Geography: ✴ Make travel brochure for a trip back to a city in ancient Mesopotamia.

✴ Use Excel to make graphs like climographs, population density graphs, harvest record graphs, or whatever other statistical data you can find on Mesopotamia

✴ Make a boy/girl scout handbook of ancient Mesopotamia showing how to survive in that environment.

✴ Create a game in which players have to travel through Mesopotamia, facing various geographical hazards, challenges, etc…

✴ Compile a list of ancient Mesopotamian cities and the dates they were founded and make a timeline.

✴ Mesopotamian City Map – make an paper map of what a Mesopotamian city probably looked like. Make inset pictures on the map showing close-ups of a ziggurat, market, houses, etc.

✴ Build a model/diorama of a Mesopotamian city including labels (*labels need to be typed!).

Roles in Mesopotamian Society: ✴ Write and deliver a speech convincing the citizens of ancient Mesopotamia that they should pay taxes to support

government projects such as city walls, irrigation canals, roads, etc…

✴ Day in the life of a Scribe journal entries – journal/diary entries that describe the daily tasks of a scribe or a scribe student.

✴ Create and perform a skit or mime showing….Mesopotamian farming, scribing/writing, a priest-king ruling his people, the role of priests/priestesses

✴ Hall of Fame Mesopotamia – biographical descriptions of important Mesopotamians (Sargon, Hammurabi, Moses, Nebuchadnezzar, etc…). Maybe have the class or groups rank them based on importance and have a debate on who should be in and who should be out.

✴Social classes of Mesopotamia Art/Diagram – make a graphic organizer showing the various social classes of ancient Mesopotamia. Get “out there” if you choose and get really creative, metaphorical, and expressive in how you make your diagram/organizer. (i.e. Inspiration is a GREAT graphic organizer program - see me if you need help!)

Mesopotamian Achievements:✴ Write an extension story for one of the stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

✴ Build a model, diorama, sculpture or replica of: a ziggurat, a Mesopotamian invention, the Standard of Ur, the Hammurabi Code, or any other famous Mesopotamian person. Include who/what the person is and why he/she/it was important.

✴ Make a model/diorama of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

✴ Write and/or perform a radio, TV commercial, or print ad selling one of the many Mesopotamian inventions.

✴ Write a proposal to King Hammurabi explaining why you like/dislike certain laws in his code.

✴ Hammurabi’s Code Art – pick various laws from Hammurabi’s Code and depict them in visual form. As an extension/alternative to the Social Classes Diagram. (*look above - it’s the last option under “Roles in Mesopotamian Society”) You could make pictures to show how different social classes would be treated under the law according to Hammurabi.

Culminating Projects:✴Mesopotamia Collage - Have students use the computer to find photos (or magazines, if available) to make a collage showing different aspects of Mesopotamian civilization.

✴ Make a picture book of Mesopotamian life or a PowerPoint including everything from its geography to the rule of Babylon and Assyria, etc…

✴ Make a timeline of Mesopotamian history

✴ Create a poster or PowerPoint explaining what plant and/or insect species your area and Mesopotamia have in common and collect specimens.

✴ Write national anthems for each civilization (or even city-states) of ancient Mesopotamia and include who their God was.

✴ Write and perform a song or rap about how the rivers made life in Mesopotamia possible to how the Babylonians conquered Mesopotamia, etc, etc… you can even dress up for your performance!

Student Name: ____________________________________________

Mesopotamia Culminating Project✓ Objective: demonstrate your knowledge of Mesopotamia by choosing one

project below to complete with a partner or individually✓ Due Date: Monday, Jan. 31st✓ Total Points: 20

USEFUL WEBSITES FOR YOUR PROJECTS:

1. Timeline Creator: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline/ OR http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/

2. Online Poster Creator: http://edu.glogster.com/ *Have your parents use their email to create an account for you - this site is AMAZING! Once you have a login username - click “Create Glog” and go from there!

3. Mesopotamian Information and History for Kids: http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/

4. My Website has all these links too - visit: http://sorensenlouk.wikispaces.com/S.S.

Rubric: Proficient

5 ptsNearing Proficient3 pts

Emerging2 pts

Ideas *Information is factual, interesting, and related to the assignment.

*Information is factual and is usually related to the assignment.

*Information is not always factual and is not always related to the assignment.

Organization *Project is well-organized and easy to follow. Information is presented in a logical way.

*Project is well-organized, but can be difficult to follow at times. Information is usually presented in a logical way.

*Project is difficult to follow due to poor organization. Information is not focused or well-organized.

Creativity *Information is presented in a creative way. Student effectively has taken research information and has turned it into something new.

*Student has effectively taken research information and has turned it into something new.

*Student has created something new but it may or may not be related to information.

Presentation/Conventions

*Presentation is clean and visually enhances the information, when necessary.

*None or few spelling and grammar errors.

*Presentation is clean.

*Some spelling and grammar errors.

*Presentation is messy, with many spelling and grammar errors.

Total: _______ out of 20*18-20 A*16-17 B*14-15 C*13 and below D

Total: _______ out of 20*18-20 A*16-17 B*14-15 C*13 and below D

Total: _______ out of 20*18-20 A*16-17 B*14-15 C*13 and below D

Total: _______ out of 20*18-20 A*16-17 B*14-15 C*13 and below D

Comments:Comments:Comments:Comments:

Student Name: ____________________________________________