Sumer and Akkad

A student sketched this map of the area freehand, using the instructions from Mapping the World with Art by Ellen McHenry. It is hard to tell from the photo because he used the colors black and brown, but the modern names are labeled in one color and the ancient names, even if still in use are in another.
We began our study of Sumer and Akkad. We read the sections in our spine, Usborne's Ancient History on Mesopotamia, The Birth of Writing, The First City-States, The Royal Tombs of Ur and The First Empires.


We also read the Gilgamesh Trilogy by  Ludmila Zeman. These are gorgeously illustrated books that tell the story of Gilgamesh in simple language. I love them.
Student's (age 9) history notebook page using History Portfolio.
They had the choice of writing a sentence or two narration of what they had learned on writing a sentence or two copywork on the subject.
Student's (age 19, special education) notebook page, 

Student's (age 12) notebook page



We played the Royal Game of Ur, and I wrote so much on the game, that I made it a separate post. The game was found in Ur, and there is a lot of interesting debate over how it is played.

We had fun writing in cuneiform. Emerging in Sumer, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. Gradually the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use grew smaller. 
(More about this in the Babylon post.)

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