Ancient History, Week 10

Ancient Egyptians: Pyramids

Tessa and I finally finished up our first survey of Ancient Egypt. We will pick it up once again in a month or two when we study people, events and things more closely associated with the New Kingdom time period.

My plans were for us to build a pyramid together out of Legos as our project this week, but we ran out of time and by the time we had time, it was time to move on.


Monday

• Watched Building the Great Pyramid DVD by the BBC from Netflix.

Quickly noting that there was one discreet sexual innuendo in this documentary but it went way over Tessa head. Also, there was a brief but not-too-intense death scene.

Tuesday

• Looked up and defined HO dictionary word for Lesson 7, Main Lesson.
• Read Who Built the Pyramid? by Meredith Hooper.
• Read The Scarab's Secret by Nick Would.
• Read "Sphinx" (page 4) and "Pyramids" (page 7) from Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times: Ancient Egypt by Susan Altman.
• Completed draw and color.

Wednesday

• Read Mummies, Pyramids and Pharaohs: A Book About Ancient Egypt by Gail Gibbons.
• Read How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland.
• Read "The Pyramid Builder" (page 8) from Voices of Egypt by Kay Winters.
• Completed "Ancient Egypt" history pocket ("The Great Pyramid" paper project).

Other Books of Interest

• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder: A Hazardous Job You'd Rather Not Have - David Salariya
• Look, Find & Learn: World History ("The Mummy's Curse," page 4-5) - Jerry Tiritilli

* HO = History Odyssey

Atelier Art, Level 1 - Module A, Lesson 4

Clowns

We're still loving Atelier Art! My original goal for art was every other week (or at least twice a month). I think we've fallen off that schedule a bit, as history and science have been absorbing so much time lately. I really need to get us back on track. Tessa always enjoys art day.

"Clowns" is a lesson on pattern. I was afraid it might be a little complex and slightly daunting for Tessa. There's so much drawing and coloring to be done, but she remained focused and resolved. We were rewarded with a really cute piece of artwork.

After viewing several photos of various types of clowns and a little guidance from the Atelier Art teacher, Tessa set to work on her clown.

Tessa enjoyed using bold contrasting colors to create many different types of pattern.

Tessa's completed clown is a happy fellow! I especially like his rainbow hair.

Life Science, Week 9

The Lungs & Respiratory System

Breathe in, breathe out. Age-appropriate books are sparse on the subject of the lungs and respiratory system, so we relied on a couple of fun and easy hands-on activities to illustrate the concept.


Wednesday

• Read Breathe in, Breathe Out: Learning About Your Lungs by Pamela Hill Nettleton.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Body Has Lungs for Breathing - A Respiration Experiment," worksheet and mini-book (pages 40-41) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Using a clear plastic bottle filled with water, a straw and modeling clay, we created a model of a lung. The plastic bottle served as the lung, the water as air, and the straw as a bronchial tube. When Tessa squeezed the "lung," the "air" was forced out through the "bronchial tube" to mimic exhalation. Releasing the lung created the reverse effect...inhalation.   

Thursday

• Tessa read Our Lungs by Charlotte Guillain during reading.
• Completed Teacher Created Resources My Body by Patty Carratello "My Lungs" activity (pages 32-34).
• Completed "Breathing Model" (pages 12-13) experiment from Usborne Science Acitivites: Science and Your Body by Rebecca Heddle.

Using a clear plastic bottle cut to size, balloon, piece of plastic (cut from a bag) and tape, we created a model of a lung. Tessa pushed and pulled a tab taped to the bottom of the "diaphragm" to deflate and inflate the balloon "lung."

Other Books of Interest

• Brianna Breathes Easy: A Story about Asthma - Virginia L. Kroll

Ancient History, Week 9

Ancient Egyptians: Gods

Short week for history this week. We didn't dive too deeply into Ancient Egyptian gods due to the lack of good readily available picture books, but the subject matter was too much to weave into last week's lessons.


Monday

• Watched Ancient Civilizations for Children: Ancient Egypt DVD by Schlessinger Media.

This video isn't really about Ancient Egyptian gods but we couldn't fit it in last week.

