Grade 6 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 6, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A Message of Ancient Days

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 6, Lesson 2: The Contributions of the Sumerians (pp. 156-161)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change The Sumerian civilization made advances that still influence us today.

Review the evolution of Sumerian government from priests to kings. Explore the ways in which the two developed separate, but linked duties. Discuss the role religion played in the lives of all Sumerians from laborer to king. Ask students to speculate on how these affected the governments and religions that came afterward.

Review the development of writing from the Sumerians to the Phoenicians. Discuss the importance of writing in the preservation and transmission of ideas and information.

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

Have students write letters to each other as residents of various cities (Ur, Kish, etc.). Ask students to describe daily life, including the particular god of their city.
Ask each student to show life in a Sumerian city by drawing a cartoon strip with one picture for each idea. Have students keep track of how long it takes to do this. Then have each student write a sentence for each picture and time how long that takes. Talk about which system is more efficient.

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