Grade 6 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 10, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A Message of Ancient Days

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 10, Lesson 1: Early Biblical History (pp. 298-303)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Values The Israelites' belief in a covenant with their God influenced later Western thoughts on religion and behavior.

Present the Israelites' story from Abraham to Moses as a flow chart with four boxes: Abraham moves to Canann, nomads form a people called the Hebrews, famine forces some to go to Egypt, slavery in Egypt, Moses leads them out of Egypt. Use the map on page 300 to help students understand where Canaan was. Discuss the long and difficult journey led by Moses from Egypt back to Canaan.

Describe monotheism and contrast it with other religions of the ancient world. Connect the belief in one God with the idea of a special covenant and the laws known as the Ten Commandments. Discuss their importance to the Israelites, and later to Western thought and religion.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Encourage small groups of students to compare and contrast the religion of the Hebrews with that of the Egyptians. (Refer them to pages 192, 193 in their text.) Have them make a Venn diagram showing the beliefs that were shared and those that were different.
Ask each student to use the scale on the map on page 303 to figure out how many miles the Israelites traveled in their Exodus from Egypt to Canaan. Then have them calculate the shortest distance between Ramses and Jericho and compare the distance with the earlier figure.

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