps
    4. Timelines
    5. Hammurabi’s Law Code
  4. To begin working with maps and timelines

 

Indicator Skills that we assess in 6th Grade Social Studies:

  1. Demonstrate values of respect, responsibility, honesty and effort.
  2. Maintain an organized approach to learning: taking notes, completing homework and classwork, and being prepared.
  3. Identify and utilize a variety of strategies to determine the meaning and usefulness of a source.
  4. Effectively identify and express the important contributions of the societies we study, both verbally and in writing.
  5. Apply facts learned to answer unit questions.
  6. Reflect on learning and community progress. 

Skills focus for this unit:

Indicators 1, 2, 4, 5, 6

Materials Utilized:

  • Ancient Civilizations
  • Various articles on Daily Life in Mesopotamia
  • Last Quest of Gilgamesh
  • Hammurabi’s Code
  • Videos from United Streaming website

 

Instructional Strategies & Activities:

  • Maps of the region
  • Hammurabi’s Code law case simulation
  • Reading of Last Quest of Gilgamesh
  • Videos from United Streaming website
  • Timelines of the various empires of the region
  • Bellworks
  • Educational games: hot seat, round the world

 

Assessment Strategies:

  • Nightly homework assignments
  • Maps
  • Sumerian Achievement paragraph- What Makes a Civilization?
  • Timelines
  • Unit Test
  • Unit Reflection