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Teacher’s name: Lauren Frantz Date: _____11/13/06 th Subject: World History Grade Level: 9 Topic: _Introduction to Mesopotamia Essential Questions: 1. Where is Mesopotamia located? 2. What factors allowed Mesopotamia to flourish? General Objectives: VA SOL: WHI.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient river valley civilizations, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, and China and the civilizations of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Kush, by a) locating these civilizations in time and place; NCSS: III. People, Places, and Environments Learning Outcomes: 1. In the study of the Ancient River Valley civilizations, SWBAT produce a map that includes spatial information about people, places, and environments of the Ancient River Valley. (APPLICATION) Assessment: I will be able to asses if this lesson was successful by the responses that the students put down in the “L” section of the KWL chart. Using the rubric that I created I will be able to assess if the students located and colored their maps to my specifications. Content Outline: I. Mesopotamia a. Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning 'between the rivers'. The rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates which flow through modern Iraq. The Euphrates also flows through much of Syria b. Mesopotamia is made up of different regions, each with its own geography. The geography of each area and the natural resources found there affected the ways that people lived. c. Northern Mesopotamia is made up of hills and plains. The land is quite fertile due to seasonal rains, and the rivers and streams flowing from the mountains. Early settlers farmed the land and used timber, metals and stone from the mountains nearby Southern Mesopotamia is made up of marshy areas and wide, flat, barren plains. Cities developed along the rivers which flow through the region. Early settlers had to irrigate the land along the banks of the rivers in order for their crops to grow. Since they did not have many natural resources, contact with neighboring lands was important. II. Where is Mesopotamia Located? a. Babylonia was situated in the area known as Mesopotamia (Greek for "between the rivers"). Mesopotamia was in the Near East in roughly the same geographical position as modern Iraq. Two great rivers flowed through this land: the Tigris and the Euphrates. Along these two rivers were many great trading cities such as Ur and Babylon on the Euphrates b. Mesopotamia was approximately 300 miles long and 150 miles wide. It was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These rivers flow c. d. e. f. g. h. into the Persian Gulf. The word Mesopotamia means "The land between the rivers" The climate for the region ranged from seasons of cool to hot seasons with temperatures often over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Mesopotamia experienced moderate rainfall. Most of Mesopotamia was located in the present day country of Iraq. The land of Mesopotamia was once dominated by floods, but today is mostly desert. The seasonal flooding was a challenge to the farmers of Mesopotamia. These farmers learned to control the flooding to some degree. The fertile land along the rivers produced such crops as wheat, barley, sesame, flax, and various fruits and vegetables. The land that was once marshes and channels that provided food, protection, and life to the people there, no longer exists. Tigris and Euphrates i. Babylonia rests on a flat plain with the two large rivers flowing through it, the Tigris and Euphrates. Their course runs from Anatolia and Syria to the Persian Gulf. Mountains surround the East and North sides of the plain, the Zagros chain and Kurdistan, and the Syrian and Arabian deserts guard the west and south. Climate i. In the summertime the climate is hot and dry, and the winter is cold and wet. In the spring the Tigris and Euphrates rivers overflow their banks, flooding great portions of the plain. Lots of water and proper control enabled man in ancient times to produce abundant crops, mostly barley and sesame, with abundant grazing land in the lush meadows for the cattle, sheep and goats. ii. As the hot dry south wind came faithfully the date palm was cultivated and its fruit was ripened. The abundant clay was formed into bricks to build houses and monumental structures, and also provided clay tablets for writing purposes. iii. In order to acquire precious metals, stones and sturdy timber the inhabitants engaged in foreign trade. The vast resource of petroleum was all but useless to ancient man. Today the physical features of the region along with its climate are similar to how it was in the ancient world, and the Arabs who live there still live in a manner very similar to their ancient predecessors. Ideal for Trade i. Because Babylon was situated on the river Euphrates it was an ideal place for trade. To the north they could trade up the river to Syria and beyond and could act as a staging post with the cities of Sumer to the south. When Babylon became important, people would have wanted to live there because of the economic benefits it would give being in a large city with lots of merchants and tradesmen passing through. An important city like Babylon would also give a greater degree of security to its inhabitants. ii. In Babylonia and in all of southern Mesopotamia there is lots of clay which people could bake and make into bricks with which to build houses. This helped the development of civilization in the area Student and Teacher Activities: Time Teacher Hook: What do you think are the most important geographic features that a place must have when are starting a civilization? Lets see if these features played a role in formation of Mesopotamia. Steps 1-3: 1. Today we are going to be learning 15-20 about the geography of minutes. Mesopotamia. We will be locating important physical features that define the region. 