Ms. E began the session with a geography lesson on ancient Mesopotamia and located the Fertile Crescent on the globe, map and google Earth. The children looked at the timeline to put this ancient story into perspective. Ms. E read the beginning of the story and the children talked about tyranny and what it means to be a good leader vs a bad leader. They talked about what it meant for Gilgamesh to be completely friendless.
Ms. E showed them cuneiform writing. The children made their own clay tablets and took a stab at writing in code. J was very interested in writing her name using a cuneiform version of letters. R created a symbol that would represent her name. E created a sentence using cuneiform symbols for water and reeds.
After the tablets were set to dry, Ms. E showed the children pictures of jewelry from ancient Mesopotamia. The crew made beads of all shapes and sizes.
It was a great start to exploring the Epic!