Tuesday

• Looked up and defined HO dictionary word for Lesson 6, Main Lesson Part 2.
• Read "The God-Kings" (pages 14-15) and "Land of the Gods" (pages 16-17) from National Geographic Kids: Everything Ancient Egypt by Crispin Boyer.
• Read "Ra the Shining One" (pages 6-9) from Egyptian Myths by Jacqueline Morley.
• Read "Isis" (page 24) and "Amun" (page 29) from Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times: Ancient Egypt by Susan Altman.

* HO = History Odyssey

Atelier Art, Level 1 - Module A, Lesson 3

Animal Textures

This quick and easy lesson on texture seemed more like a craft than true art, but it did the trick. Tessa now knows and understands the word "texture." It was a fun little project...one that we both enjoyed.

Tessa first chose a piece of glittery stiffened felt from a stack of differently textured fabrics. It reminded her of Speedy, a box turtle that we housed once for a local turtle race. After adding a head and legs cut from card stock, she drew shapes on its shell. 

Tessa enjoyed creating her textured turtle so much that she asked to make a second animal. A fluffy piece of purple fleece made her think of a sheep.

Ancient History, Week 8

Ancient Egyptians: Mummies

I was a little nervous about teaching the process of mummification to Tessa. The details really are quite gruesome...a level of gruesomeness that Tessa had not been exposed to before. Though she did wince and cover her eyes on more than one occasion, she embraced the knowledge and has been fascinated with all things mummy ever since.


Monday

• Read Usborne: Ancient World by Fiona Chandler (pages 12-13).
• Completed corresponding Blue House School ancient world worksheets.

Tuesday

• Looked up and defined HO dictionary word for Lesson 6, Main Lesson Part 1.
• Read Mummies by Kremena Spengler.
• Read Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki.
• Completed draw and color.

Wednesday

• Read Road to Reading: Mummies by Edith Kunhardt.

Thursday

• Read I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting.
• Read "Mummies" (page 12) and "Scarabs" (page 21) from Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times: Ancient Egypt by Susan Altman.
• Completed Lift the Lid on Mummies by Jacqueline Dineen.

I have mixed feelings about Lift the Lid on Mummies. Tessa absolutely adores the set, but I feel a little cheated for the price. I knew there were some cardboard pieces in it, but I really think the bottoms of the canopic jars should be made of resin like the lids. The gauze provided to cover the mummy is a little short as well. Just three or four more inches would have made a big difference. Besides placing the internal organs in their appropriate canopic jars and tucking the amulets within the mummy's bandages, Tessa could do little else. The cutting and paper piecing is too intricate for early elementary students. Having said that, Tessa did learn a few things and greatly enjoyed the activity in whole. 

Our completed mummy, canopic jars and cat coffin. Tessa and I stuck the amulet stickers onto cardboard remnants left over from the canopic jars and then I cut around them so she can play with them again and again. 

Friday

• Listened to Magic Tree House #3: Mummies in the Morning audiobook by Mary Pope Osborne.

Other Resources of Interest

• The Mummy Maker online game - BBC

* HO = History Odyssey

Life Science, Week 8

The Five Senses

We have come to a point in both science and history that 2-3 days just isn't enough time to appropriately cover some of the topics, so we are rotating weeks between the two as needed. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this past week's investigation of the five senses spanned two calendar weeks.


Monday

• Read My Five Senses by Aliki.
• Read Senses are for Everything: The Five Senses by Katherine Hengel.
• Read Rain by Manya Stojic.
• Read No One But You by Douglas Wood.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Five Senses Walk" activity (page 24) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Tuesday

• Read Hands are For Holding: The Sense of Touch by Katherine Hengel.
• Read Blastoff Readers: The Sense of Touch by Mari Schuh.
• Felt alphabet braille card from The Five Senses by Herve Tullet.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Touch is One of the Five Senses" activities and mini-book (page 25) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched Sid the Science Kid: Sense-Ational Adventures DVD ("The Itchy Tag" episode) by The Jim Henson Company.

I used a cloth bag instead of a box for the "Touch is One of the Five Senses - Mystery Box" activity. Tessa used her sense of touch to identify and describe the mystery items in the bag.

