Mesopotamia Lapbook/Notebook • I couldn’t find free mesopotamia lapbook/notebook templates so I made my own! It’s very simple but thought I’d
share this if anyone is interested. Just print out 1 copy of the pdf file per child, buy yourself some folders, construcAon paper, tape, etc and arrange it however you’d like. There are some full page pictures and plenty for the sides of the folder. My kids are going to make liDle booklets out of everything using colored card stock and then arrange it however they want.
• I got most of the stuff from Dr. Donn´s history site, www.ancienthistory.mrdonn.org It was a great site. Look at the mesopotamia secAon.
• If you want to let the kids do their own coloring, you can print out these coloring pages pertaining to mesopotamia, hDp://www.cavemanart.com/osroene/mesopotamia.htm.
• Here is a website where you can get info for making a Ameline to use in your lapbook, hDp://www.mce.k12tn.net/world_history/mesopotamia_Ameline.htm
• Some more acAviAes. hDp://www.liDlehistorians.com/ancientmesopotamia.htm. I printed out these crossword puzzles, etc and put them in the Mesopotamia Quizes SecAon of the Lapbook.
• You can also make your own drawings, but we are not very arAsAcally inclined so prefer to cut and paste something already made. Your kids can also write a lot more by not using all the text I put and instead using the blank scroll pictures.
• Last but not least, We’ve finished this project and I put pictures of our lapbook to give you ideas!
• Have fun!! -‐Alicia from Chile
• W o m e n i n a n c i e n t Mesopotamia were not equal to men, but they did have rights.
• They could freely go to the marketplace, buy and sell goods, handle legal issues, own property, and start their own business.
• Upper class women, like members of the royal family and those who gave their life to the temple as priestesses, could learn how to read and write. Some women even had jobs running parts of the t own o r j o b s i n c i t y government. Women in
Mesopotamia
The ancient Sumerians believed in educaAon. Record keeping was very important to them. They wanted their sons to learn how to read and write. Their wriDen language began as pictographs, pictures of things that acted as words. Pictographs worked, but they were rather cumbersome. Soon, the clever ancient Sumerians started to use wedge-‐shaped symbols for objects and ideas instead of pictures. Today, we call this wriDen language of wedge-‐shaped symbols cuneiform.
WriAng 2
Number 60 They invented a
system of mathemaAcs based on the number 60. Today, we divide an hour into 60 minutes, and a
minute into 60 seconds. That comes from the ancient
Mesopotamians.
The Wheel
Sailboat
Cylinder Seal
First Harp
Ziggurat
Cunieform
Legend of Gilgamesh • The ancient Sumerians were great
story tellers, perhaps not as good as the Greeks -‐ but sAll, very good. Thousands of years ago, they created the story of Gilgamesh.
• Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world. It's about an ancient King of Uruk who may have actually existed and whose name -‐ Gilgamesh -‐ is on the Sumerian King List.
• According to the story, Gilgamesh was not just a hero, they thought he was a a superhero, was part god and part human and that he had many powers.
Farming in Mesopotamia
It did not rain much in the desert, but the early seDlers soon learned that if you irrigated the land, crops grew quickly. These early people built canals to bring water to the land from the rivers. They planted wheat, barley, dates, and vegetables including cucumbers, onions, apples, and spices. When there was a surplus of food, there was a division of labor and people started working in other professions.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon • Legend says ... The Hanging Gardens of
Babylon were built by King Nebuchadnezzar so that the queen, his wife, would have a lovely, private, terraced garden to enjoy.
• There were paths and steps and fountains and gorgeous flowers, all build to make a homesick queen feel welcomed and loved.
• It was supposedly built around 600 BCE, along the bank of the Euphrates River (south of the modern day city of Baghdad, Iraq.)
• No one knows if the gardens actually existed in Babylon, but the legend is a lovely one.
(one of the seven wonders of the ancient world)
Zig
gu
ra
ts
Ziggurats w
ere temples.
Like m
any ancien
t peo
ple, th
e ancien
t Sumerians believed that pow
erful god
s lived
in th
e skies. Religious cerem
onies
were he
ld at the
very top that were
preD
y ho
rrible.
All year lon
g, peo
ple leW off
erings of foo
d and wine on
the step
s of the
ziggurats.
The priests e
njoyed
these off
erings, as
the gods cou
ld not eat fo
r the
mselves.
The Ziggurat was built in th
e center of
town. It was th
e center of d
aily life.
Except fo
r fesAvals, which, for th
e most
part, w
ere gloo
my things, the
Ziggurat
courtyard was gay and
lively. You
might
see an arAst painA
ng, a boy ra
cing by on
his w
ay to
scho
ol, som
eone
milking a
cow or m
aking a basket.
Print out the 4 acAviAes on the LiDle Historians Website menAoned at the beginning of this presentaAon. hDp://www.liDlehistorians.com/ancientmesopotamia.htm
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