Today Mr. Leslie taught a lesson on the beginning of writing in Mesopotamia.
AIM: I will define two early writing styles and explain why they were important to developing civilization. I will use pictographs to show my hobbies.
Standard: 7.3.10 Trace the evolution of language, its writing forms (for record keeping and preservation of ideas.)
Do Now:
1) Vocabulary term: People who move from place to place.
2) Vocabulary term: To be really good at one thing.
3) Vocabulary term: A person who studies the past.
4) Vocabulary term: The land between two rivers.
Lesson Steps:
We started with our Do Now vocabulary review and then went into the writing lesson. Mr. Leslie showed signs that are popular symbols that represent important messages like "no smoking," handicap, and restroom symbols. These symbols started the conversation about how these symbols communicate ideas and why writing started in the first place. This discussion then turned towards the text about ancient writing in Mesopotamia, trading activities and also drawing our own pictographs about our hobbies. Students were taught the following vocabulary words: pictograph, cuneiform and scribe. We ended class with students creating pictographs for other students to guess using the overhead projector.
Homework: Complete three vocab cards using today's new words.
About Me
- Mr. Magnuson
- I have been teaching at Paul Public Charter School for seven years and I love it! I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from American University in 1997 and my Masters in Teaching Social Studies from Brown University in 2002. I also have a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and I used this training to teach English as a Second Language in DC, New York City and also in Puebla, Mexico. I am looking forward to using my extensive teaching experience to have another high performing school year for everyone. Contact me at cmagnuson @paulcharter.org