Wednesday

• Read Mouths are for Smiling: The Sense of Taste by Katherine Hengel.
• Read Blastoff Readers: The Sense of Taste by Mari Schuh.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Taste is One of the Five Senses" activities and mini-book (page 26) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Following Monday

• Read Noses are for Picking: The Sense of Smell by Katherine Hengel.
• Read Blastoff Readers: The Sense of Smell by Mari Schuh.
• Read Nosy Rosie by Holly Keller.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Smell is One of the Five Senses" activities and mini-book (page 27) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched Sid the Science Kid: Sense-Ational Adventures DVD ("What's That Smell?" episode) by The Jim Henson Company.

Tessa used her sense of smell to identify and match scents. I used cotton balls soaked (or dusted) in cinnamon, peppermint, pickle juice and vanilla.

Following Tuesday

• Read Ears are for Earrings: The Sense of Hearing by Katherine Hengel.
• Read Blastoff Readers: The Sense of Hearing by Mari Schuh.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Hearing is One of the Five Senses" activities and mini-book (page 28) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched Sid the Science Kid: Sense-Ational Adventures DVD ("Too Much Noise!" episode) by The Jim Henson Company.

Following Thursday

• Read Eyes are for Winking: The Sense of Sight by Katherine Hengel.
• Read Blastoff Readers: The Sense of Sight by Mari Schuh.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Sight is One of the Five Senses" activities and mini-book (page 29) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched Sid the Science Kid: Sense-Ational Adventures DVD ("Grandma's Glasses" episode) by The Jim Henson Company.

Following Friday

• Tessa read The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss during reading.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "We Use Five Senses to Find Out About Our World - Review the Five Senses" worksheets (pages 30) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Explored Leapfrog Tag Interactive Human Body Discovery Pack "Your Nervous System" section.

Tessa is quite fond of her Leapfrog Tag Reading System, so when I saw Leapfrog came out with this human body discovery pack, I just had to buy and incorporate it into our studies.

Other Books of Interest

• There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me - Alice Walker

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Ancient History, Week 7

Ancient Egyptians & The River Nile

There are so many great resources for ancient Egypt that our studies will span several weeks. This week, we focused on the basics of ancient Egyptian life and the importance of the Nile River.


Tuesday

• Read Usborne: Ancient World by Fiona Chandler (pages 10-11).
• Completed corresponding Blue House School ancient world worksheets.
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 5, Main Lesson.
• Read "The Farmer" (page 6) from Voices of Egypt by Kay Winters.

Wednesday

• Read Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie dePaola via YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OedouFBB4Q8.
• Completed Evan-Moor History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grades 1-3 "Ancient Egypt" student booklet, words to know, and Nile River paper project (or eBook).

Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile didn't come in time for me to pick it up from the library, so I had to improvise. I found a great visual presentation of the book on YouTube. However, I wasn't fond of the creator's narration. I ended up using SaveVid.com to download the video to my laptop, then I transferred it to my Kindle Fire. I turned down the volume and read it myself to Tessa.

Tessa created an accordion-style paper brochure of sorts as part of her "Ancient Egypt" history pocket. It explains and depicts how the ancient Egyptians used the Nile's vast resources to survive and prosper.

Thursday

• Read Usborne Beginners: Egyptians by Stephanie Turnbull.
• Read The Winged Cat: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by Deborah Nourse Lattimore.
• Read Muti's Necklace: The Oldest Story in the World by Louise Hawes.
• Completed draw and color.

Friday

• Read "The Nile River" (page 26) and "Food" (page 40) from Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times: Ancient Egypt by Susan Altman.
• Completed "Make a Model of the Nile" from the SOTW activity guide.

I know Tessa would have loved to have gone all-out and created a larger, more elaborate scene of the Nile River. Anything she can recreate in miniature is exactly her kind of thing. Unfortunately, the weather here is beyond nippy now most days...not exactly hospitable enough to keep this project outside. We only have one window in our house that gets morning sun and has a shelf nearby, so we needed to create a very small, simple version of the Nile. Our supplies were minimal...a small disposable rectangle pan, aluminum foil, soil/sand, rocks from the driveway, and an old Duplo crocodile (okay, it's really an alligator...close enough). Most items we had on hand.

Tessa began by scooping a mixture of sand and dirt into a small disposable pan. 

