2014 Events Tournament Official Results

12 major events of Mesopotamia entered the tournament. Only one survived. After much heated debate in each class period, we eventually arrived at a Champion for each class. I would like to share the results with you, as well as the overall results and allow you to compare this years results to the results of past tournaments.

2014 Events Tournament Results

Compare with previous tournaments

2013 Events Tournament Results

2012 Events Tournament Results 

Student Task: Do you agree with the 2014 overall results? Reflect on the tournament with things such as: agree/disagree with overall results and why. What do you think is weird/wrong with the results? Did you find anything interesting or anything that stood out when comparing 2014 to the past tournaments? 

Blackout: November 7th

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"We're the Mesopotamians" by We Were Giants

Check out this interesting music video by the group "We Were Giants" as they sing about four Mesopotamians. It's got a pretty catchy tune. Give it a listen. 
Student Task: Watch the music video and tell me what you think about it. Minimum 2 sentences. 
Blackout: November 7th
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Mesopotamia Events: A World Without them......

Mesopotamia was the first civilization of the world. Because of this, they had the opportunity to invent or start many important things, things that we use all the time in our world. Many of the inventions or discoveries are things we use everyday and don't even realize that those things came from Mesopotamia. For this blog assignment, I want you to think about a world without Mesopotamia inventions. To help you get started, I will give you some of the main inventions from Mesopotamia that are most commonly used in our world. Think about a world without these things. What would it be like? 
Student Task: Thoroughly describe the world without these 6 items. How would things be different? What would be different? How would we make up for not having these things?
Laws
Writing
Wheel
Money
books
bricks

Blackout: November 7th. 
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Hammurabi's Code: Fair or Cruel?

We have discussed Hammurabi's Code in class. We talked about the need for laws, what it would be like in our world without laws and the type of laws Hammurabi came up with. While listening to some of the laws, you probably thought one of two things: 1. it's fair or 2. its cruel. Well, for today's blog post, you will be sharing your thoughts and opinions on whether you think Hammurabi's Code was fair or too cruel. A link is attached that will give you a brief overview of Hammurabi's Code and give you some examples of a few laws. The link will also give you reasons for both sides of the argument. Hammurabi brought order and stability to the lawless people of Mesopotamia, but was it too cruel? Let the debate begin...

Hammurabi's Code: Fair or too Cruel?

Student Task: After reading through the link, post a comment on whether you think Hammurabi's Code is fair or too cruel. Make sure you explain why you believe the way you do. Do NOT simply say, "I think Hammurabi's Code is too cruel because it's not fair." You need to share specific reasons that support your beliefs.

Bonus Link: Click here to read about some weird laws of our own country, the good ol' USA!

Blackout: November 7th
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Blueman Teaches the Class

Check out the newest Blueman comic and see what he's up to!
WSG Badge Student Task: List the 3 things about Mesopotamia contained in the Blueman Comic.
Blackout: November 6th (end of the Realm)

The Fabulous Four Inventions of Mesopotamia

The Fabulous Four of Mesopotamia from Dan Klumper on Vimeo.
Mesopotamia, being the first civilization of the world, had the unique opportunity to invent many things. A lot of "firsts" occurred in Mesopotamia, which you will see in this third White Shirt Production called: "The Fabulous Four." What you will be watching is NOT how the inventions actually came to be, but, it will show you how important each one is. All four inventions of the Fabulous Four are used everyday in our world.
This video will help you start thinking about the fabulous four inventions of Mesopotamia as you begin your "Ask the Public" project. Watch this video, then start interviewing people! 
Student Task: Answer the following questions if you want that badge!
1. How does the video show money?
2. How does the video show irrigation?
3. How does the video show wheel?
4. What is the secret message during the writing section? 
5. Tell me one deleted scene. 

Interactive Map of Mesopotamia

Use this interactive Map to review the major points of the Map of Mesopotamia. Hover over the map to reveal certain "tags" on the map. Think you can figure out what each "tag" is? Think about it and then put the mouse over the tag to see if you are correct. 
Student Task: Answer the following questions.
1. What are the four bodies of water that surround Mesopotamia?
2. What is the name of the desert? 
3. What are the two major rivers of Mesopotamia?
4. Which is further EAST: Zagros Mountains or Arabian Desert?
5. Which is further SOUTH: Sumer or Akkad?
Blackout: November 6th.

Artifact Dig Wrap up

In class, we entered an excavation site in hopes of finding some clues or artifacts about Mesopotamia. With these artifacts, our goal was to learn about this time period, which happens to be the first civilization of the world. So, did we accomplish our goal and learn something about Mesopotamia through the artifacts we found? Use the resource above to answer the following questions. 
Student Task: Answer the following questions using the above resource.
1. Tell me one crop that they grew in their fields.
2. Tell me three animals that they had/used.
3. What did they write on? 
4. What did they invent to move around?
5. What do the football cards represent? 
6. What was one type of game they played? 
7. What did they use to hunt or fight with in war? 
8. What material did they use to build buildings? 

WSG Badge: Black out: End of Realm. (Nov. 5th)