Academic Primary Learning Target: Students will be able to understand that

complex societies and civilizations developed in the Eastern Hemisphere. Although

these complex societies and civilizations have certain defining characteristics in
common, each is also known for unique cultural achievements and contributions.
Early human communities in the Eastern Hemisphere adapted to and modified the
physical environment.
Academic
(6.3a) Humans living together in settlements develop shared
Standard
customs, beliefs, ideas, and languages that give identity to the
group.
(6.3c) Mesopotamia, Yellow River valley, Indus River valley, and
Nile River valley complex societies and civilizations adapted to
and modified their environment to meet the needs of their
population. Students will explore how the selected complex
societies and civilizations adapted to and modified their
environment to meet their basic needs of food, clothing, and
shelter.
IEP Goal
Student will work cooperatively with other students and use
complete sentences with an appropriate voice level when
answering questions, expressing ideas or retelling ideas/
events.
Lesson Objective
Students will be able to identify how religion affected the
development of the writing system in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Assessment
Students will write a postcard, using complete sentences, to
one of the four people they meet in the beginning of the lesson
that includes why they believe a writing system was important,
especially when referring to religion and floods, recalling
information and retelling ideas they have learned in class.
Academic Supporting Learning Target: Students will be able write comparative
and contrastive statements based on multiple forms of media.
Academic
CCSS. ELA-LITERACY.RH.6.7: Integrate visual information (e.g.,
Standard
in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other
information in print and digital texts.
CCSS. ELA-LITERACY.RH.6.4: Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary
specific to domains related to history/social studies.
IEP Goal
Student will work cooperatively with other students and use
complete sentences with an appropriate voice level when
answering questions, expressing ideas or retelling ideas/
events.
Lesson Objective
Students will be able to write comparative and contrastive
statements by using different stories of the great flood from
different cultures.
Assessment
Students complete a Venn Diagram of sorts using comparative
and contrastive statements to compare the four different
stories on the great flood. Student will also complete a think,

pair, share activity where he/she will need to write complete

sentences on the document provided and share out to the class
using an appropriate voice level.
Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks
1. Brainstorm ideas of what floods are and what causes
floods through visual discovery (on smartboard activity),
discussing with a partner, and a class discussion. Then talk
with students about if they know any stories about great
floods that flooded everything (Noahs Ark is a popular one
in our culture).
2. Introduce to students that we will be skyping/contacting
five different people from around the world to talk to them
about their experiences with great floods.
3. Pull up the world map on smart board activity and show
them who we are talking to first (show them on the map
what area this person is from compared to where we are)
4. Hand out the packet and tell them to go to the worksheet
labeled introduction worksheet. Students will use this
worksheet to take notes on what the person in the video
says. They can either take notes while listening to the
videos, or wait until afterwards. Tell students they will be
given time after to fill out the worksheet.
5. Watch videos of the first four people (click on the flag of
each student on the map and it will bring you to the video to
watch). Allow students time to write down notes about the
people and answers to the questions, as well as the Venn
Diagram/organizer where they will be comparing and
contrasting all of the people and their stories on the great
flood in their home. Ask students to raise their hand when
they are done filling out the worksheet before you start the
next video.
6. Discuss with group the similarities in all of the stories and
differences. Write them on the board. Have then talk in
pairs first id they are shy about raising hands.
7. Introduce Emma from Mesopotamia and watch her video.
8. Compare and contrast this story with the other stories,
really focusing on the differences, especially the writing
aspect.
9. Bring up the smartboard activity and go to the magic
tunnel slide. Review with students key points by dragging
over the ideas through the magic tunnel.
10. Discuss how it was important to write these stories

Accommodations
1. Pictures can be
printed out and given
to students if they
cannot see the board
or if they want a
physical copy.

3. Teacher can either

show students on the
board where the
people are from, or
the teacher cam
allow for students to
use a physical map
or an Ipad to discover
where the countries
are.
4. The teacher can
give students an
option to either
watch the videos on
the smartboard or to
watch on an IPad.
This way, students
who get distracted
easily can focus on
just the iPad and
watch the videos of
the people skyping.

down/develop a writing system so that the people of

Mesopotamia would be able to know when the floods were
going to occur.
11. Tell students to go to primary document worksheet and
tell the students that they will be looking at two primary
documents of writing that helped the Sumerians of
Mesopotamia know when their rivers were going to flood.
First be sure to go over with them what a primary document
is. Use the smartboard activity to introduce the definition.
12. First discuss the front of the worksheet talking about the
Epic of Gilgamesh. Show the students the whole story of
the flood, but tell them there is not enough to read the
whole thing. Go back to smartboard activity and have
students read the sections I pulled out.
13. Talk with students and tell them that all of these stories
were part of the history of Mesopotamia. Writing them
down allowed for future generations to know how their
countries and towns were created and built. Complete a
first to 5 to see how well students understand this idea.
14. Next, tell students to look at the back of the worksheet
and read the text on the side of the calendar (call on
students to read out loud). Go over the idea of what their
calendar was like compared to ours and how being able to
write down when floods occurred was very important. It
allowed for people to adapt to their land and adjust so that
they could survive where they were living. It also helped to
warn the people when the floods would occur so that they
could prepare for it ahead of time. Ask students if they
understand using glass, bugs, mud (Glass: totally clear;
bugs: a little fuzzy; mud: I can barely see).
16. Ask students to think about why the development of a
writing system was important and needed, especially in
Ancient Mesopotamia. Then have them pair up and type
into a google document their ideas they came up with as a
group. The teacher will then show them on the board as
students are typing to show the class what everyones ideas
are.
17. Tell students that they will now be writing a postcard to
one of the five people they met (pull up smartboard activity
with pictures and names of people as well as the task at
hand). Make sure they include a thank you, their favorite
fact they learned, and why adapting and developing a
writing system was important. Work with them to create a
format as to how to write to the person. Give them time to

16. Think, pair, share

can be run
differently, but this
brings in technology.
If teacher wants,
they can just have
students pair up and
discuss on paper
what they had.

18. This worksheet is

an activity for
students to do when
they are waiting for
the rest of the group
to finish an activity.

write this.
18. If students finish ahead of time, tell them that once they
hand in their postcard they can pick up the additional
worksheet and do some of the activities on there. This will
NOT be homework, it is just extra activities to do if they
finish before class is done.
Resources and Materials:

Smart Board Activity

Introduction Worksheet for Skyping
Postcards
Primary Sources Worksheet
Extra Activity Worksheet

Instead of just sitting

there doing nothing,
students can be
working on activities
related to the topic.