After helping Tessa fashion a river bed from aluminum foil, she added pointed white rocks from our driveway in Upper Egypt to stand in as snow-capped mountains. Then, she sprinkled grass seed onto the banks of her soon-to-be Nile to mimic the planting of crops. 

After adding a Duplo crocodile, Tessa gently flooded her Nile River. (Personally, I think the Nile should have been flooded before planting the crops since this step is technically out of sequence, but we followed the directions anyway.) 

Tessa's flooded Nile River. (We added a lot more grass seed after this pic was taken.) She'll continue to flood it once a week until her crops are ready for harvest.

Tessa's Nile River two-and-a-half weeks later. Crops are ready for harvest! Quick note...we ended up watering this more than once a week.

* HO = History Odyssey, SOTW = The Story of the World

Life Science, Week 7

The Brain & Nervous System

It never creases to amaze me how enthusiastic Tessa is to learn new things. I thought going over the three main parts of the brain and how it and the rest of the nervous system works to control the body might not be the most exciting thing for her to learn, but she chattered about it and carted around our model brain (her "pet brain") all week long.


Wednesday

• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Brain DVD by Disney.

Thursday

• Read Think, Think, Think: Learning About Your Brain by Pamela Hill Nettleton.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Brain Controls the Body - Parts of the Brain," "My Brain Mini-Book" and "Extension Activities - Cell" activities (page 19) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Examined Learning Resources Cross Section Human Brain Model and then identified and talked about the role of the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem.

Following Monday

• Tessa read Our Brains reader by Charlotte Guillain during reading.
• Read Blastoff! Readers: The Nervous System by Kay Manolis.
• Completed RSO Nervous System Lab 1: Reaction Time.
• Completed Teacher Created Resources My Body by Patty Carratello "My Brain" activity (pages 7-8).

Tessa tested her nervous system's reaction time by attempting to grasp a ruler after it was dropped several times without warning.

Tessa recorded her reaction time for each drop and then charted the results. Earlier, she hypothesized that she could teach her body to react more quickly with practice. Although her reaction times did not dramatically improve over the span of the five drops she recorded, she was generally correct.

Tessa colored and glued the brain from Teacher Created Resources "My Body" to an outline of her body that I had traced earlier onto pink butcher block paper.

The outline of Tessa's body. Tessa will add more body parts as we study them.

Other Books of Interest

• Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain - Dave Keane

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Ancient History, Week 6

First Writings

Tessa practiced writing in cuneiform and hieroglyphs...two early forms of ancient writing.


Monday

• Read The Story of Writing by Carol Donoughue (pages 6-11).
• Completed cuneiform writing activity adapted from "Make Cuneiform Tablets" from the SOTW activity guide.

Tessa and I found the cuneiform writing activity so frustrating at first that I admit, I rushed it. I thought maybe she was just too young for it, so we worked through one quick short word and called it done. As it turned out, Tessa just needed more practice. She played with a stylus, some Play-Doh and cuneiform guide sheet on her own for a couple of hours after school. She got quite good it! She even had me pretending to be an ancient scribe student and her the teacher. I lament that our keepsake tablet could have been so much more had I been a little more patient. The good news is that all of her free play gave her a more thorough understanding of cuneiform. She enjoyed it so much that I know she'll remember this lesson for years to come.

I created my own simple cuneiform guide sheet for this activity from a free cuneiform font I found on the internet. I'm not sure how accurate the font it, but it worked well for us. Feel free to use it as well.

Download A Simple Cuneiform Alphabet.

Tessa's cuneiform tablet with the word "fish" on it. We used tan FIMO clay that we baked hard in the oven.

Tuesday

• Looked up and defined HO dictionary word for Lesson 4, Main Lesson.
• Read Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford.
• Read The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs by Tamara Bower. 
• Completed draw and color.

Wednesday

• Read The Story of Writing by Carol Donoughue (pages 12-17).
• Completed hieroglyphs activity adapted from "Hieroglyphic Secret Note" from Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide by Marian Broida.
• Used Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Kathy Allen as inspiration for hieroglyphs activity above. There are several nice pics of actual hieroglyphs in it as well as a simple hieroglyphs guide.

