Tuesday, January 21st

Bell Work: Please log on to your computer and begin silently working on the vocabulary worksheet at your desk. You may use your computer to look terms up if necessary. If you finish both sides, you may review using the resources on the class wiki while you wait

for everyone else. You have about 15 minutes.

Daily Agenda:

Bell Work: Vocabulary Review

WOD voracious Activator: Crash Course

– Egypt Lecture: Early

Civilizations Review: Dust Bin Game Guided Reading: Early

Africa and South Asia

Essential Question: Were all civilizations essentially the same? What accounts for any differences?

Homework: Read Early Africa and South Asia packet and complete guided reading worksheet.

Voracious – an insatiable appetite

The term voracious is often used when someone has an incredible urge to partake in a favorite activity. To do something voraciously often translates to becoming an expert on the given activity. Some people may see your intensity as an addiction and bizarre but to you it is commonplace.

Click the voracious Reader Award to see a clip of a robot who reads voraciously.

(Read-Aloud) Tuesday, January 21st Block 1

Activator:

Which has the biggest impact on your life today: religion,

geography, or government?

Mini-Lecture:

Early Civilizations

1. Where did the earliest civilizations

form and why? River Valleys

Nile Tigris / Euphrates Indus Huang He / Yangtze

Rivers provided irrigation, drinking water, and transportation

Why not other rivers?

Egypt Divine rule; pharaoh = god; bureaucracy Mesopotamia Lugals = “Big Men;” strong armies

(Assyrians); use of priests China Mandate of Heaven (Divine Right);

Confucian beliefs (Social Roles) India Samsara and caste system (social

institutions)

2. What different forms of rule did the earliest civilizations use to keep order?

Free vs. Slave (Mesopotamia especially) Land ownership (China) Occupation

India Mesopotamia Egypt

Gender

3. What factors helped determine the social structures of various early civilizations?

Egypt Gods controlled environment beneficial

flooding = nice gods; unified religion due to geographic isolation

Mesopotamia Violent floods = Angry, vengeful gods; introduction of new religions (Judaism, Zoroastrianism, etc.) due to geographic “openness”

China Mandate of Heaven illustrated by natural disasters

4. Explain the interconnection between geography and religion in

two early civilizations.

All Neolithic societies women no longer play as

much of a role in food acquisition China Confucianism held women in lower status

than any male; men must “protect” women India Aryan beliefs made women the equivalent

to lowest caste; sati Egypt Limited protections and rights for women,

but not equivalent of men (few female leaders) Mesopotamia No female “Lugals” = no legal

equality for women

5. Was there gender equality in early societies? If not, what prevented it?

What factors are most influential

in determining your lifestyle?

Critical Thinking:

Activating Prior

Knowledge: Which effects your lifestyle

most: geography (climate, resources, etc.), religion, or government?

As you read the passage provided, look for examples of how the lives of early peoples were influenced by each factor.

You will be recording details from the reading on the worksheet provided. You may paraphrase or partially quote these, but need to identify where specifically you found the examples.

Key Vocabulary:Paragraph

Word Meaning

2 Domestication Taking control of for human purposes…3 Dikes Walls built to control the flow of water4 Bickering Arguing/ Fighting5 Cordial Friendly or open5 Mercenaries Soldiers for hire…7 Stratification Division (as in layers)8 Bureaucracy Collective government workers (non-

elected)14 incremental In small amounts14 Intermittent Periodic or sporadic16 Deities Gods/ goddesses29 Pyre Ceremonial fire33 Ascetic Practicing strict self-denial34 Samara Cycle of Death and Rebirth34 Karma Sum of a person's actions, viewed as

deciding their fate in future existences.

Homework:

Read Early Africa and South Asia packet and complete guided reading worksheet

(Socratic Seminar tomorrow).