2. I will pass out a KWL chart. I will put the students into small groups based on readiness as measured in the list-group-label pre-assessment. I will monitor the students to make sure they are on Step 4: 30 task while they complete the minutes. chart. 3. I will bring the class back together and each group can share their “K” column with the class. Step 5-7: 30 minutes 4. “Today we are going to read about the Geography of Mesopotamia. One thing that good readers do as they read is, they think about the most important events or ideas in the text. This strategy is known as summarizing. When readers summarize, they focus only on the main ideas or events in the text. So let’s do an activity that practices summarizing.” I will have the students read sections of the text and summarize each of Students The students will tell me different features that think are important in forming civilization 1. The students will be getting settled and getting their books and notebooks out on their desks. 2. The students complete the “K” and “W” sections of the chart in small groups. 3. The small groups will share what they know about the region with the entire class. 4. The students are practicing a summarizing strategy by summarizing the paragraphs in the text on page 30-31. They are summarizing in a sentence or two. the paragraphs into a sentence or two. Have the students take out a sheet of notebook paper and open their books to page 30-31, “The Land: Its Geography and Importance.” 5. I will pass out the atlases; outline maps, lists of places to identify, and the map rubric. 6. I will divide the class into four groups and have the students become experts on their quadrant of the map. I will use the overhead map to identify which groups are assigned to which quadrant. 7. After the small groups have correctly labeled their quadrants we will come back together as a class and have the individual groups teach and label their area of the map to the entire class using the overhead so that all of the students can label the map correctly. 8. After the students have located all of the important places and features of the region on their maps I will have the students fill out the “L” column in the KWL chart in their small groups. 9. We will then come back together as a class and make a class “L” 5. The students will be moving their desks and joining their groups. The students are responsible for becoming experts on their section of the map. The students need to identify all of the places and features on the sheet that are found in their section of the map. They are labeling all of the places and features in black, water is colored blue, land is colored green, and mountains are colored brown and represented by the mountain symbol ۸. 6. The small groups are having me check their maps to make sure they have labeled correctly. Then they are able to present their quadrant to the rest of the class. All of the students should be labeling their maps as they quadrants are presented. 7. Students will complete the “L” column of the KWL chart. 8. Students will raise hands to fill in “L” column on the board chart on the board to make sure that everyone grasps the important issues from today’s class. 10. I will pass out the Mesopotamia quiz and have the students complete it and hand it to me on the way out of the class. 9. Students will take the quiz Materials: KWL chart for the geography of Mesopotamia, outline map of Mesopotamia, overhead map of Mesopotamia, atlas, list of places and features to identify, Mesopotamia quiz Differentiation: Depending on the students in the class, some students with disabilities may have a difficult time completing this lesson without adaptations. Students with visual impairments or Asperger’s syndrome would require assistance in completing the assignment. Students may have difficulty differentiating between water and land masses on the two dimensional black and white map. Subject Matter Integration/Extension: The geography of River Valley Civilizations is similar no matter where the civilization is located. Locating important characteristics and features of one civilization will illustrate the similarities with the other river valley civilizations. Reflections: When teaching a lesson that requires students to create something artistically it is important to have and example to show the students. It is also important to demonstrate what I expect students to do and using an overhead of the map and providing the students with an example will help to scaffold the directions for the students.