Tessa finds it very difficult to look at a picture and replicate it with pencil and paper, so it didn't take long before frustration set in while completing this hieroglyphs activity. After several failed attempts, I left her to work on it alone while I fixed lunch. To my complete and utter amazement, ten minutes later she got it done! That's marker on her "papyrus" scroll there, so imagine how hard she must have concentrated. In hindsight, I wish I would have tracked down some hieroglyphs stencils or stamps. I think the activity would have been way more fun for her.

Tessa's hieroglyphs note says, "I like candy." Her name is encircled with a cartouche.

* HO = History Odyssey, SOTW = The Story of the World

Hooked on Phonics: First Grade - Completed!

How could I forget to post that we finally completed Hooked on Phonics: First Grade early last week?! Tessa has been reading early and leveled readers this past week, which is what she does on the off days of our schedule anyway. I feel like Tessa and I could both use a break from Hooked on Phonics. I'm wrestling with whether we should continue on with Hooked on Phonics: Second Grade so Tessa can gain valuable new decoding skills or jump over to All About Spelling, Level 1 and focus on spelling and reading fluency for a short while. We have the All About Spelling readers for level one, which I worry are quickly falling below Tessa's reading level. I need to decide soon!

Hooked on Phonics: First Grade...completed! YEAH!!

Atelier Art, Level 1 - Module A, Lesson 2

Picasso Hands and Flowers

Although this was only our second time using Atelier Art, I have been quite impressed at how well Tessa listens to the instructor on the DVD. She follows her instructions and movements way better than she does mine. I'm always tense when an art project involves paint...more so when my laptop is sitting a mere two feet from the paint and water bucket. After we got past Tessa tracing her hands (I had to help her a bit...Tessa tracing with her left hand just wasn't happening) and I realized that hey, she's doing a pretty good job, my tension eased considerably. I was able to take some pics. By the end, I was actually enjoying myself watching her paint.

"Picasso Hands and Flowers" is a lesson on color. It teaches that there are three primary colors and that those colors may be mixed to make secondary colors. The lesson also introduces renowned painter Pablo Picasso and features his painting Mains Aux Fleurs. Since Picasso is the key artist for this module, I'm considering using this lesson as a jumping off point for a quick artist study.

Tessa carefully mixed yellow with red to make orange, blue with red to make violet, and yellow with blue to make green.

After tracing her hands and then painting the middles of the flowers, Tessa used her freshly mixed green paint to paint stems.

Tessa painted the last of her petals orange.

Although not instructed to do so during the instructional portion of the DVD, the children featured on the DVD embellish their traced hands. Tessa wanted to embellish hers too. This would have been much easier before painting, but she made it work. 

Life Science, Week 6

Body Parts

Arms, legs, heart and lungs...Tessa learned her body has both external and internal parts.


Monday

• Read Kingfisher Readers: Your Body by Brenda Stones.
• Read Thank You For Me! by Marion Dane Bauer.
• Read All of Me!: A Book of Thanks by Molly Bang.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Body Has External and Internal Parts - My Body Parts" and "Collage People" activities (page 13) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Tessa cut out body parts from various pictures in catalogs and magazines. She glued the pieces onto card stock to create a collage person and then labeled the parts.

Tuesday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Body Has External and Internal Parts - Where Is It?" activity (page 14) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Read Scholastic Discover More: My Body by Andrea Pinnington.
• Read Parts by Tedd Arnold.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Body Has External and Internal Parts - Inside My Body" activity (page 14) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Wednesday

• Read Your Skin Holds You In by Becky Baines.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Body Has External and Internal Parts - Skin" and "Extension Activity - Fingerprints" (item one only) activities (page 15) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Used Drawing Is Easy: Drawing With Your Fingerprints by Godeleine De Rosamel to create fingerprint art.

Tessa's fingerprint art. She used fist prints to create the goat; thumbprints for the spider, bee, face and frog; and a hand print for the rooster head.

Tessa wanted to pose with her pics, so here she is!

Halloween Sneak Peek

Remember me saying that Tessa REALLY enjoyed studying about ancient cave dwellers? Well, here's a sneak peek of the Halloween costume I sewed up for her to wear tomorrow night. She insisted that her American Girl doll have one too!

All set for Halloween! Tessa and Kanani as ancient cave dwellers.

Picture Word Puzzles - Challenge Cards

These cute little Trend Picture Word Puzzles - Challenge Cards were hiding out in one of our homeschool supplies totes. I decided to put them into action before Tessa totally outgrows them. Yeah, they're pretty easy for her now, but she's enjoying them and they serve as a nice little warm-up right before her reading lesson each day.

Trend Picture Word Puzzles cards are a fun way to warm up right before settling in for a reading lesson. The cards are double-sided and feature phonetic rhyming text.

Life Science - Week 5

Bodies Grow & Change

We have officially kicked off our study of the human body. I haven't counted up the weeks, but we'll be hanging out here for a while...at least a couple of months. Should be fun! Tessa started wanting to learn more about the inner workings of the body at the end of summer. I'm so glad we're finally here. I felt guilty constantly putting her off, saying that we would study it very soon.


Wednesday

• Read I'm Growing! by Aliki.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "Bodies Change as They Grow Older - How Have We Changed?" and "A Book About Me" activities (pages 6-7) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Tessa created an accordion book that highlights how she has grown and changed over the years.

Friday

• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Life Cycles DVD by Disney.
• Read Scholastic Discover More: See Me Grow by Penny Arlon.
• Read The Growing-Up Tree by Vera Rosenberry.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "Bodies Change as They Grow Older - Human Life Cycles" and "Other Life Cycles" activities (page 8, minus growth-record booklet) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Other Books of Interest

• The Growing Story - Ruth Krauss
• Growing Like Me - Anne Rockwell

Ancient History, Week 5

Sumerian Crafts & Kings

We finished up our survey of the first civilization of Sumer by learning more about Sumerian daily life, their crafts, trade, and King Sargon of Akkad.


Wednesday

• Looked up and defined HO dictionary word for Lesson 3, Main Lesson Part 2.
• Read Usborne: Ancient World by Fiona Chandler (pages 8-9).
• Completed corresponding Blue House School ancient world worksheets.
• Listened to Tales from the Arabian Nights audiobook (story of Sheherezade) by Andrew Lang/Tavia Gilbert.

The stories of Arabian Nights don't feel as though they fit perfectly here, but some apparently root back to ancient Mesopotamian folklore and literature. The SOTW activity guide makes brief mention of one selection written by Andrew Lang. I flipped through the rest of the guide and found no additional references to Arabian Nights in chapters from other time periods (nor in HO), so we went ahead and listened to three of the most popular tales during lunch this past week. Although Tales from the Arabian Nights is a sanitized version of Arabian Nights, it still contains considerable violence. Then again, what part of ancient history isn't considerably violent?

Thursday

• Completed "Ancient Mesopotamia" history pocket (puppets, and interactive map with model ship).
• Read You Wouldn't Want to Be a Sumerian Slave! by Jacqueline Morley.
• Watched Ancient Civilizations for Children: Ancient Mesopotamia DVD by Schlessinger Media.
• Listened to Tales from the Arabian Nights audiobook (story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp) by Andrew Lang/Tavia Gilbert.

Tessa created Mesopotamian puppets on craft sticks. She also completed an interactive map with model trading ship. By moving the craft stick attached to the back of the ship, she can sail it down the Tigris River to the Persian Gulf.

Friday

• Read Evan-Moor Read and Understand Literature Genres: Myths & Legends, Grades 4-6 "Gilgamesh and Enkidu - Middle Eastern Legend" story sheet from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Completed "Long Robe" from Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide by Marian Broida.
• Listened to Tales from the Arabian Nights audiobook (story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) by Andrew Lang/Tavia Gilbert.

I kind of messed up here. I couldn't figure out why the Gilgamesh myth wasn't mentioned in HO or the SOTW activity guide since it derives from ancient Sumerian poems. Turns out it is...further down the road. That's okay, there are some really cool looking children's books about Gilgamesh that I didn't get a chance to check out from the library. We'll be sure to snatch them next time.

Tessa in our version of a Mesopotamian long robe.

* HO = History Odyssey, SOTW = The Story of the World

Looking for more Sumerian lesson ideas?

Check out my Label a Sumerian Chariot Diagram and Standard of Ur Writing Paper & Toppers digital curriculum helpers!